The Case for Support

If there is one thing the 2008 presidential campaign taught us, a political candidate needs a good fundraising operation and motivated grassroots support to win public office. Last year, Barack Obama had record numbers of both.

This is an off year, with local and congressional races dotting the country. Add a measurable degree of campaign fatigue to a populace struggling through a nationwide recession, mix in hot button national issues like health care reform, economic stimulus plans and wars that still rage in Iraq and Afghanistan, and this year’s campaigns are struggling to get attention.

Here in New York, we are faced with what was supposed to be a complete change over in city government. Term limit laws, enacted just before the 2001 city-wide election, then put new people in the office of Mayor, Public Advocate, Comptroller, and most of the city council seats.However eight years later, a political end run has occurred. Billionaire media mogul and two-term incumbent Mayor Michael Bloomberg masterminded a change to the law with full support of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who reportedly has her own eye on the mayor’s seat, at some point in the future.

The term limits law was brought into existence by popular vote of the people of New York, and twice voters opposed efforts to overturn it. Yet through a backroom deal orchestrated by the very people who will benefit from it, the City Council used a loophole in the law to vote themselves and all other incumbents an extension. So instead of new, wide-open races, like it or not, New Yorkers are faced with incumbents trying to justify why they deserve yet another term in office. That especially includes the Mayor’s race.

One candidate not holding onto his seat is out-going City Comptroller Bill Thompson, who is instead seeking (and expected to get) the Democratic Party nomination to oppose Bloomberg for Mayor. (Bloomberg, once a Democrat, now a registered Republican, is running as an Independent.) Political pundits, who are often known to be wrong, look at Bloomberg’s deep pockets (he finances his own campaigns) and have dismissively suggested he’s a shoo-in. Sentiment among the grass-roots electorate is not so clear cut however.

While Mayor Mike doesn’t carry the polarizing persona of a Rudy Giuliani, the popular impression is that he is no more in touch with the concerns and problems facing middle, working and lower class New Yorkers than his predecessor, and still too quick to sell this city off to real estate developers. Throw in that now touchy issue of the term limits extension and New Yorkers are slowly waking up to the fact that the game is being rigged, and they don’t like it.

In the interest of full disclosure, I support Bill Thompson for Mayor and I am actively volunteering on his behalf. As a middle class citizen, while I make a decent income, I am still increasingly seeing my paycheck come up short at the end of the month as the cost of basic living rises and judging by my friends and neighbors I know I’m not alone.

Luxury high rise apartments have been built around me in Harlem that are clearly not intended for the people who presently live in that community. All over the city, Mom and Pop retail establishments have closed to make way for big box national chain stores and small business owners are finding it harder to make a go of it. Who will still be able to afford to live in New York in the next 20 years remains as much a mystery now as it did eight years ago when Bloomberg took office. It’s time for a change.

Bill Thompson will never be able to match Bloomberg in campaign spending (although every contribution helps). Since about the beginning of the year, the Mayor has spent around $40 million of his own money on campaign ads and slick brochures. I get a new one every week. My shredder stays busy.

But that all important grassroots support may make the difference in this campaign. In July, Thompson cut a Bloomberg lead in half in a Quinnipiac Poll, with fewer financial resources and having run no television ads. There is growing public awareness that there is a viable alternative candidate. As awareness grows, expect the lead to shrink further.

The Democratic Primary is a month away, the general election in November. There will be more to this campaign before all the votes are counted. New Yorkers should get informed and get involved.

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One hundred fifty miles up the Hudson River, in the state’s capital city of Albany, (where I lived for 11 years) another incumbent mayor faces a challenger with an uphill battle.

In a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans 11-1, elections are over after the primary. Mayor Jerry Jennings is seeking a fifth term (no term limits there) and faces opposition from Third Ward City Councilman Corey Ellis, who would become that city’s first African American Mayor if elected.

Jennings has a commanding lead in fundraising and the support of the more “establishment” Dems. Ellis received the endorsement of the Working Families Party.

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There are two other campaigns around the country we’re watching.

In California’s 10th Congressional District, Iraq War veteran, Harvard graduate and out gay candidate Anthony Woods has considerable grassroots support in an 11 candidate field for a special election to fill a seat held by retired Representative Ellen Tauscher.

A bipartisan primary is set for September 1 with a November 3 run-off if no single candidate wins an outright majority.

Woods’ opponents include California’s Lt. Governor, a State Senator and an Assemblywoman, all of whom have a solid fundraising infrastructure. Yet in a recent July filing, Woods had the highest percentage of contributions from individual donors. He’ll need to continue to raise money to get into the November run-off.

Woods may be able to take inspiration from Detroit City Council candidate Charles Pugh, another out gay candidate who recently came in first against 17 opponents seeking City Council seats. Pugh, a former television broadcaster, won with 59,560 votes and 8.9 percent of the vote.

Pugh did not hide his sexual orientation but appealed to voters on the issues. However he won support of both the AME Ministerial Alliance and the Council of Baptist Pastors.