For
Joe Morelle to assume the Democratic Party’s reins is either its death knell or
the first step toward recovery.
The
state assemblymember from Irondequoit is next in
line to brave the revolving door that is the party’s top job. Molly Clifford
resigned as Monroe County Democratic Party chair three months ago, and two
weeks ago — just days after a contentious designating convention — so did
Rick Dollinger. Last Thursday, Morelle announced that he wants the position.
And he pretty much has it locked up: Several people mulling a bid dropped their
plans after he went public.
When
Morelle takes over, he’ll inherit a party that — to
put it bluntly — is struggling. For starters, the Monroe Democrats don’t
exactly have money to burn. In fact, they’re in debt to the tune of “a couple
of grand,” according to Colleen McCarthy, their press secretary. McCarthy wouldn’t
offer a specific amount, but she says that with the rapid turnover of chairs,
the party has fallen behind on fundraising. Normally by this time of year,
Democrats have held three fundraisers. This year’s grand total? Zero.
“We’re
totally behind the eight ball,” McCarthy says.
Then
there are the bitter divisions within the party.
“The
political will of our party has never been stronger,” Morelle said in his
Thursday press conference. What he didn’t say — but could’ve — is that Dems
are using that political will against one another as much as against the
Republicans. Choosing a leader just as a three-way mayoral primary is heating
up is unusual, to say the least. The divisions that split along the fault lines
of that race will inevitably define the beginning of the new chair’s tenure.
Morelle, in fact, has
been at the head of one of those fault lines, as co-chair of Wade Norwood’s
campaign. At the press conference, he said that as party chair, he’ll “step
back” from chairing Norwood’s campaign. But
he’ll have to do more than that to keep Dems working together.
His strategy? “The best thing that you can do is
have a forum where people can be heard,” he says. “It’s about mutual respect,
mutual understanding, and a common purpose.”
It’s
also about money. Besides creating divisions, the mayoral primary will expend
plenty of campaign contributions that could have been spent in other races.
“The
primary role of the party is to provide resources for candidates,” Morelle
says. The quality and length of his tenure will depend as much on whether he
can provide those resources as on his ability to bring competing factions
together.
On
that count, almost everyone sings his praises.
“He
has the extraordinary ability to raise money,” says Rob Brown, retiring school
board member and a former chair himself.
“The
guy is good,” says County Legislature Minority Leader Stephanie Aldersley. “The
guy is really, really good. Our worries about not having money are over.”
That
may or may not be the case, but as Aldersley knows well, there’s one more
hurdle for Morelle to cross. Once that money is raised, he has to distribute it
in ways that benefit the whole party. As CountyLej candidate
George Moses puts it, “The party is always more important that the individual.”
That’s
something local Republicans learned a long time ago under the leadership of
Steve Minarik. (In fairness to the Dems, the fact that their stronghold is
mainly in the heavily Democratic city makes it far easier to wage primaries
against each other than to mount a coordinated campaign to control the towns
and the CountyLegislature.) To refocus
attention on the good of the entire party and make inroads in the suburbs the
Dems may need a leader who can enforce some discipline. Can Morelle do that?
“I’m
sure he’s capable of it,” says term-limited County Legislator Kevin Murray.
Morelle may be one of the few local leaders with the base to wield that kind of
power; he has closer ties to business than many Dems, and reportedly has good
relationships with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and state party chair Denny
Farrell. He’s also “generally well-liked within the party,” says Brown.
Still,
he’ll have to carefully tread a middle path while he’s earning trust
party-wide; “well-liked” may not cut it if candidates or committee-members feel
Morelle’s putting his own political career ahead of the whole party’s good.
(Some in the party are convinced Morelle is positioning himself to make a run
for Congress or be in a position to broker favors flowing from an Eliot Spitzer
state administration.)
“If
you become chair, those interests go out the window,” says City Councilmember
Adam McFadden.
Is
Morelle up to the task? Only time will tell, but most
Dems are lining up to support him enthusiastically a week before he’s
officially chair. And most observers say that Morelle wouldn’t have taken the
job if he thought he couldn’t handle the risks.
“He’s
certainly one of the most savvy politicians in the Rochester area,” says
Brown.
If
savvy’s not enough? A failed Morelle chairmanship could push a struggling party
over the brink of irrelevance.
This article appears in Jun 1-7, 2005.
