My God. Have we completely forgotten how to do subterfuge in this country? What happened to brush passes and secret codes? Or trench coats and full-figured dames with dark pasts? Has the whole word gone crazy?
The Molly Clifford-Gary Walker plot to keep Tom Richards in the mayor’s office is unacceptably prosaic. They apparently carried out their scheme via email, colluding with the chair of the Monroe County Independence Party to launch a pro-Richards ca
mpaign. They got busted when the party chair mistakenly sent the whole smash to the D&C in an unbelievable gift of journalistic good fortune.
Kidding aside, this has to be mortifying for Clifford and Walker. I’m willing to bet this kind of thing goes on in politics all the time, but still, how many times have we been told not to put anything in an email that you don’t want the whole word to see? (Also, would Walker really do this without consulting his boss, Richards? It seems implausible.)
Clifford and Walker have never been anything but professional and courteous during my dealings with them. Clifford gets a lot of guff for having a resume that apparently qualifies her for every job everywhere — she’s been everything from a party boss, Rural Metro spokesperson, to the city’s director of fire administration — but I get the impression that she isn’t thrilled with being used as a utility infielder, either. She’s the Swiss Army knife of government service.Â
Personally, I don’t see this whole thing being a terribly big deal. Walker and Clifford are free to support whomever they like; what they do on their own time is their business. But Lovely Warren, the Democratic candidate for Rochester mayor, might disagree. If either Clifford or Walker had hopes of staying on in a potential Warren administration, they’d better hope that Warren has a sense of humor.
This article appears in Oct 16-22, 2013.
What’s there to be mortified about? It’s no secret that they both support Tom. The Independence Party Chair is the one who ought to be embarrassed.
Really, Chris. If you think this is mortifying, you better toughen up. Halloween is just around the corner.
Clifford is Democratic Leader of the 28th Legislative District and should resign her leadership position for being exposed for not supporting the Party’s nominee. She is free to support who she wishes but not as a Democratic Party Leader. To make matters worse, she doesn’t even live in the 28th District. Shameful conduct and shame on Chairman Morelle for allowing this to happen free of consequence.
This might be a simple technical issue: The Independence Party needs to gain a certain percentage of votes to stay on the ballots for future elections.
Post Politician,
That’s sort of correct, but applies only to gubernatorial elections. So in the next gubernatorial election, which is in 2014, the Independence Party needs to receive at least 50,000 votes on its line, for its candidate, in order to keep its official recognition by the state. And the same can be said for any New York political party.
In other words, the number of votes the Independence Party receives in the mayoral election won’t determine whether it stays on the ballot.
Not a big deal, Chris Fien?
-UNICON is a nonprofit, and as such, is barred from political activity…but I guess those pesky IRS rules are for the other guys.
-The Independence Party has not filed a single disclosure report since their Turn Out fundraising campaign. That’s a criminal offense which you’ve neglected to report.
-Gary Walker wrote both the Corryn op-ed and the ambiguous Richards statements–a troubling conflict.