A choice in name only
So it’s farewell to Jim “Daddy Warbucks” Wright, perhaps the north country’s finest rainmaker for governments, agencies, organizations and districts, the man who has spread state cash around his district like it was wildflower seed.I’m of mixed feelings about Sen. Wright’s departure. He has been a no-nonsense legislator, the one who has never appeared reluctant to call a pig, a pig. People who have been involved in negotiations with the senator know that if he comes into a negotiation, you’d better not be screwing around because he’s there to do business and get disputes resolved. For that, I admire him.
And there is no doubt that his ability to bring home the state bacon is nothing if not prodigious. If you lined up every grateful recipient of Wright pork, it would stretch from one end of his sprawling district to the other. Many times, he has been able to provide just what was needed to get some project or other through, making him a valuable north country resource.
On the other hand, it’s hard to admire the way he has chosen to go out. Resigning halfway through his term to take a doubtless lucrative job in the semiprivate sector (this firm does, after all, expend an awful lot of effort dealing with governments) seems a bit contrived – it’s hard to believe that job, or an identical one, wouldn’t be waiting at the end of 2008. This has led to rumors that the senator’s health may not be perfect, and perhaps that’s so. But is laboring for a high-profile, high-pressure firm going to improve his health? That’s a long stretch.
What is more likely is that this is just more politics as usual from the Republican Party, with Wright timing his departure to offer Young Will Barclay, scion of the ruling Barclay family of Oswego County, a quick and painless entry into the job held for 19 years by his father, H. Douglas. The midterm resignation offers tantalizing opportunities for Young Will – his introduction on the ballot was easily guaranteed, all the speculative tub-thumping of every paper in the state not withstanding. Other potential candidates, and especially DeeDee Scozzafava, had less than zero chance of prevailing in a system that places the decision in the hands of county committees controlled by the good ol’ boy system. The die was cast long before Jim Wright sat down with select newspaper reporters to reveal his decision. DeeDee had no more chance than a Burger King line cook to get that nomination.
Now, Young Will will have an almost clean shot into the Senate, where he will pick up just enough of the smell of an incumbent to become virtually invincible by November’s general election. True, he may face Democrat Darrel Aubertine, the river district’s assemblyman and of all the Democrats out there, Darrel has the best chance of upsetting the Republican applecart. But if he runs, he will lose, because Oswego County will erase any possible majorities he may build up in Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties.
The Democrats have come tantalizingly close to retaking a Senate majority that they have coveted for decades. All it would take is for the party to take three seats away from Republicans to make that happen. With Wright stepping down, there is no doubt the state party will pour beaucoup money into the race, and there is little doubt they’ll let anyone but Darrel run – if they are to have any chance, he must be the candidate. And Darrel has another wonderful asset for Democrats; if he loses, he will simply return to his Assembly seat. No harm, no foul.
You can even predict the Democratic campaign line for Darrel: in Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties, it will be the battle of the favorite son against the carpetbagger from the dynastic family from “away.” In Oswego County, it will be an appeal to the few Democrats to galvanize behind the candidate that can help the party move closer to taking over the Senate, smoothing Spitzer’s path to implementing more of his campaign promises.
It will be too little, too late. This die has long been cast; the timing was impeccably fine-tuned; the successor was hand-picked and preannointed. You might as well start rehearsing “Hello, Senator Barclay” so it doesn’t catch in your throat when it comes true in February.
Maybe Young Will will prove to be a fine senator, fully the measure of his predecessor. We better hope so, because we sure as hell don’t have any choice in the matter.
posted by Kentsboss @ 11:43 AM
6 Comments:
You may be right in your assessment Kentsboss, but there is a little bit of an anybody but Barclay sentiment out there in certain circles. Will didn't exactly win his last Assembly race in a dominant fashion you know. And just exactly what has he accomplished since being handed his Assembly seat.
Say what you will about Darrel, but he has done more for the area in 4 short years than Nortz did in 26. I hope that Aubertine runs and I hope that he wins.
politics as usual!
The only way Aubertine wins is to get an invitation to the Mennonite picnic Mastascusa was tlking about.
rumors have it the meeting place for the lewis co. legislator losers is for sale. it make good investment for salmon and obrein. they need be more positive.
People need to remember the half million in name recognition that has been spent letting people know who Aubertine is, was on broadcast radio and television that reaches nothern Oswego county, so from Pulaski north into all of Jefferson and St. Lawrence County Darrell is a known item and quantity. Willie boy is not.
If the likely 1 to 2 million that will be spent on this special election is spent, Darrell has a shot, provided that the TV emphasizes the Barclay's connections to the Bushes, and the obvious nepotism, nobody in America likes nepotism, except when they are the beneficiary of it. If the TV ads also state the importance of a Democratic state senator and the power that Darrell would hold because of the narrowing gap that will be overcome this fall when two downstate seats are won by Dems, it becomes obvious how powerful he would be as a freshman senator.
From the more practical standpoint because turnout will be low, the key is to have a real ground game, pay staffers to go door-to-door in Oswego county urging Dems who are likely to vote, i.e. those who voted in the November 2007 elections, which were minor, to vote for Darrell by directly asking them for their vote.
Darrell MUST Secure the Independence Party Line, and the same pitch must be made to likely IP voters.
This is a winnable election for Darrell.
The Aubertine campaign managers do not recognize the importance of paying people to go door to door. This is the dem state campaign machine we're talking about here. They do the same thing over and over: focus on the population base, and they lose over and over. Shame on the Oswego County Committee for not running their own campaign for Aubertine in tandem with the one calhoun is running....get ready for it folks. We're going to lose....again :-(
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