| News on the race was hitting a new cycle in the first place with former long-time Assemblyman and recently resigned NYSERDA president announced his bid just two days before the Committee's endorsement. The candidates responses to his entry came out in no time, from Darius Shahinfar and Tracey Brooks, who was also seeking the Albany County endorsement along with Paul Tonko.
It was Steck's response to Tonko's entry and the back-and-forth between Brooks and Steck over the walk-out of her supporters of the Albany Dem's vote to endorse him.
To highlight this attention, a round-up of Times Union articles on the race has a headline-a-day in the 21st. The furor of this event is covered in yesterday's Albany Democrats bolt party meeting and today's House run divides Albany County Democrats.
The facts of the endorsement present themselves as such: Phil Steck was the first Democrat to begin campaigning to replace retiring Representative Mike McNulty back in December. He slowly built up a grass roots campaign that has resulted in nearly 50 local endorsements by starting a movement that was all-but ignored by a media in favor of the Jennings-backed candidate Tracey Brooks or long-rumored entrant Paul Tonko.
At the committee's screening committee, all three interviewed to be endorsed. And at the meeting to do so, the current Congressman's father, Jack McNulty, who also was quick to endorse Brooks after his son declared he'd back nobody, proposed a measure to endorse nobody. Paul Tonko supported this measure even though he had contacted the entire committee seeking their support the day before.
This measured then failed, and over 100 members of the committee, along with Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings, took the low road and walked out rather than vote up or down to endorse someone. Steck then won the vote, with 124 members in support. Paul Tonko held on to 27 votes, and Tracey Brooks had 12 supporters willing to stay.
This was apparently not covered anywhere on local broadcast media. Despite the fact that we had such newsworthy quotes as this emerging from this now heated race:
"No one benefits with suburban versus urban, that doesn't help anyone," Jennings said. "I didn't see any reason to continue the divisiveness that was going to be involved" in the long vote.
That way, he said, all Democrats could work for their own candidates. "We made a decision except for Phil Steck and his camp. They think they were better than the whole organization, and they're not. Tracey and Paul are taking the high road and not wanting to divide this party any further."
I fail to see how walking out of meeting does anything to stifle divisiveness. How can one not categorize such a stunt as a display of such division?
Commonsense dictates that walking out is not a display of coming together. That's not making a decision for party unity; that's blowing off after not being able to make the decision for everyone else. And this is even worse:
"I will vote for a Republican before I vote for Phil Steck," said a city committeeman who asked to remain anonymous.
I'd like Democrats in this district to ask themselves this: how did this Congressional primary turn out worse than Presidential contest in only three days? People are honestly already considering putting their pettiest of politics above rallying around one of the eight Democrats who will fight to end the war, get universal health care, and a green energy economy?
Amidst all the "divisiveness," I think it would worthwhile to point out that nearly all the best recieved candidates in this race are in basic agreement on these main issues, from Steck, Brooks, and Tonko to the candidates getting the shaft in this media circus, including Darius Shahinfar, Lester Freeman, and Craig Burridge.
There was great coverage of all this on the blogs linked to above, and a lot of commenting about how many votes were recieved and who is responsible for the division. I just can't see how Steck can be blamed for seeking the endorsement and recieving it in an overwhelming vote of Democrats who chose to stand for what they believe instead of walk out altogether.
It yet another similarity to the Presidential primary, a lot was made of how many votes were there, citing the Hillary-Obama standoff in Michigan and Florida. As the Obama argument that votes not cast shouldn't count takes hold as conventional wisdom, I would hope that the same logic holds true in this race. Just as an honest accounting in the national race puts Obama a hair away from the nomination and Hillary's arguments inneffective, it confirms Phil Steck's victory this week in his battle to join one of the two down the ballot in November.
Phil Steck and committee member Dick Barret say it best themselves:
Steck said the way he recalls the meeting is only Brooks was pushing for the no-endorsement vote. Tonko was quiet, he said. In fact, a day before the meeting, Tonko sent out a letter saying he would ask the Albany County committee for its support, Steck said.
Jennings is "trying to raise a banner of urban-suburban to defend his actions at the county committee meeting," Steck said. "He made a motion with his head, and they all walked out. The walk-out had nothing to do with party unity. To Jerry Jennings, party unity is running the show, and that's not what party unity is all about."
Barrett said he'd never seen anything like the walkout and called it "disgraceful."
"It fosters disunity," he said, noting, committee members are elected to represent thousands of Democrats, all of whom were disenfranchised by the move.
Emphasis added
As an Albany County Democrat, I have to agree, and I'm glad that this day has come, even with its controvery. Change is often controversial, but this is the year of change in this party.
Some say it's a machine, others say it ain't. But part of this now heated, always packed primary for Congress has already shaking things up in Albany County while the candidates seek to shake things up in Washington. If there was a machine in Albany, it was either exposed, wounded, or defeated by the popular endorsement of Phil Steck for Congress.
The Steck for Congress campaign news section sums things up the best:
Steck supporters thwarted an attempt by rival campaigns to suppress the will of the Committee.
Steck also finished the 1st Quarter first in fundraising with $205,000. He has also been endorsed by over 50 local elected and party officials.
For those who view the history of Albany machine politics to go from the Corning-O'Connell era into an Breslin-Jennings organization gaining too much power, this endorsement marks a turning point in both the Congressional race in the short-term and county politics in the long-term.
The race in NY-21 turned out to be one to watch, and it may now turn out to be a long one. |
