| After Albany Common Councilman Corey Ellis gave Mayor Jerry Jennings the hardest challenge to his authority of his career last month, it remained to be seen whether or not this small defeat could be turned into a greater victory. Or a repeat of history. The usual thing to do against an incumbent like Jennings after even a narrow Democratic Primary defeat is to step aside and just let the Mayor win.
After some weeks of "mulling" whether or not to continue the campaign on the Working Families Party line, leaving progressives wondering what October would bring, and after some fundraising efforts were made, supporters of change in Albany got their answer as to what October will bring today. The Ellis campaign announced the following today:
As Corey Ellis continues his campaign for Mayor through to the General Election on Tuesday, November 3rd, he is urging people to join with him as he addresses Albany City budget issues. Corey has advocated the need for transparent and accountable government throughout his campaign for Mayor. The budget presented by the Mayor last week makes it clearer than ever that we need a change in leadership in Albany.
The first opportunity to be involved is to attend the Albany Common Council caucus today, Monday, October 5 at 5:30 PM in the 2nd Floor courtroom in Albany City Hall.
More details below the fold... |
Tonight, Ellis seems to be making the first step in continuing his challenge to Mayor Jennings on issues where it hits home: budgets, taxes, and deficits. The main issues presented in the following order by the campaign?
* The citizens of Albany are facing another tax hike that will be imposed by Mayor Jennings on residential homeowners;
* Continued very high levels of borrowing in the Jennings budget ($20.3M for 2010);
* Mayor Jennings's 2010 budget is not balanced - it uses approximately $5.3 million from reserve funds to fill the hole in revenues versus expenditures;
* Mayor Jennings's 2010 budget fails to adequately address an $11 million budget deficit pushed forward into future budget years, 2011 and beyond - a gaping hole for a $163M total annual budget.
Emphasis mine. - SP
In other words, the issues that haven't been dealt with for sixteen years under Jerry Jennings. The issues that resonate with voters, those five words that jump out above (and beyond) in every single election, and particularly more today on every political theater.
It wasn't immediately apparent from the release whether the meeting in City Hall tonight will be a proxy for a public showdown between Jennings and Ellis, since only the deputy Mayor's attendance is mentioned. But the message is clear that the new strategy in continuing the campaign is the best reasoned strategy of all: using the powers of the seat you have to the fullest extent possible to address those issues. And according the campaign, this October is just beginning:
Several Common Council meetings are being scheduled throughout October, at which each department's budget will be reviewed. The schedule will be released by the Common Council soon.
A public hearing on Mayor Jennings's 2010 proposed budget is scheduled for Monday, October 19 at 7:00 PM in the Common Council chamber in Albany City Hall.
Your attendance at these meetings, on behalf of Corey, will send a message to Mayor Jennings that the 2010 Albany City budget is not acceptable. Get involved.
I was one of the one's wondering myself just what this month might bring. But Ellis today has made it clear today that October brings a continuation of what only began in September. It was the decision I had hoped he'd come forth with immediately; the only prior polling on the race had placed Mr. Ellis a full 21 points behind the Mayor. He finished nearly twice as well, and some of the best purely political analysis comes from a colleague of Ellis on the Common Council, Dominick Calsolaro:
"He got 44 percent of the vote, and if you take out the 8th, 14th, and 15th wards, he won the total vote in the other 12 wards," Calsolaro said. "If you look at each election district for each ward, he won most of the city."
Corey Ellis is, if anything else, local politics at it's best: he's hitting the issues that matter most the people in those specific wards. The one-fifth of the city that the Mayor still has in his grasp. The one-fifth of the people who only need to raise to raise one specific finger in response to any one of those five words up above.
I only started to really watch this thing just one week before Ellis's close primary challenge to the Mayor. I went home primary day wondering if I had been too late, and that things were over.
Now, I'm actually feeling like I got the jump on something. It's race worth watching now more than ever before. |
