Despite a growing disparity in party enrollment, despite a barrage of negative ads, despite the efforts of a scandal-mongering press and a partisan DA, the GOP in Monroe County swept the board on Election Day.
The GOP held its majority in the County Legislature, scored a big win in County Court, and had easy wins for the Sheriff and for Supreme and Surrogate's Court. The Town of Irondiquoit turned back over to the Republican party and, in Gates, which had been pegged as "the next domino" to fall to the Dems, GOP candidates thrashed their opponents for every position.
The reality was that the people in Gates and Monroe County were not going to turn over the reins of power to a party which offered no plan, no program, no vision. Joe Morelle's "all scandal, all of the time" campaign fell flat. Some of the ads, such as the McCarthy DWI ad and the slanderous "Robutrad" ad attacking Frank Allkofer and Elaine Tette, were disgraceful and well beyond the normal bounds of "rough and tumble" politics. If I were a Democrat, I'd want Joe out; as a Republican, I say, please Joe, keep up the "good" work!
I'll leave most of the analysis to pundits wiser than me. I'm sure there were some anti-Obama/anti-Paterson/anti-Washington and Albany Democrat effects at work. But I think a lot has to do with the fact that people around here are basically pretty smart and they know which team was the "A-Team" who understands how to govern in tough times. Add to that the fact that the GOP candidates and their supporters worked harder than ever. It was an insurmountable task for the Dems.
There's still some life left in the GOP yet.
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6 comments:
The Democrat & Chronicle should be especially ashamed of their pandering endorsements during this election...let's move on tonight to be rid of the Phillies and those ridiculous hankies!
Comgrants on the wins. I got two of the three big ones right on my ballot - Assini and Allkofer.
Oops: "Congrats"
Oh, by the way, now that you're not going to be fired, you can afford to buy me that coffee! (Unless Mark Assini has plans he hasn't told you about yet!)
I have reason to believe I'll keep the slot a bit longer.
The coffee is on me, whenever we can get together.
Repoman --
Excellent summary. Your central point goeds to the heart of why Democrats had a bad night on Tuesday. They're criticizing and slinging accusations. But they NEVER offer alternatives or positive proposals. This is especially damaging to their county legislature efforts. They like to criticize Maggie Brooks's budgets and they posture on the property tax questions. But they dare not offer any actual proposals of their own. Voters see them as complainers, not people with ideas of how to struggle through the 80% of county spending that Albany dictates, through mandates.
FYI. EVERYTIME the democrats in the County Legislature offer an idea in a referral, it is summarily tabled by the republicans without discussion or debate (contrary to Robert's Rules of Order).
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