Mr Stainton goes to Rochester
Did you catch the paper this morning? So some guy just decides to run. Cool.
Andrew Stainton said enough is enough and is running against Maggie Brooks as an independent candidate. He said
“While it’s generally true that candidates without a lot of money are not considered viable,” Stainton said, “I believe that once a full comparison is made between our different approaches and presented in the marketplace of ideas, that we will have something much better to offer the voters of Monroe County than the limited path of the status quo.”
…A full comparision.
Yep - Maggie has nothing except status quo and we have all seen how that has worked for Monroe County so far.
don’t know anything about him, but maybe the dems should consider endorsing him if he turns out to be someone with credible ideas.
I’ve been wanting to write about this…
The Dems are in a tough spot. Either they can run no one against Brooks, which will hopefully depress turnout and give them a chance to run more competitively in the Leg races or they can run an issues candidate and let him them talk about the kinds of things you can only talk about in a blowout.
Look, it shouldn’t be ignored that Brooks will win this race. The problem is Democrats have more to lose in running a competitive race than not. Weird, huh?
Brooks has a war chest. Why give her a reason to unload it. And if she does unload it in an unchallenged race, then you can criticize her for largess and imply she runs the County like she does her campaign. Either way, the goal should be picking up Lej seats.
However, if you can put a reputable and articulate candidate out there that can really offer up an alternative to Brooks’ management of the county, then go for it. Use the blowout to really sell the things that don’t get spoken about in close races, like City/County mergers and the like.
The best thing for Dems to do is start attacking the Minarik Machine. Start to develop the narrative that we live in an area co-opted by corrupt politics. The stagnation in the leadership reflects the cronyism and the unaccountability.
For too long Democrats, including myself, have taken the high-road while Minarik has covered us with mud. Now that I’m thinking about it, the thing to do is run against Minarik. Make the case that he runs Monroe County by proxy. It’s an easy association to make and he not nearly as likable as Brooks. It also illustrates the kind of strangle hold the local GoP has on local Government.
Am I making sense here, or am I fishing in strange and deep waters?
I hear you but….
I believe there are more Dems than Republicans in MC so “suppressing the turnout” hurts the Dems. The Maggie winning the race comment leads me to ask why bother at all. Then I look at Parma and Pittsford Village and am reminded that multiple cycles are required.
Maggie’s war chest. If she doesn’t use it she dumps it into a few LD races where they are not fully funded and potentially tip the scales.
I absolutely agree on the developing the narrative on the Minarik Machine. We are trying.
We’re not “the Democrats”, but I agree with stlo7. We’re trying to show people Minarik’s stranglehold on power, and the corrupt politics this place has.
I also agree with stlo7. We have the opportunity to field a candidate that will siphon off some of Maggie’s gobs of cash.
If you compare this race to 2008, it’s like not contesting the presidency in order to focus more on congressional elections. How smart an idea would that be?
Does Stainton have a website? I’d like to find out more of his ideas.
So you target Minarik, what will that accomplish? It’s true that he really runs Monroe County and Maggie Brooks is just a figurehead, but Minarik’s name isn’t on the ballot and Brooks is. And let’s be blunt here shall we: a number of voters will go to the polls in November and vote for “that nice lady who used to anchor the news on Television.â€ÂÂ
The Democrats shot themselves in the foot two ways. One they have waited far too long to announce their candidate for county executive (which they still haven’t as of this message). And two instead of running a full slate of legislature candidates, they’ve left some races unopposed, or are running political novices.
This was the year the Democrats could have taken control of the County Legislature, but in plain simple terms; they blew it!!!
So we agree a Democratic candidate would be nice and no race unopposed. However regarding the nice lady on TV -
Voter education actually works. I know I’ve had the “nice lady conversations” and once the cronyism and corruption is pointed out they don’t see that nice lady they see the metaphorical Bush.
[...] a quick reminder Andrew Stainton - who is running against Maggie Brooks will be interviewed by Bob Smith on WXXI’s 1370 [...]