Doing the math

If you are an enrolled Republican in the Town of Geneseo, then God and the U.S. Post Office willing, you should get a letter from me tomorrow. Communications to almost 1,000 Republican households were dispatched today, and I have the sore arms and cramped writer’s hands to prove it.

There are actually about 1,900 registered Republicans in the town, but when you combine those living in the same household and eliminate the on-campus students, who aren’t around this time of year anyway, you get it down to about 1,000. That’s still a lot when you have to pay Uncle Sam 41 cents apiece!

Of course, if I knew which of those people were going to actually show up at the caucus it would be a lot cheaper. The biggest Geneseo caucus in memory, the challenge of Mayor Hatheway by Dick Gallivan only drew about 300 of the party faithful.

In contrast, the Town of Avon has a lively caucus tradition with close to 1,000 coming out recently in hotly contested races. By the way, one of the smaller town caucuses in Geneseo was 6 years ago when Judge Presutti was renominated with a total of 3 present! Not likely to happen this year.

Of course, even if a particular person ultimately does not attend the caucus, it doesn’t mean their opinion will not be influential on someone who does. For that reason, I believe it is safer to mail to everyone and to see as many as possible in person.

I will be starting my systematic door-to-door efforts this weekend. I generally don’t like to campaign during the week until it gets down to the last minute and people are more focused on the race.

Assuming the caucus will be held in early August (see yesterday’s entry), there are at most 10 weekends or 20 campaign days to go. If I can see 50 people per 6 hour campaign day that would allow me to see the 1,000 most likely voters before the caucus.

The only problem with that calculation is that it only allows me about 5 minutes per household (10 if two voters are home.) I’ve done a lot of campaigning in my life, but I’ve never been able to average 5 minutes per person. In that amount of time, I’m just getting warmed up!

The only alternative is to start campaigning on weekday nights, but I’ll wait until the caucus date is set before I push the panic button on that. After all, it is summer time!

Caucus timing

There has been quite a lot of interest in when the major parties in Geneseo will schedule their respective caucuses this summer. Gov. Spitzer finally signed the legislation moving the primary back from Sept. 11 to Sept. 18 today, so the political calendar is now set.

The primary was moved back a week so as not to fall on Sept. 11, and as a result, procrastinators will have an extra week this year to file their various petitions. Of particular interest is the last date to file Independent petitions for town office. This is set by state law at 60 days before the primary, so by my count, that should be around Aug. 18.

In recent years both parties in Geneseo have put their slates on a “Independent” party line to provide voters another way to vote for their candidates. This is smart politics because many die-hard members of both parties may vote for a member of another party as long as they don’t have to do it on the hated rival line.

Of course, an independent line can also be used by candidates who either are disappointed at the caucus or choose to avoid the caucus altogether. That is assuming that there is enough time to gather and file the petitions. (5 per cent of the number of votes cast for governor last November or about 150 signatures are needed).

Since the caucus can be held any time up to a week after the primary, it is possible to schedule a caucus after the Independent filing deadline. This would present a quandary for everybody, however, because nobody would know who would be on the tickets. To avoid that, the caucus should probably be scheduled no later than August 11, to allow a week to gather signatures.

There is also some gamesmanship involved in which party will go first. Some Democrats, unhappy with their incumbent, would perhaps like to wait to see if the Republicans nominate someone that they could endorse. I presume that with my long history of partisan Republicanism, (up until the last couple of years at least) that I am not on that list.

On the other hand it seems unlikely that the Republicans would endorse a Democrat. We just don’t do that sort of thing.

Avoiding the Black Hole

This is my fifth run for public office. I ran for NYS Assembly in 1986 and 1992, and for the Village of Geneseo board in 2004 and 2006. In my Assembly races I was in two Livingston County Republican Committee contests and one Republican Primary that stretched over three counties.

In my village contests I have appeared on the General Election ballot twice. First in 2004 as Republican candidate for Village Trustee and last year as an Independent candidate for Mayor. I recount all this to illustrate that I have considerable campaign experience, and if I’ve learned anything from all that, it is how to pace myself and not fall into what I call “The Black Hole” of politics.

If you remember your physics, a Black Hole is a dense star who’s gravity is so strong that light can not escape and it therefore can not be seen. Something very similar can happen in politics. Because of the hard work and concentration required, campaigning can easily become an all-consuming obsession.

In the agitated state of campaigning, it is not uncommon for candidates to neglect the dull, ordinary parts of life, like friends, family and making a living. With the advantage I have of experience, however, I can now campaign less intensely and accomplish more! The Internet, including this blog, is a key part of that strategy.

All of this is by way of saying that I didn’t do much politics today but instead concentrated on more mundane matters, like making a living! With the closing of the Clarion newspaper we are striving to get a new printing and graphic design business underway at the Clarion Copy Center.

Recently we added a new line of stationery products and can now custom order letterhead, envelopes and business cards printed on a wide variety of fancy papers with raised lettering, embossed or even foil stamped. If you are in need of new stationary please stop in to see our sample book!

Tonight I participated in a very proud family moment. My son, E.T., a high school senior, received the “Athlete of the Year” Award at Allendale-Columbia School. He was captain of the basketball team this year and was named to the Exceptional Seniors game for the Finger Lakes West conference. He also was a standout in track where he threw the shotput and the discus and received the Coach’s Award.

All this makes me a very proud Papa and also serves to remind me, that no matter what happens in this race, there are always more important things going on outside the Black Hole . . .but tomorrow back to politics!

Looking for a peace candidate

On this day that is set aside to remember those who have paid the ultimate price in service to our country, we all pray for peace. The Memorial Day commemoration in Geneseo enjoyed beautiful weather and record crowds today.

I had a different view of the parade this year as, for the first time, I rode along as a member of the Geneseo Fire Department in Ambulance #820. It was very gratifying to hear the cheers and applause from the crowd as our lead ambulance made its way up and down Main Street.

A number of the veterans who spoke at the ceremonies also commented on how much the cheers meant to them. It might be nice to believe that on this one day, at least, politics could be laid aside, but of course that is never the case.

Politics is inevitably part of every public ceremony. Why else is Memorial Day presided over by the mayor and does it usually include prominent politicians as the featured speakers? For other elected officials and candidates it is also considered a command performance.

Now quick! If you were there, how many candidates for supervisor did you see today? Well there was me and our incumbent, of course, eagerly pressing all the flesh he could grab. But were there any others?

I’m sure there are others who are thinking of jumping into this race. Democrats, perhaps, who can not stand the thought of Wes representing their party again, or fear losing the seat to the Republicans.

And certainly there are Republicans who are not happy with the choice between their two announced candidates. After all, Patti Lavigne and I have mostly been on the same side of the controversial Lowes issue. And there are many of all parties who simply want the fighting to stop.

Certainly there is a sense that Wes is vulnerable and the time is ripe for a change in leadership. There is also a great deal of frustration in the community over the ferocity of the current Big Box War and, as in any war time, a sincere desire for peace.

If one listens carefully to the message of our veterans, however, you can hear the common theme that, in order to preserve liberty, sometimes it is necessary to fight. I feel the same way about our little war.

I admit that the tactics of Please Don’t Destroy Geneseo (PDDG) have been aggressive, but I believe they were absolutely necessary to counter the ’scorched earth’ tactics that our own town leaders have employed over the last two years. Without PDDG’s stout resistance, a horrible precedent for sprawl would have been set without any significant public debate.

Unfortunately, however, my travels have shown me that some people have bought into the idea that both sides are equally at fault for the conflict. In my view, this represents nothing more than the success of the classic political trick of using negative campaigning to turn voters off of the whole process.

Some may believe that a peace candidate can emerge who will somehow find the middle ground and heal all our wounds. This may be good politics, but it will lead to bad policy. The stars have aligned for a referendum on the future of Geneseo this fall. The voters should be offered a choice between planned Smart Growth and Open Government or four more years of unplanned sprawl and leadership by deceit.

The beauty of our democratic system is that these issues can finally be resolved at the ballot box and then the community can move on. Compromise is not a dirty word, but compromise of principle is not acceptable. And in most cases, lasting compromise, like peace, can only be accomplished when negotiating from a position of strength.

The next Howard Kramer

I thought reporter Howard Appell did a good job on this week’s LC News story about the supervisor’s race. Due to space limitations, however, one of the best quotes from my interview was left out.

I was reminded of this today when visiting with Geneseo Republican Committee member Mary Strickland. It turns out that Mary grew up in Springwater, and when you talk about Springwater, naturally the subject of its former town supervisor, the late, great Howard Kramer comes up.

I was a good friend and a huge fan of Howard’s. He served as Springwater supervisor for many years and also as the unofficial conscience of the Livingston County Board of Supervisors. Even though the weighted vote for the Town of Springwater was tiny, he carried an influence that far surpassed the numbers.

Howard’s influence was based on his steadfast adherence to principle and his willingness to ask the tough questions and even vote no on a regular basis if he didn’t get a good answer. In my opinion, in the years since Howard retired, there has been far too little public debate and far too many 17-0 vote on the County Board. As another Committee member, who will remain nameless, told me today, “There are too many bobble-heads in government these days!”

Howard Appell had asked me what I hoped to accomplish on the County Board if I am elected. Without hesitation I stated that I wanted to be the next Howard Kramer! As the resume on my web site shows, I have served on a number of boards of directors of local community organizations. I think anyone who has ever served with me on these boards would testify that I am usually the one asking the tough questions.

This has not always made me popular with the powers that be, however, I never lost much sleep over that. I always figured that my duty was owed to the organization and the people we represented. You can expect that same approach if I am fortunate enough to become the next supervisor of Geneseo.

Howard was also an accomplished muscian with his own popular country band. One of my greatest thrills was when he let me sit in on the drums one night, although it was a little embarassing because I wasn’t familiar with the songs! Feel free to write in with your own favorite Howard Kramer stories!

While out and about today I also stopped in on another old friend and my political mentor Bill Bruckel. Bill, and wife Jane, returned from Florida last week and were entertaining a collection of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren today at their West Lake Road home.

Bill, who cut his political teeth in Livingston County running for County Court Judge against Austin Erwin Jr. (and the Austin Erwin, Sr. political machine) in the 1960s, has taught me practically all I know about politics– just not all he knows, as he is fond of reminding me. Welcome back Bill and Jane!