Syracuse New Times
They danced in the aisles at the Palace Theatre election night, Tuesday, Nov. 8. First to Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" and then to Kool and the Gang's "Celebration." The communities of color were well represented at the Democrats' victory party, but it wasn't the hip-hop generation. The Post-Standard's last Zogby poll carried the annotation that those communities could provide the swing for this year's mayoral race. And while they were not asserting the point on the spot, Alliance Network's Walter Dixie and David Rufus were smiling broadly enough to announce that they were ready to make the case.
While the absentee, paper and write-in ballots have not been tallied yet, incumbent Democrat Matt Driscoll's unofficial 1,158-vote margin of victory could allow several claimants the title of swing factor. As if in a surging comeback to charges that its power was fading, the traditionally Democratic 17th Ward returned a 1,060-vote margin in Driscoll's favor. Approaching the election, those staffing Democratic phone banks were worrying about their party's prospective voters in the 17th, especially women, musing that females really favored Republican, Independence and Conservative challenger Joanie Mahoney.
But in the end, triumph in the contest went to whichever major party marched out the greater army of the early morning, and kept them human billboarding, phone-calling or driving those who had not yet exercised their franchise until the polls closed at 9 p.m.
With various polls showing either dead heats or leads flip-flopping, the ambiance at Our Lady of Pompeii's annual Election Day spaghetti lunch was one of muted anticipation. Even the usual spirited decibels were significantly reduced by the absence, for the first time in living memory, of Augie and Rocco, the songster and accordionist who had broken up their act. Outgoing State Fair director Peter Cappuccilli, a sauce-stirring veteran at the basement stove, walked the lunch line this time with Mahoney, for whom he had been stumping, as the PA system promoted an updated version of the occasion's fund-raising cookbook.
Always a source of instant history, especially statistics, state Sen. John DeFrancisco noted that the 1989 election for supervisor of Spafford reported in these pages (the Oct. 26 Scuffle column "Exercise Your Write") was not the only significant local example of a write-in victory. "I was on the school board in 1981 when I first ran for Common Council," he recounted about his councilor-at-large bid. "Bob Cecile was the Democrat and Charles Borgononi, not the priest, had the Conservative line. I ran a write-in campaign {against Borgononi} and beat him 121 to 119."
The election of 1981 further became an eerie reference point, with its voter turnout of 63 percent for the mayoral contest between Lee Alexander and Roy Bernardi. This year's unofficial count of 40 percent was the second lowest in the 24 years between and, a Republican number cruncher cited, Bernardi lost in 1981 with 21,000 votes, while Driscoll won this year with 15,000. "That shows you what's going on with this city," the GOP operative sighed with distress.
But, according to the candidates on the ballot who finished second and third, this year everybody won. Announcing her concession at the Sheraton Hotel at Syracuse University, Mahoney declared to a crowded room of supporters seemingly anything but depressed, "We're winners nonetheless. Syracuse will be better because of our efforts. We did send Matt Driscoll a message, and I'd be remiss if I didn't thank Howie Hawkins for what he brought to the race."
Watching the returns earlier in the evening at the headquarters of the aborted mayoral write-in drive of Jacob Roberts, Green Party candidate Hawkins reflected that he had won the campaign, if not the office, demonstrated by the response of the citizenry as well as the two other candidates to his call for a public power authority.
Some other green-minded folks are feeling like winners as well. Members of the Global Warming Action Network and Turn the Grid Green, fearing that Hawkins might play spoiler, were stumping for "Driscoll the Environmentalist" on Nov. 4, as the incumbent mayor signed the Urban Environmental Accords at the foot of City Hall. To spotty media attendance (notably absent was the Mahoney-endorsing Post-Standard) and a crowd of supporters, speakers at the event trumpeted the environmental successes gained under the Driscoll administration including switching City Hall to renewable energy. It remains to be seen if Hawkins' municipal power authority is now on Driscoll's green agenda.
Driscoll also opposed, along with several environmental groups, the construction of the in-progress Midland Avenue sewage treatment plant and the planned Armory Square plant. While his opposition to and alternative suggestions for Onondaga County Executive Nick Pirro's plan didn't stop the plants from starting construction, our mayor certainly tried. Which leads one to ask if maybe Pirro, who has been at loggerheads with Driscoll over Onondaga Creek issues (among other things) for years, is one of the few losers to come out of this election? Perhaps he had his fingers crossed for Mahoney, who adopted a promise to "cooperate with the county" as one of her talking points during the campaign.
-- Walt Sheppard and Justin Park
Posted by syracusegreens at November 16, 2005 06:17 PM