Here ya’ go with the meme in full force:
Thane needs to remember that she was re-elected in a three-way race with 46 percent of the vote, meaning 54 percent of Amsterdam residents — a majority — who went to the polls voted for the other guys. She enters her second term with little to no political capital to spend, so Thane needs to work extra hard to build a consensus with the council if she hopes to be an effective leader this time around.
Of course, the “bipartisanship” advocated by the editors only works one way — the Mayor should yield to the Council; we should not expect the Council to yield to the Mayor. It’s like national politics — Obama needs to embrace bipartisanship while the House and Senate leaders undermine any notion of bipartisanship.
Funny how that works.
But political parties mean “nothing ” in local politics and that is why the mmost vocal public advocate against the Mayor and Corp Counsel, Diane Hatzenbuhler, gets cited by the Recorder when based upon their very own logic, she garnered not even close a to a majority of votes– many more voted against her than for her. But that is OK as that supports the meme.
Like I said, this editorial seeks to delegitimize any policy or action, not on its relative merits or demerits, but on the notion that there is no “majority”.
Here is a funny thing if you extend the Recorder’s logic– Michael Chiara in the 5th Ward Supervisor race did not garner a majority of votes. In fact, he received 301 total votes while his opponents received a total of 303 votes.
Do we get an editorial on Mr. Chiara’s need for building political capital? Do we get an editorial on how Mr Chiara does not really represent a majority of 5th Ward voters? Will we get a constant drumbeat on how Mr Chiara did not garner a majority of votes on any policy or action with which the editors disagree?
Funny, I haven’t heard or seen that. Quite the opposite, it seems the editors embrace Mr Chiara’s election even though he does not represent “a majority”.
Why the double standard here on the notion of “majority”?
Here’s another way to look at the numbers– Thane received 1762 and Emanuele received 1712 while Write-Ins received 337.
That means that a majority of voters by a factor of 10X wanted Thane or Emanuele over a write in candidate. What does that mean in terms of outcomes– absolutely nothing, just like adding the combined votes for opponents for Mr Chiara and Mayor Thane.
I look forward to how the editors will pick a Super Bowl winnner– it won’t be based upon who scores the most points in the Super Bowl, it will actually be based upon which team has their opponents score the least points through the regular season and playoffs.
I agree that the “54% voted against her” argument is ridiculous. No doubt, the electorate is divided, all the more reason for *all* elected officials to work toward finding common ground.
That being said, I think it’s important to remember that the Corporation Counsel is supposed to work for both the Common Council and the Mayor, not just the Mayor. Therefore if the Common Council doesn’t want DeCusatis, then I think that has to be respected, and I would agree with the editorial that for Thane to continue to reappoint DeCusatis over and over again would be extremely unhealthy for the city as a whole. I think Thane should pick another lawyer she trusts.
Saints 38-Patriots 28.