Lack of GOP candidate for mayor ends an era
Published: August 02, 2009, 12:30 am
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Ever since 1855, when Lewis L. Hodges first appeared on its fledgling line, the Republican Party has never failed to field a candidate for mayor of Buffalo.
Through the city’s boom times and then its decline, and even as opposition Democrats dominated in overwhelming numbers, the Grand Old Party always found a stalwart to preach its message.
That streak has ended.
For the first time in their history, Buffalo Republicans will not field a candidate for mayor this year.
Though they have occasionally backed Democrats in recent years, and a rogue candidate could still compete as a write-in, the party’s official organization appears to have recognized it cannot compete against impossible odds.
“It’s not for lack of effort,” said Erie County Republican
Chairman James P. Domagalski. “But races for us in the city are not uphill, they’re up a mountain.”
“We face worse numbers than Custer,” added Dennis V. Ryan, chairman of the Buffalo GOP.
Several factors have combined to make Buffalo elections almost impossible assignments for the GOP:
• No Republican has won the city’s top job since Chester Kowal in 1961.
• Democrats outnumber Republicans by staggering totals — 112,037 to 16,245. Even those registered with no party now outnumber Republicans, at 18,408.
• Republican Kevin J. Helfer ran a well-financed and professional campaign against then-State Sen. Byron W. Brown in 2005, only to get walloped by a 67 to 24 percent tally.
City Republicans combed their ranks in the spring and early summer searching for a candidate. Ryan even inserted Lovejoy Republican Chairman Richard M. Gattone’s name on the ballot as a “placeholder” when nomination petitions were circulated, hoping to entice someone into the race.
But no dream candidate and nobody even of semi-stature surfaced; Gattone officially declined the nomination last week.
Beyond Gattone, party officials say the lopsided enrollment disparity with Democrats, the near impossibility of raising enough funds to compete with Brown’s $1.1 million treasury, and equally near impossible odds of winning, combined to discourage any potential contender.
“Not many people want to sign up to get beat 70 to 30 percent,” Domagalski said, adding that the situation is not unique to Buffalo. Most major U. S. cities don’t have Republican mayors.
Ryan added that the city party is now at the point where it can best contribute by working for countywide candidates.
“We’ve played a critical role in electing new faces across the county,” he said.
Some observers say the situation is fine with Domagalski; that he would just as soon suppress the city’s overwhelmingly Democratic vote to boost countywide Republicans in competitive races—especially Timothy M. Howard for sheriff and Philip C. Kadet for comptroller. “People can say what they want,” Domagalski said, “but the fact of the matter is that the enrollment is what it is.”
Attorney Richard A. Grimm III, who challenged Democrat Anthony M. Masiello on the Republican line in 1993, said at the time he wanted to give voters a choice. Now he says he understands why nobody expresses interest in devoting significant time and effort to a race with little prospect of raising money and virtually no chance of winning.
He pointed to the Helfer effort of 2005, when three times as much money, a bigger campaign staff and a serious presence on television produced almost the same results as his own drubbing 12 years earlier.
He also questions how the last two mayors of New York—Republicans Rudy Giuliani and Michael R. Bloomberg— can win with basically the same overwhelming Democratic advantage.
“It’s discouraging, and I can’t find an answer,” Grimm said. “I’m a pretty positive guy, and for me not to be able to find a silver lining says a lot.”
The signs of Republican surrender have been building for years. Republican John J. Phelan could not exploit a three-way division when he ran against Democrat Arthur O. Eve and Conservative James D. Griffin in 1977.
Later, the GOP took to endorsing Democrats, as it did with Griffin in 1981, 1985 and 1989, and with Masiello in 1997 and 2001.
“There was some reason for that,” Grimm observed. “Values were in line with at least some core values of the Republican Party — certainly with Griffin.”
But since he became chairman in 2006, Domagalski has discouraged granting the Republican line to Democrats.
“The Republican brand was damaged by taking Democrats or flipping them as Republicans,” he said. “People asked: ‘What do they stand for?’ ”
All of this spawns a sense of sadness among longtime observers of Buffalo politics. They lament not only the lack of competition, but also the lack of an exchange of ideas and policy debate facilitated by a good, old-fashioned election.
Even Joseph F. Crangle, who fought many Republican mayoral candidates as Erie County Democratic chairman from 1965 to 1988, calls the lack of a Republican candidate in 2009 “a shame.”
“Whether it’s sports or politics or anything, the public is served by competition,” Crangle said. “And the whole foundation of this country is built on competition between political parties.
“Once you eliminate that competition,” he added, “you get arrogance.”
rmccarthy@buffnews.com
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