It’s getting nutty out there, folks.
RochesterTurning has, as usual, been doing the yeoman’s work in reporting the local political situation, including this season’s Sleazy Republican Mailer linking Democrats to terrorism. It certainly appears as though Monroe County Republicans are getting fairly worried about Maggie’s tax intercept, and pulling out all the stops to save their hides.
But then, my personal suspicion has been that most – if perhaps not all – of this in the plan, anyway. Maggie’s sitting on a million dollars and has nothing to do with it. I think the plan was to screw the schools to balance the budget, then use Maggie’s Millions to stop the electoral bleeding. Swamp the opposition in money, win back the majority in the Legislature, and then claim a new “mandate” for fiscal conservatism in Monroe County.
Certainly, the minute Maggie’s Tax Theft was passed, she had a bright, shiny new commercial to tout it’s effectiveness. Not only a commercial, but an entire marketing campaign of considerable sophistication and organization. Not only bright and shiny, but it was a slickly-designed rhetorical pitch meant to take what they knew would be an unpopular plan and turn it into a slam-dunk. F – A – I – R: One, Two, Three, Blow Me. I don’t think that there is any question that this was a long-thought-out plan, a chess-game strategy for some such long-term political pipe-dream.
The question is: has that plan worked? Only after November 7th will we know for sure, but my suspicion is no, it hasn’t. Far removed from the calculated “political judo” of the first F.A.I.R. commercial, recent comments begin to sound more and more shrill, with Maggie thrashing about in all directions. I’ve recently spoken to someone who got the same mailer linked to above, and also a robo-call of similar theme from Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn. I’m working on getting the details of that call, but the point is: that’s not the kind of campaign we’re used to seeing for a sheriff’s position in M.C.
Meanwhile, the campaign against Maggie’s Tax Theft is gaining considerable momentum, and perhaps more importantly, considerable axiomatic weight among voters. Rather than a vague feeling or privately-kept belief, anger against the Great Lunch Money Robbery has become an open hostility. Most people don’t discuss politics openly at the office with the exception of two events in the last few years: the failed Bush response to Katrina and F.A.I.R. Seriously, the talk where I am is that bold and unabashed.
The Monroe County Federation of Teachers has released a new Unfair to Kids website. The online petition against F.A.I.R. is gaining signatures every day. Gates-Chili posted the petition on the school website, and I’m sure there are others who’ve done the same. Meanwhile, the blogging community is keeping the pressure up and I’m proud to say that this website has personally seen to it that Google, MSN and Yahoo searchers know about Maggie Brooks.
Again, we won’t know for a few more days how this all plays out. I’d hate to start counting my chickens before they’re hatched. But I tend to agree with BTP on this one, I think the Republicans area wee bit more concerned then they thought they needed to be at this point.
Ultimately, I think politicians of all political stripes are probably paying very close attention to this Minarek/Brooks scheme. Even if they win the majority in the Lej, I don’t know that any other politicians would willfully put themselves in this situation again.
In terms of pure political calculus, those fiscal conservatives who agree with the concept of the plan are defending Maggie Brooks, those of us on the Left are of course opposed. In short, nothing’s very much changed at the opposing poles of the political spectrum, and what we’re left with is the opinion of the Mighty Middle that decides all elections everywhere in America. Based on what I’ve heard, the middle is mostly feeling robbed by a rushed vote that took them by surprise; like a victim to the partisan gamesmanship. That’s not the way you want to treat the primary source of votes.
