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Random Thoughts from Another Election…
Posted 11-12-2003
Chris Feliciani's victory, for a place on the Court of Common Pleas,
was one of the most surprising and exciting wins that I can remember. And,
it couldn't have happened to a nicer, more-deserving person.
Ten months ago, no one heard
of Feliciani, and now he's going to be a judge. A lot of factors went into
him winning. One that may be forgotten by casual observers, but that I think
was very significant, was Annaliese Masser's withdrawal from the election
after not getting the endorsement at the Democratic convention last March.
If Annaliese stays in the race, Michele Bononi wins both parties' nomination
in the primary election.
Biggest factor coming down
the stretch of a very tight race for judge -- the Bononi's mishandling of
the whole push poll controversy. The push poll effort may not have cost them
the election, but how they handled it when they got caught might have. All
Eric Bononi had to say was, "yes, we did the poll but Michele didn't know."
In a race like judge, all people can determine about candidates are their
credibility, and that episode so damaged the Bononi campaign, Chris locked
up undecided voters in big numbers after that.
The commissioners' race was
closer this time than last for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the
top four candidates were more established and had better name recognition
than Conner and Davis did four years ago. Essentially, there were four
people with ties to the Democratic Party running. Even Gebicki's minuscule
vote likely came off the Democrats' totals and Gene Porterfield still draws
Democratic votes in parts of the county. Actually Marolt's regional support
along the eastern boundary of the county brings him Democratic votes there
too.
The almost-formal teaming
effort of Tom Ceraso and I really worked. Our vote totals countywide were
very close and in some municipalities, our totals were less than fifty votes
apart. Our goal all along was for us to be victorious and to also help Chris
Feliciani win too.
It was also a good sign that
Supreme Court candidate and ultimate winner, Max Baer won our county. It has
been some time for a statewide candidate, not from our county, to come out
on top here. While his margin of victory wasn't huge (7,000 votes), it
helped add to the big totals he was running up other places.
I almost feel bad for Gene
Porterfield, not because he lost the election, but because of the shabby
treatment he received in Republican circles for switching parties. They
treated him okay when he switched and ran against Allen Kukovich, but, this
time against Marolt, they treated him like he had the plague. And, what
Republican has ever been in bed with certain Democrat more than Terry Marolt
when he and Dick Vidmer ran the county? The lesson to Democrats who may
consider switching parties, don't do it. Democrats feel betrayed and
Republicans give you the cold shoulder. Now, if you are a Republican and
want to switch parties, we will welcome you with open arms because we are
the party of inclusion!
Absence must truly make the
heart grow fonder. How else do you explain the Tribune Review endorsing
Marolt and even saying that everyone else was nothing but, heaven forbid,
Democrats! Talk about no credibility, they endorsed without even
interviewing the candidates. Too busy? Too lazy? Or, was it simply that they
had their minds made up no matter how we would have come out in an
interview? Of course, credibility never is an issue with the editorial page
of the Trib, remember them endorsing a guy named Peter Payne over John Peck
for district attorney? That was done despite the fact that Payne NEVER
prosecuted a case in his life, and John Peck is one of the most highly
respected prosecutors in Pennsylvania. Peck's only fault, he's a Democrat.
What The Trib, in its haste
to embrace Marolt, forgot to tell its readers is that Marolt was part of the
largest tax increase in county history. In 1991, he and Vidmer raised taxes
so high with a surplus already in place, they got sued and lost. They also
forgot to tell their readers how Marolt's repeated refinancing of debt did
nothing other than tie up our existing debt, so when interest rates went
down during this term, we couldn't save money. They also neglected to tell
readers about Marolt's cushy job he received after he left office. Funny how
they remember everything Democrats do, but never Republicans. Time will tell
if we are ever going to see balanced editorializing from the Trib. Since
their motives are so purely partisan, it isn't likely to happen.
Of course, the other
challengers did nothing to attack the credibility of each other. Gebicki
attacked Tom Ceraso and I rather than the other challengers, even though
he'd try to tell Democrats privately we could have three Democrats in if he
won. Now, where does he turn politically? The NP (No Party) thing sure
didn't work.
Gene Porterfield worked very
hard, and he campaigned all over. But, it appeared he didn't recognize whom
he was competing with either. While Debbie Irwin and Republican insiders
were doing a hatchet job on him, he really left Marolt unscathed. From our
standpoint, the Democrats didn't want to give any other candidate free
publicity, so we just kept working on our message that we really are moving
county government forward in an extremely challenging environment.
Finally, with the most
beautiful weather in recent history on Election Day, we had a 30.8% turnout.
6,000 less people voted this year than in 1999. If they didn't come out to
vote on this most beautiful recent Election Day, when are people going to
exercise their most fundamental right? |
