Rochester's Democratic Mayoral Primary: The Choice Between the Undesirable and the Unpalatable

Next week, Rochester will endure the farce of the local Democratic Primary.

There is already early voting for people who fear they might be murdered in our fair city before they can get their vote in.

Since Rochester is a one-party city dominated by the Democrats, whoever wins the primary will most likely win the general election in November.

While there are a surfeit of unworthy candidates vying for the party's line in November and all of them are using the same political rhetoric to get themselves elected, this writing will only concentrate on the mayoral primary.

For all intents and purposes, there are only two candidates "worth" considering: The incumbent, Lovely Warren, seeking her third term in office; and her challenger, Malik Evans.

Their political rhetoric, as stated previously, is similar.

Evans has agreed with much of Warren has done and proposes to do.

So why even consider him?

To do Warren some justice, she was adequate to the task during her first six years in office. While she accomplished little more than to provide bread and circuses for Rochester (carefully chosen segments of Rochester, that is), she really didn't do it any harm and she managed to brazen out the stupid mistakes she and her closest associates made during that time.

It was only eighteen months ago, at the start of the pandemic, that she proved incapable of providing Rochester with anything like the leadership the city required.

That, and the continuing crises and scandals in which she was intimately involved and that she was unable to lay to rest, made her incapable of true leadership.

Her answer to opponents and critics became accusations of racism and sexism, cards she had previously successfully played in Rochester.

That no longer had the desired effect, so she countered by appealing to the Black community, promising them pie high in the sky if she gets re-elected.

She decided to split Rochester into racial components, with her choosing to support one over the entire city.

As for Evans, he claims that he will bring his "experience" to City Hall.

His previous experience consists of being on Rochester's School Board for ten years, during the last five of which he was president.

It was not a good experience.

He and his cohorts made the Rochester City School District a laughing stock; the worst in New York State; and one of the worst in the entire nation.

Then, during the last four years, he had a rather lackluster stint on City Council, hardly visible except at their regular meetings, before announcing his candidacy for mayor this year.

While he quickly scarfed up the support of various politicians and labor unions, Warren, who controls most of the Democratic City Committees through creatures of her own in leadership positions there, won the Democratic endorsement for mayor.

As seen previously, that endorsement does not guarantee victory in the primary.

And today, Evans got the endorsement of outsider Cedric Alexander, who, during his brief stays in Rochester, was acting chief of police for a few months in 2005 and briefly brought back by Warren to be her third Deputy Mayor from 2017 to 2019.

What that endorsement is worth is anyone's guess.

And Evans has never come out as being pro-RPD before. Warren clearly is not.

Yet, Evans is merely a quieter version of Warren, agreeing with her on most issues, but saying he will bring trust and transparency to the office of Mayor.

This "trust and transparency" he speaks of was never evident while he was on the School Board and rings rather hollow now, especially since he has been rather mealy-mouthed throughout his entire campaign and looks rather frightened of Warren, who is rather disgusted with a Black man daring to challenge her.

But they agree on far more than they disagree, which really doesn't give us much choice deciding between the two of them.

The only thing that many of Evans' supporters are touting about him is that he is NOT Warren, which is not a good reason to vote for him.

The reality of the matter is that both of them will do pretty much the same thing if they are elected to office. They are the two evils we have to choose from. That is the real tragedy.

Which  means there is really no reason at all to vote for mayor this year. One will do just as badly as the other.