WPCNR BACKROOM BULLETIN. By John F. Bailey. February 16, 2009: The calls are going out. Pointed, probing telephone polls with questions of
The personalities are Adam Bradley, the assemblyman who is officially undecided about running for Mayor of White Plains; Bill Ryan, the Chair of the County Board of Legislators, viewed as perhaps hurt politically by his touting raises for himself and county legislators, and for tolerating Gary Kriss, the dismissed former spokesperson for the County Board of Legislators and assistant to Mr. Ryan, and Andrew Spano the Westchester County Executive, and one non-Democrat, the three term Mayor of White Plains Joseph Delfino.
Conspicuous by their absence from the poll are Benjamin Boykin, Thomas Roach and Rita Malmud and Glen Hockley, Common Councilpersons with extensive experience on the council.
County Executive Andy Spano February 2009 — Performance Being Polled
Chair of the Board of Legislators, White Plains’ Bill Ryan — Performance Ratings Sought.
Assemblyman Adam Bradley of White Plains — Approval Ratings Asked.
The Target? Or a Challenger for Andy Spano: Mayor Joseph Delfino of White Plains — Rating of the Mayor’s Performance Being Asked for. Asked Monday if the Mayor had ruled out a run for County Executive, Mayor Delfino in a statement to WPCNR said , “He had not ruled it out.”
According to persons who have received these calls, the questions asked them asked “my feelings toward” each of the political personalities “positive or negative” in terms of a percentage.
In addition, the poll, our correspondents said asked their opinion of the White Plains Common Council “as a whole” “positive or negative” in terms of a percentage.
And finally, the poll asked the pollee their “attitude toward development,” whether development had been based on “good planning” and whether or not they felt developers had “gotten too many” breaks.
The poll appears to be testing the waters perhaps by the undecided Mr. Ryan and the undecided Mr. Bradley, about the vulnerability of
The poll also asked pollees to rate the Common Council performance.
The popular Tom Roach — voter ratings of him not sought in poll.
The Council President, Benjamin Boykin, ten years on the Council — His popularity not sought by poll.
Rita Malmud, twenty years of Council experience — Voter Rating Not Polled.
Benjamin Boykin, and Tom Roach, two possible Democratic Mayoral candidates from the Common Council ranks may be being tested here by this Common Council question.
Roach, with eight years on the council, Boykin with ten years on the council, and Rita Malmud, a councilperson with twenty years of experience behind the Common Council ballustrades not even being asked for ratings among voters is curious. If this is a Mayor poll testing the waters for Ryan and Bradley, if I were Mr. Boykin, Mr. Roach, and Mrs. Malmud I’d be miffed.
Glen Hockley Seven Years Experience on Council — Not Analyzed by Poll
More interesting is why the Democrats, if this is a Democrat-sponsored poll, would not get a bead on the Hockley strength. They may be lulled into a false sense of security by their recent primary drubbing of Mr. Hockley in the District Leader challenge primary last September.
If Hockley should wrangle nomination for say County Legislator running against Mr. Ryan, or running for Mayor on the Working Families Ticket, or for his Council Seat as a Working Families Party or Republican candidate, he could draw votes from the Democrat Mayoral nominee. The Democrats should remember when Nick Beilenson lost to Mayor Alfred Del Vecchio when Michael Keating split the Democratic vote.
Development only issue polled.
At this point it is unclear who is funding this extensive poll whether it is the
The Mayor’s Office said Monday that Mayor Delfino and none of his supporting organizations were conducting this poll.
Paul Schwarz of the White Plains City Democratic Committee said his Committee was not paying for the poll.
