WPCNR News & Comment. By John F. Bailey. July 13, 2005: Observers of the Tuesday evening special meeting of the Common Council noted to this reporter that the veteran Councilman Robert Greer is now in a wheelchair with a full time aide at his side. Our observers said that Mr. Greer had trouble accessing the Mayor’s Conference Room and the Mayor’s aids had to be summoned from the perpetually locked-down inner sanctum of the Mayor’s office to move a reception desk in order that Mr. Greer could be wheeled into the conference room.
On a longer term issue, there is a question of what will happen if Mr. Greer resigns from the Council. Mr. Greer is suffering from the debilitating effects of Arterial Lateral Sclerosis which is depriving him of movement, and impaired the clarity of his speech. But as he has said very bravely, it is not affecting his mind. He is still able to serve, attend meetings, thoughtfully consider the issues and function as elected.
But what will happen in the future is not clear.
According to the City Charter, the Common Council may appoint a member of the public to serve out the term of any councilperson who leaves office. This has happened twice before in the past. The Council appointed Bill Waterman Councilman in 1990, when none other than Joseph Delfino was elected to County Legislator and he resigned from the Council.
Then the Council appointed John Martin to the Common Council to replace Councilman Sy Schulman, in January 1994 when Councilman Schulman was elected Mayor in 1993.
With five Democrats to two Republicans on the Common Council, the Democratic party has the whip hand in deciding who might fill any possible Council vacancy. Mr. Greer continues to serve and fulfill his responsibilities, and has given no indication he will vacate his office any time soon.
How to Get on the Common Council Without Really Trying.
One of the possibilities to replace any vacancy is Glen Hockley, (if he is not elected in his own right in November), who has council experience, though of a bogus nature, since he was occupying a council seat as a usurper. Mr. Hockley served after a disputed election result, and was found to have not been officially elected to that position, due to a jammed voting machine in 2001. Hockley was quo warranto-ed out of that office in July 2004, as a result of the Attorney General’s successful quo warranto action brought on behalf of Larry Delgado.
Another potential candidate for the council to replace Mr. Greer should the need arise, would be Dennis Power, the current candidate for Mayor who has been conspicuous by his lack of campaigning, and here it is mid-July. Mr. Power resigned his job to run for Mayor, it appears, to bail the Democrats out of having to run Ron Jackson for Mayor.
Another possibility is Mr. Jackson himself, who speaks out more often, with more insight and candor than any one else in White Plains. His would certainly be a lively appointment, and the party would show him the gratitude it should show him for saving them from the ludricous propsect of running nobody for Mayor.
There is John Martin. There is Candyce Corcoran, there are any one of a number of lesser lights. But, I would say Mr. Power is the frontrunner.
Will the Democrats Bow to America’s Favorite Mayor?
Who else might be available to appoint? More to the point, would the Democrat-dominated Common Council take it upon themselves to select a Greer successor, without listening to Mayor Joseph Delfino?
Would they accept a Mayoral suggestion in another sickening display of Democrat usual stalwart spirit of bipartisan cooperation with “America’s Favorite Mayor?” Would the Mayor appoint Frank Cantatore for example, or Isabel Villar, or Tim Sheehan, or any one of his strong supporters. Perhaps, if Louis Cappelli, the Super Developer established a residence in White Plains, in addition to the business, he could even be appointed, and perhaps serve for $1 a year.
The Democratic Party may well listen to the Mayor’s “nomination” for a possible Greer replacement, since the Democratic Party did as little as possible to prepare for the Mayoral Campaign, and nominated no one of strength to make a strong run at the Mayorality. They had 4 years to plan and groom a candidate.
They did not fundraise for a Mayoral run. (The Party had $7,000 in their till as of January of 2005, a disgrace for a party that outregisters Republicans, 2 to 1.) Meanwhile, Mayor Joseph Delfino has raised, by conservative estimate a half million dollars to spend on his campaign.
When you know you’re going to be running against a big buck, developer-supported candidate, you have to fundraise. The White Plains Democrats did not, allowing County Executive Andy Spano to loot the lucrative Democratic donors and keep them all to himself. Hopefully County Executive Spano faced with an equally weak candidate, Rob Astorino can send a little “Power-Aid” Dennis’s way.
But, wait, at least Mr. Astorino is campaigning, though campaigning on closing Playland which was his major issue last year is particularly dumb. Playland is the one thing the County does well. They do a lousy job of running medical centers.
Why No Loyal Opposition?
If I were Elliot Spitzer, I’d take a look at the circumstances surrounding the White Plains Mayoralty election: why did the Democrats not fundraise aggressively for a Mayoral campaign? Why did Ryan choose not to run – if he was indeed showing well? Why did no one of experience throw their hats in the ring? Why did the party not accept Ron Jackson’s generous offer to run? Why did Dennis Power resign his job to run when he did not have to? Was this one-tent government? Was this deal-making?
Right now, if I were the Democratic council I’d nominate Dennis Power to the council seat, if Greer possibibly resigns sooner than later, though there is no indication as yet that he plans to.
Why Power? It would give him a chance to campaign publicly on the council, raise issues, get a presence at three televised council meetings (September, October, November, maybe even August if Greer leaves within the next two weeks.) It would give him some money (the council salary).
Should Power lose the Mayoralty race in November, he would still be on the council completing the rest of Mr. Greer’s unexpired term for the next two years staying on the Council through 2006. He’d be there filling the role of old reliable, earnest, don’t make waves Democrat, with the ability to say and do the right things, and stand for the right causes, and give the impression of two-party government.
Moreover, it sets Mr. Power up for taking another job in addition to his Common Council responsibilities, and helps out a loyal Democrat.
My bet is on Dennis Power. And, if I am Dennis Power and am not appointed to the council. I have to wonder why.
Accessible City Hall?
The observation of Mr. Greer’s attempts to access the Mayor’s Conference Room raises the issue of why the Mayor’s Conference Room is not more disabled-accessible than it is, or why Special Meetings and Works Sessions cannot be held in the Common Council Chamber, especially when it is so difficult for Mr. Greer to negotiate his way into the conference room.
The Common Council Chamber is accessible to the handicapped, has wider aisles and only a door, and the swinging balustrade gate have to be held open for the wheelchair-confined. However, if you’re handicapped and have no one to open a council door for you, even the Common Council Chamber is inaccessible to the handicapped.
A reporter for the White Plains Watch is confined to a wheelchair. Ron Jackson, “The Last Activist,” is confined to a mobile wheelchair. Now a Common Councilman, Mr. Greer is confined to a wheelchair, and serving ably I might add, with great bravery, the city has to look at this problem of accessibility.
One of the possible answers to why America’s Favorite Mayor continues to cram his stuffy conference room, sometimes with up to 30 persons spilling out the hall is if work sessions and special meetings were held in the Common Council Chambers they could (and should), be televised since so much debate on city issues is waged in work sessions and Special Meetings on short notice (6 hours is the average time the media gets of these Special Meetings) that the majority of the public never sees.
