Organized Labor Supports Louise Slaughter

Photo by Clarke Condé.

ROCHESTER, NY- The New York State AFL-CIO, the umbrella group to which nearly all public, private and trade unions belong, officially announced their endorsement of Louise Slaughter today.  That’s right, the never conflicted, solidarity-filled House of Labor is behind Louise 100%.  Guess that settles that.

The Tale of Two Campaigns

ROCHESTER, NY- County Executive Maggie Brooks briefly sits with a mother and small child for the cameras after a press conference at the library. Photo by Clarke Condé.

HENRETTA, NY- Congresswoman Louise Slaughter was scheduled to personally open a conference on trade policy at RIT, but is still not making public appearances. Photo by Clarke Condé.

ROCHESTER, NY- While there has been little public display of the campaign for the NY-25, two events today may offer a glimpse of what we are likely to see this autumn. As Congresswoman Louise Slaughter continues what staffers say is a four-hour daily regiment of physical therapy, her office continued to delve into national issues, including today’s U.S. trade policy conference at R.I.T without the Congresswoman. On the flipside, County Executive Brooks has cut every ribbon, announced every partnership and opened every dog park she could over the last few months in front of the camera, today kicking off the Monroe County Summer Reading program at the Central Library.

Thus far, not a peep has been peeped from the Brooks camp on a national issue and nary has a Slaughter been sighted from the Slaughter side.  The fundraising, of course, continues at a blistering pace, helped on both sides by Brooks recently being named to the GOP’s “Young Guns’ list of the top 21 blue to red campaigns.

So what of strategy as the coffers swell?  Will we see Slaughter stay focused on national issues and surrogates?  Will Brooks stick to local issues and retail politics?  And what will the massive amounts of money and brilliant out-of-town operatives that seem to follow such cash ad to the campaign?

Wait until August is what I keep hearing.

The State of the County

PITTSFORD, NY The temperature may have pushed 90 degrees in the St. John Fisher auditorium, but Maggie Books delivered what she hopes will be her last State of the County address cold.  Her ninth such speech, Brooks was an on-message machine dispatching jobs numbers and accolades with practiced precision.  As is her standard MO, Brooks must have mentioned jobs a dozen times in the first 20 minutes, speaking directly to what polls suggest is the number one issue for voters locally and nationally.

Having been to a handful of these State of the County addresses over the years, the difference was in the context.  While Brooks and her team have gotten better at making her view of her record the generally accepted one, her critics have seemingly gotten worse at disputing it.  If this speech was anything but a codification of the Maggie Brooks narrative, it was lost on me.

While many are asking how a Brooks congressional campaign will differ from a Brooks county campaign, I think the real question is why would it need to? I can’t help thinking that questions about Brooks positions on controversial national issues will be treated exactly like questions about administrative corruption have been, by both groups.  Brooks will stick to a brief statement and get back to talking about things local people care about (jobs and taxes) and critics will try frantically to convince the public that they should care about something else (other than jobs and taxes).  Say what you want, but it has worked three times before with the exact same voters.

Anyway, as the campaign progresses, I look very much forward to covering the race, On the Ground so to speak, in photos and commentary for Roc25.  This is a somewhat new role for me, but I couldn’t be happier to work with Rottenchester on this project.  Let me also say to my friends and potential tipsters, my phone number hasn’t changed, and to my critics and detractors, hang up and press one.

This is going to be fun.