RBA – Too Little Too Late? Or Just Plain Offensive?
Sandy Parker is heard on “WXXI radio news clip on September 21, saying that the Rochester Business Alliance (RBA) is “not endorsing any specific candidates” in conjunction with their “Vote, Be Heard” campaign.
“Really Sandy?” asks Willa Powell. “RBA isn’t endorsing specific candidates? Then why did I get a candidate questionnaire, and an interview time and date certain? And the phone call I received from RBA’s Colleen DiMartino, making sure I was aware of the submission deadline? What is that all about if RBA isn’t engaged in endorsing candidates?”
Sandy goes on to imply that they will be highlighing the vastly different visions of the different candidates. Is this the loophole you can drive a truck through? Is their agenda to create their own “special interest” that can outnumber the core “prime voters” that come out every year, year after year? The core voters that Minister Franklin Florence of the Rochester Faith Alliance (not to be confused with the Rochester Interfaith Alliance) described at the joint press conference as “special interests” that must be “diluted” through this get-out-the-vote initiative.
And if so, how does this strategy succeed when the candidates RBA was most likely to embrace (mayoral control advocates Allen Williams and Ernest Flagler) are off the ballot entirely as a result of the Democratic Primary on September 13? What could any of the remaining candidates on any party line have to say that would earn RBA endorsement? So far as this campaign is concerned, the RBA effort is too little, too late.
This is a local election year, with County Legislature and City Council seats on the ballot, but RBA President Sandy Parker says that the campaign is specifically “aimed at helping Rochester City Schools” and that they are endorsing democracy (not specific candidates). If democracy is the goal, why not attract attention to the City Council races as well?
Jumping ahead a couple of months, RBA will find a way to use the success or failure of their “Vote, Be Heard” campaign to continue their argument for a mayoral appointed School Board. We should ask now how they will justify continuing to elect the City Council, whose candidates are chosen by the same voters that currently elect the School Board.
RBA’s news conference unveiling it’s “Vote, Be Heard” campaign was very much on the defensive as a result of Malik Evan’s observations in this September 21 D&C article about the visual images of this campaign.
The website is a rather harsh looking black and orange with a young man with duct tape over his mouth.
“How do these images encourage citizens to vote?” Willa asks. “How do they incite citizens to vote? I think the RBA took some very bad PR advice if they think these images will be motivational and not just plain offensive.”
The inconsistancies of this campaign received a lot of attention, from both of Rochester’s print media (see Recent News sidebar for links), and from the bloggesphere. Note Smugtown Beacon posting and Willa’s comments. Also note education blog The Examiner
