RBA Redux and Backpedal

Our last entry about the RBA started like this:

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?”

That was September 21, 2011. Now, October 11, 2011, we are feeling very de ja vous. Tiffany Lankes report RBA issues no school board endorsements has Sandy Parker saying the same thing:

“We really had no intention of endorsing,” Parker said. “Whoever won that primary, you’re looking at the school board. That was a done deal … I don’t think any of them felt this was an endorsement process.”

In fact, we are feeling so de ja vous, that we posted a comment to the D&C article that is very reminiscent of the quote above:

“Really? Truly? And that is why the first question on the candidate questionnaire is “if RBA endorses you, would you accept that endorsement?” And that is why the first question asked by the President of RBA during the interview was “if RBA endorses you, would you accept the endorsement?”

“I will say that I was highly sceptical that RBA would endorse any candidates, given that not a single candidate left in the race is in favor of mayoral control. Nevertheless, there was an expectation that this was an endorsement interview first and foremost, and a dialogue in search of common ground second.

“Sandy, your credibility gap is showing.”

And the very next day, October 12, 2011, Sandy backpedals. From Wednesday’s D&C report: Rochester Business Alliance Declines to Endorse School Board Candidates:

Parker said the committee made the decision after a meeting with the four candidates on the Democratic party ticket — Mary Adams, Melisza Campos, Malik Evans and Willa Powell — clarifying her earlier suggestion that the group never intended its school board candidate interviews to result in an endorsement.

Update: We found a blog post on this topic that now includes an interesting exchange between its author and Willa Powell. See Mustard Street, Oct 13. Check it out!