Primary Inversions

Tomorrow is Primary Election Day here in Western New York. The big one is the Democratic endorsement for Mayor of Buffalo, with "establishment" candidate Byron Brown (a career pol) versus a local activist named Kevin Gaughan. Buffalo's current Mayor, Anthony Masiello, is stepping down at the end of this, his third term.

I won't be voting in tomorrow's primary, for a very good reason: I don't actually live in Buffalo. I live in one of Buffalo's southern, outlying suburbs -- in fact, to drive to Buffalo proper, I first have to traverse two or even three closer suburbs, depending on which way I go. But I do have a horse in this fight, for the most basic reason: the economic vitality of this entire region depends on Buffalo. So I may not have a vote, but as a citizen of the Buffalo-Niagara region, I most definitely have an interest at stake.

So my "vote", virtual though it may be, goes to Kevin Gaughan.

Nothing against Byron Brown, really. I'm sure he's a conscientious public servant who loves his mother. But Buffalo has just had twelve years under a Mayor whose main qualification was not his set of interesting ideas but his status as a conscientious public servant who loves his mother, and electing Byron Brown would just be electing "Masiello Lite", or "Masiello Amber", or "Masiello Special Draft", or something similar. It would mean a different nameplate on the mayor's desk, and that's about it.

Everybody knows that one of Buffalo's biggest problems is the hardening of its political machinery to the point that it resembles a ship that's been in port for far too long and has become so encrusted with barnacles that its prow won't cleave the water the right way anymore. But as a wise person once said, "A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are for." Byron Brown will keep Buffalo in port at a time when the city really needs to set sail.

Kevin Gaughan for Mayor. Please oh please. It's not just Buffalo that needs this. Orchard Park needs it too. As does West Seneca. And Hamburg. And Lackawanna. And Blasdell. And Cheektowaga. And Amherst. And Williamsville. And...you get the idea.