Weak endorsement...
I mean, thanks, but..: I don't think you'll ever see a less enthusiastic endorsement of a candidate than this TU editorial today supporting Betty Barnette for city Treasurer: Remember, that was all about the candidate they are supporting! Of course, they have their reasons not to like Barnette's opponent, Ward Dewitt:
Ahh, TU - you've done it again.
How good a treasurer is Mrs. Barnette? It's hard to say, actually. What's much clearer is the turf-conscious nature she brings to the job. Four years ago, her storied clash with then-Albany Comptroller Nancy Burton culminated with her rival's resignation from city government. Mrs. Barnette dismisses that ugly incident with an insistence that the resulting dysfunction in City Hall was entirely Ms. Burton's fault. Few who recall those years clearly would agree.
It's very hard, however, to support Mr. DeWitt for a job that involves managing tens of millions of dollars of other people's money. His campaign for treasurer is undermined by a record of mortgage payments on his own house that's spotty at best...Mr. DeWitt has been associated with institutions that have had fiscal and management problems -- the Martin Luther King Institute and Commission for Nonviolence in its waning days -- when, he says, it was too late to reverse course -- and the New Covenant charter school in Albany in its early days. Those experiences don't recommend him for treasurer.
Well, that clears things up, I guess. Each candidate has their faults, to be sure. But since when do you endorse a candidate just for the sake of endorsing a candidate? Hey Rex, incoming memo: you don't have to endorse anyone if you don't want to. P.S. Inexplicably, the Times Union doesn't see Dewitt's faults as precluding him from other types of political office: He'd do well to consider another run for another office.
Say what? I mean, come one. That's just high comedy. We don't think you're trustworthy enough with money to be treasurer, but how about a different political office?Ahh, TU - you've done it again.
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on Thursday, September 08, 2005 at 1:59 PM.
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