The Peculiar Political Conspiracy To Punish Incumbents Who Didn’t Back Moore For Mayor

Marilyn Moore never asked State Rep. Steve Stafstrom for help in her 2019 mayoral campaign.

Moore never asked State Rep. Chris Rosario for help in her mayoral campaign.

Moore never asked State Rep. Jack Hennessy for help in her mayoral campaign.

Moore never asked State Rep. Antonio Felipe for help in her mayoral campaign.

State Rep. Charlie Stallworth, then a mayoral candidate, tried breaking bread with Moore about her candidacy. He ended up supporting incumbent Joe Ganim.

Intriguingly, all have been targeted for Democratic primaries by a curious coalition of anti-establishment/Moore supporters. The irony in all of this dubious positioning on behalf of Moore? Its intention actually works against her reelection interests as she seeks her fourth, two-year term in an August 11 primary against party-endorsed City Councilman Marcus Brown.

Moore’s campaign ego centers on one key flaw: you come to me, I don’t come to you. Her reticence to lobby campaign support cost her the mayoralty.

Moore has bought into a coalition to punish incumbents that include former State Rep. Bob Keeley, former City Councilman Bob Halstead, East End activist Wanda Simmons, former Democratic Town Committee member Tony Barr and Downtown businessman Kelvin Ayala.

Evidence: Wanda Simmons, instead of going after Andre Baker who backed Moore, is crossing district lines to face Chris Rosario.

Bob Keeley is also crossing district lines to go after Jack Hennessy.

They needed someone to challenge Steve Stafstrom so Bob Halstead signed up to be the sacrificial lamb, except he failed to submit a sufficient amount of verified petition signatures to qualify for a primary.

Barr, challenging Stallworth, is simply unabashed about the whole thing: “It’s payback time.”

As for Keeley and Simmons, they’ll need a judge to place their names on the ballot after their candidacies were rejected by Democratic Registrar Patricia Howard for seeking office outside their respective residency districts.

Of the five Kelvin Ayala is the outlier who’s capable of waging a genuine race.

Even if a judge places them on the primary ballot, Simmons will be crushed by Rosario, and Keeley’s in it partly because he’s like a little kid with matches and gasoline trying to play a stick up game to leverage money for the Orcutt Boys & Girls Club, the non-profit he runs.

But let’s say a judge orders Keeley’s name on the ballot. That means Hennessy will be in full campaign mode driving voters to the top line occupied by Brown. It works against Moore’s reelection interests.

A few years ago Keeley had a golden opportunity to make a campaign statement after an absentee ballot snafu in a City Council primary gave him two extra cracks to win election. In the final try, giving up, Keeley didn’t even bother to vote for himself. He didn’t vote at all. He got smoked at the polls.