Troll: Tuesday’s Political Guillotine

Former City Councilman Bob “Troll” Walsh, a supporter of the Democratic challenge slate that swept three primary wins for school board on Tuesday, shares his perspective about what he describes as “The perfect storm or how I spent my primary Tuesday.”

“What the hell happened?” seemed to be the most popular question being asked Tuesday night into Wednesday morning with much chest pounding and finger pointing going on. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times, depending on which side of the question you were on.

For openers it was the perfect storm with just enough raw emotion on the side of the challenge slate and no emotion on the side of the machine. Those who truly cared, for one reason or another, voted and those who did not care did not bother. Hence a low skewed turnout. The message of the challenge slate that change was needed but it needed to be the right change for the right reason seemed to resonate with enough voters. Since I had been out previously with some petition circulators in different parts of town there definitely seemed to be an anti-board, anti-Moales, anti-Vallas and anti-Finch sentiment that allowed the message to resonate for various reasons with various Democrats.

And as Primary Day passed, I felt confident standing outside Central High School that enough of the right vote was coming out. I told many of the candidates although traditional wisdom would say a low turnout is good for incumbents and good for endorsed candidates, it was as much about managing the turnout and getting out the right vote that day.

I would not characterize the turnout as an angry vote but much more of a very annoyed vote. I have seen the angry vote in my day. The prime voters, the voters you feel are your friends will not look at you, will not talk to you or worse yet they will give you a stare that cuts right through you. It is the angry voters’ way of saying don’t even think about talking to me. I’ve made up my mind and it is not good for you. It makes for a long, lonely day out in front of the polls. But since I felt a significant number of voters were ones I had ID’d, I would not get that look on that day. If it were a mayoral election year and the voters felt a greater sense of retribution toward a single individual, then maybe the turnout would have been higher and the anger more apparent.

But there was definitely a sentiment that change was needed. Out with the old pols and in with the new. Besides the frustration with the Board of Ed, the lightening rod that Rev. Moales has chosen to become, the dissatisfaction with Paul Vallas and the never-ending lawsuits; the voters moved beyond the Board of Ed and took out their emotions on the City Council. Part of that I am sure had to be Manny Gate and the half a million dollar driveway; the story with more feet than a centipede. The bad news just kept on coming and never abated; wasteful government spending, never-ending excuses, no clear explanation of what went wrong, more lawsuits and settlements, on and on and on. And still no end in sight.

The timing was right. The mix was perfect. The challenge slate offered a strong slate of candidates who could even push aside the more traditional concept of balancing. The endorsed slate offered the traditional mix of white, Latino and African American and the voters rejected it overwhelmingly. They were definitely looking for new, different, exciting and not the same old same old.

Two important questions remain unanswered. First, did the party see the bloodbath coming and simply decide to accept the sacrificial lambs, or were they totally caught off guard?

And more importantly, will Mayor Finch learn any real lessons from these results? I was telling people Tuesday night if I were Mayor I would have Rev Moales in my office first thing Wednesday morning demanding he step down as board president. I would start greasing the skids for the departure of Paul Vallas. This is what the voters want to see; real, decisive action from a mayor who wants to be in charge. The mayoral clock started ticking Tuesday night. The voters said they are not impressed with the mayor’s performance thus far and if there is not real and significant change he will be next. Timing spared him from the guillotine this primary Tuesday but it may not be so forgiving in the future.