While the other local paper waxed eloquent about the imaginary mayoral candidacy of city sewer employee Glenn Choolokian, I ran into a real scoop last week.
Or rather, it almost ran into me.
I was walking down Fourth Street Tuesday morning when a big black Cadillac swerved in my direction. The car was the kind that Local 91 officials used to drive until the Laborers International Union of North America put them into receivership. Now those big guys are driving Toyotas.
The shaded power window went down. I was hungover, snow blind, nearly run down and had only been going into the office to write myself a check in the first place. I shot a look.
"You should be more careful," Schools Superintendent Carmen Granto said from behind the wheel. "You could get run over out here."
At first I thought it was former police chief Ernie Palmer. Though Ernie's Irish and Carmen's Italian, they share the same fresh-faced optimism and winning smile. Knowing Ernie's about ready to retire, I -- being snow blind, hungover, nearsighted anyways and wearing glasses so dark they turn the noon into perpetual midnight -- asked when he was leaving as I approached the car. Carmen shot me a quizzical look as I extended my hand and realized he wasn't Ernie Palmer.
We shook and I sought to recover.
"You're running for mayor, aren't you?" I asked.
"Absolutely," he said.
"So when are you leaving?" I said, quickly turning my question about Ernie Palmer's detective job into a question about Carmen's superintendent job.
"We're still working out the numbers," he said.
"You're doing polling?"
"We've got some numbers."
Again I was befuddled. I was talking votes, Carmen was talking money.
"So you really are going to run?" I asked.
"Absolutely," he said. "And you should be more careful. You could get run over out here."
Public Works Director Paul Colangelo's job plowing the streets in the wake of last week's snowstorm was the brain-dead equivalent of the wretched greenskeeping job he did last summer at the Hyde Park Golf Course. I was walking in the street and the snow was up to my ankles. One great thing about Carmen's probable candidacy is that we'd get Ron Shiesley back in the public works department, and Ron's forgotten more than Colangelo will ever know about cutting grass, trimming trees and plowing snow.
Plus he's got a sense of humor.
City Councilman Vince Anello told me he was running for mayor too, and the city and county Republican Party honchos have told me he's their pick, which is bad news for Republican Mayor Irene Elia. Republican politicians from here to Albany have sought to distance themselves from Elia, although she'll probably look like she's welded onto the arms of state Sen. George Maziarz and Gov. George Pataki when the Seneca casino opens on New Year's Eve.
Vince romped in the last council election, erasing the bitter taste of his 1999 Election Day loss. And maybe he would hire Ron Shiesley too, which would be a great thing. I've seen them eating macaroni together.
Rebecca and I had a fine dinner recently with Press Box owner Flo Acotto and former councilwoman Barb Geracitano. Barb told me she's going to seek to regain the City Council seat she abdicated last year, and said she heard that John Accardo was going to run for mayor as well.
In his last bid, Accardo made the mistake of thinking he won the election when he beat former mayor Jim Galie in the Democratic primary. Galie threw his support to Irene Elia and Accardo lost in a stunner that wasn't equaled until Al Gore lost to George W. Bush.
Everybody knows that Mayor Elia's dead meat and, in addition to Choolokian, Granto, Anello and Accardo, we'll likely see even more candidates come out of the woodwork to beat her next November.
But I almost got run over on Fourth Street the other morning, and it got me to thinking.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | December 10 2002 |