Valley Patriot>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Paying Attention Index It's DiMarca Vs. Reyes for At Large Spot Marcos Devers
and Joe Parolisi came in First and Second by a
wide enough (color code: blue is second place, purple is third)
At least on the surface it looks that way. But when you look at the vote tallies (left) you will see that while Reyes beat DiMarca in four of the six districts, Reyes only beat DiMarca by 142 votes overall. And, when you consider the fact that Reyes raised $19,000 (and spent almost all of it before the primary), has the endorsement of Mayor Sullivan, State Reps. Willie Lantigua and Barry Finegold, Isabel Melendez, the Latino Agenda and big money developers; for Reyes to place only 142 votes ahead of incumbent Nunzio DiMarca (who raised no money and did not campaign) it certainly doesn't look as promising for Reyes as it did on election night. So What About the ISSUES? Unfortunately, issues do not count as much as we would like them to when the public makes up their mind on who to vote for. If they did, DiMarca would have beaten Reyes hands down in September. (DiMarca supported the Stadium while Reyes will not commit to protecting it, for example.) Absent issues in the campaign, the public has had nothing else to go on except race, name recognition and popularity. On all those three fronts Reyes has a solid edge. But two major debates will be held in the next few weeks (one on the Paying Attention! Television program to be aired the week of the 13th and then again the week before the election, and one being held by the Mount Vernon neighborhood association. These two key debates will give both DiMarca and Reyes the opportunity to pull ahead and make a difference at the polls depending on who shows up and what topics are discussed. And that's where DiMarca has a fighting chance to make up some ground. Reyes has avoided talking about real substantive issues so far. The few times Reyes has talked about issues "There are people sleeping under the bridge because our council is not doing it's job" ...well, it sounded like that! Look for Reyes to avoid answering questions with any detail (or look forward to him answering and making a fool of himself) and also watch him dance around hard questions while refusing to make commitments on any particular issue. Reyes is taking a page out of the Mike Sullivan Playbook: smile and make people like you but don't really say anything. In the final analysis, however, unless DiMarca can hit two home runs (one on Paying Attention! and one in Mount Vernon) the edge certainly goes to Reyes. DiMarca has not been a proactive campaigner in the past and simply hasn't been able to do the grunt work, while Reyes is working obsessively as though his very life depends on a win in November. Also, Reyes has the numbers in District "E" and doesn't need to do much campaigning in Mount Vernon with Finegold and Sullivan campaigning for him there. This gives Reyes time to build up his base in the Spanish speaking neighborhoods while DiMarca has to invade Districts "B" and "C" to stop the bleeding. This one will go down to the wire and it will be no surprise if a recount is needed the day after the election. This one is and just way too close to call. One thing for sure, we are five weeks away from the possibility of saying the phrase; City Councilor Israel Reyes. |
It looks
as though Israel Reyes is well on his way to
finally being elected to public office. Reyes has
twice lost election bids (District "D"
City Council and State Representative) but now
seems to be in the driver's seat for a spot in
the At-Large City Council race.