The honeymoon is over

City Democrats expecting a lasting detente between the two rival factions of their party can better think again. Roughly four months after the new media regaled in a new and improved party with a unified message, all indications are pointing to the fact that the two factions that bitterly fought through elections in 2007 and 2008 are back at it again.

This week, two-time incumbent Accounts Commissioner John Franck is expected to support a bipartisan budget-cutting initiative calling for up to 40 layoffs in city’s workforce, according to source. It’s not clear where the layoffs will be targeted, but one could assume they’ll be largely split between the departments of Public Works and Public Safety –the city’s largest employers.

The layoffs also allegedly have the blessing of Mayor Scott Johnson and Finance Commissioner Ken Ivins, according to sources. Conspicuously absent from this list of supporters are the names of Republican Skip Scirocco, the DPW chief, and Democrat Ron Kim, the PBA lapdog.

That’s because neither commissioner would dare to support layoffs when both came to power thanks to the city’s unions. As some may recall, Scirocco was ushered into office with an endorsement from the DPW union. And Kim was among a vocal minority of city officials clamoring to bond a combined police and courts building that cost in excess of $20 million in its first incarnation. Not to mention, supporting the city’s unions has been the wholehearted mantra of the Democratic Committee, which is now controlled by the quixotic Democrats for Change, of which Kim is a card-carrying member.

The impending call for job cuts also follows the reemergence of SUCCESS –Saratogians United to Continue the Charter Essential to Sustain Our Success –or the anti-charter revision group that handily defeated former Mayor Valerie Keehn’s rush to city’s form of government. The group cropped back up late last month after a summer-long campaign to revisit charter revision that was led by the Democrats for Change splinter and their allies.

Interestingly enough, the group conducted a forum last week featuring Frank, Johnson, and Ivins, along with City Council candidates Richard Wirth and Ed Miller; all people who either are or were against changing the charter in the past. Conspicuously absent from this lot are Scirocco and all the Democratic candidates; each hand-picked for their run by the Democrats for Change. All four candidates were invited to participate in a forum this week. Not surprisingly, the forum was cancelled.

On a side note, some over at anti-revisionist camp should really do some work on their acronym. But apparently, ‘SUCCESOS’ doesn’t really have the same ring to it. Or does it? Maybe the Latinos would pick up on it if they could just drop a 'c' from it. But why digress?

At face value, this divergence of opinion between Franck and the DFC zealots might not seem like much of an issue. But when taken into context of the looming layoff proposal, it appears as though the battle line was drawn. And it’s one that cuts through the center of the Democratic Party –albeit missing the splinter faction that has hijacked the city’s committee.

Needless to say, any sort of honeymoon that was conjured by the committee last summer is clearly over. Of course, some would argue there never really was any honeymoon between the warring factions of the Spa City Democrats. Rather, an allegiance of convenience that was wryly made by Franck to ensure the committee wouldn’t wage a costly primary against him in September and broken the exact moment the primaries passed.

And rightfully so. With his election all but guaranteed, Franck has no vested interest in befriending the Democrats for Change, which at best will be able to secure a simple majority on the council. More likely, however, the DFC will get their asses handed to them in a sling. They’ve harvested a lack-luster panel of neophyte candidates from their patronage tree and are leading a ticket with a guy who is roundly considered the most inept, politically driven person on the city council. Couple this with the fact that the city electorate is still weighted toward the GOP and you have what could amount to a crushing defeat for this misanthropic clan.

If the DFC loses with all three of their candidates, they will at last be flushed from the halls of city government. Some might hope to appeal to Scirocco, who was ushered into power with their votes. But the chance of a card-carrying Republican like Scirocco extending any sort of favor to the neoliberal wing of the Democratic Party is about as likely as that fat drug-sucking bastard Limbaugh going on Weightwatchers and enrolling as a Socialist. For Franck, this is all the more reason to jettison the seriously misguided committee, even if it doesn’t collapse under the bluster of its own hot air.