CARLTON FLETCHER: The trouble with self-imposed political insight

He’s the man with the plan, got a counterfeit dollar in his hand. He’s Mistra Know-It-All.

— Stevie Wonder

Someone called the other day and asked me a question that I, in covering local political campaigns, have heard a number of times before. That this person was angry when he called and used stronger language than others typically do does not alter the gist of his question:

Why would you give someone who is a fringe candidate, at best, the same consideration and coverage you do the serious candidates?

This person’s question was, I must assume, in response to a series that ran in The Herald last week that outlined the platforms and the campaigns of the five individuals running for the mayor’s office and the Ward IV Albany City Commission seat in the Nov. 3 municipal election. Incumbent Mayor Dorothy Hubbard is being challenged by Tracy Taylor and Lane Rosen, while seated Ward IV Commissioner Roger Marietta faces Chad Warbington.

My first response to the gentleman who called — and to any others who have asked the same general question over the years — was, in essence, What makes you the arbiter of who is fringe and who is serious?

I understand all too well that, in politics, people don’t always run for office for altruistic reasons. I’m not naive enough to believe that all the talk about backroom political deals is just talk. We live in a relatively small community, but politics is no respecter of size. I can’t help but believe that the insistent whispers of “candidate so-and-so being paid to run by a group that wants to take votes away from second candidate so-and-so so that third candidate so-and-so will have a better chance at victory” aren’t always just random gossip.

There are way too many people in a community like ours who have no political ambition other than to make sure they have friends on the boards that make decisions that might at some point impact their bottom line. Oftentimes a check of candidates’ campaign disclosure statements lend credence — or at least raise eyebrows — to such supposed shenanigans.

But too often “campaign contributions” come in forms that aren’t readily disclosed by what is, at best, self-imposed oversight. Most local politicians — and their donors/supporters — are cunning enough to understand that it’s very unlikely scrutiny will ever go deep enough to touch them. Some disgruntled supporter of Candidate A may indeed go online and check out his opponents’ contributions and somehow find information that seems to back his conspiracy theory that the fix is in.

But, as they say in all the legal dramas on TV, “It’s not what you know, it’s what you can prove.”

All this talk about dirty politics and one hand — the one holding money — washing the other hand — which is holding office — is secondary to the original complaint I received. So let’s get back to that.

I may know a little about the way things work in this community when it comes to our local governments. But what I know — or think I know — is based on observation. And, yes, I hear a lot of the conjecture that generally surfaces around election time. But until I’m given at least some shred of proof or at least evidence, I’m giving local politicians the benefit of the doubt. Because, bottom line, even if they do have personal agendas, they’re one of a larger group and must influence others in that group to support them before they can further any agenda.

Maybe some of them are devious enough to try and “take over” a governmental body that they’re part of, but I don’t see it. Some are smarter, some are more interested in the community’s interest, and some have more integrity than others. But, bottom line, they’re all just people, no better or worse than anyone else in the community.

As thus, I give them respect for their willingness to put their name on the ballot and to campaign for office, knowing full well that they may never get more than a handful of votes. Maybe some of you have the insight that allows you determine fringe from the real deal. I’ll just let the voters decide.

Email Carlton Fletcher at [email protected]. Follow @ABH_Fletcher on Twitter.