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Better than the other guy . . .

Mickey Kearns was most recently a candidate for Mayor of Buffalo in 2009 and is now the proud owner of the South Buffalo committee structure, which has grown his power and leverage in the city.  His first opportunity to flex his newfound power will be this summer when he chooses his horse in the NY State Senate election contest between Tim Kennedy, Bill Stachhowski and Sean Cooney.  His support and committee loyalists will be a major factor in that race.

Mickey was first elected to the Buffalo Common Council in 2006 after serving as a legislative aide to former South District Councilman Dennis Manley and some work in the private sector as a non-profit fundraiser.  Kearns opportunistically staked out some territory as an opponent of the Route 5 highway construction project on Buffalo’s Outer Harbor.  From that point, Mickey was essentially running for Mayor and launched one of the most quixotic runs for that office in recent memory.  His campaign started out as listless and seemed to lack an agenda that differed significantly from Mayor Brown’s agenda. His earlier opposition to the Route 5 project also destroyed any chance he had of enlisting necessary support from Rep. Brian Higgins, King Of The Waterfront.

He was handed a gift wrapped Mayoral scandal with the One Sunset melodrama and a steady stream of stories about Grassroots political corruption.  Carl Paladino also gave him a blank check for the campaign in the last two months.  Sadly, Mickey was not prepared to actually win and was unable to capitalize on his opportunity.  Just a horribly designed and executed campaign strategy which also included this abortion of a political video:

We interviewed him for a news video and we were surprised by both his choice of a linen suit for the interview and his inability to state a cogent point with any measure of wit or economy.  His candidacy drew such accolades as these from Jim Heaney of The Buffalo News:

He’s no dummy, but not the sharpest knife in the drawer, either.

and

In short, Kearns has shown some progressive sensibilities and comes across as an accessible, decent sort. But he’s still pretty green and largely untested. His lackluster campaign for mayor this year is not reassuring.

What voters are left with is a choice between a middling councilman and a middling mayor.

Mickey has shown a willingness to learn, but he’s just the same old, same old.  A transactional politician in a city that desperately needs big thinkers.  He has demonstrated an ability to pay his taxes on time and not get arrested or even charged with a felony, so he has that going for him, which is nice.

Byron Brown is the current Mayor of the city of Buffalo, and its first African-American mayor in history.  He was swept to office in 2005 after winning a crowded primary race, and absolutely pummeled his Republican opponent.  He was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2009 – not in a November election against any opponent, however, but in September against a Democratic challenger.

Brown spent time in the common council in the 90s before being elected to the State Senate in 2000.  His tenure there, in the minority in Bruno’s senate, was uneventful.  He sponsored only a few pages’ worth of legislation, mostly dealing with honorary street names.  Mayor Brown’s right-hand man is Steve Casey (who goes up against Brian Higgins on the 24th).  Casey is Steve Pigeon junior – just as evil and manipulative, but not as moneyed. Casey is the man behind the curtain and has been known to screw up – through sheer obnoxiousness – more than a few good and promising City Hall initiatives.  Brown gets the credit because he knows of it and lets it happen.  CitiStat – Brown’s biggest initiative – is a politicized failure.  Although the city under Brown/Casey gets some stuff right by accident, it has also been behind the BERC fiasco, the One Sunset scandal, the misuse of block grant funds, and the mishandling of Byron III’s joyride.  The fail is widespread and palpable.