UPDATED: Nov. 1, 2017 at 11:43 a.m.
Mayoral candidate Ben Walsh, in the yellow glow of a few stage lights, spun a pen in his hand, looking out at a crowd of familiar faces.
There, sitting in the third row of CNY Jazz Central, was Stephanie Crockett. She’s a senior vice president at Eric Mower & Associates, an advertising agency. Crockett has known Walsh for years. She’s donated to his campaign.
And there was Rick Destito, owner of The Gear Factory, a studio space for local artists. Walsh, working at City Hall, helped Destito address property code violations. Destito will vote for Walsh.
This moment, and others like it, have defined Walsh’s candidacy.
Walsh, 38, would be the first independent mayor of Syracuse.
But he’s formed close friendships with influential Democrats, GOP members, business owners and executives. He’s amassed just over $440,000 in campaign contributions, more than any other candidate, state records show. Major real estate developers and construction companies back him, a frequent point of contention as ethics reform becomes a central issue at mayoral debates.
Wasim Ahmad | Staff Photographer
He’s branded himself as the candidate of change, running on the Reform and Independence Party lines, while also utilizing his family’s deep Republican roots.
“I’ve done everything I can do,” said Walsh, in an interview. “I’m in a position to win. And, I’ve done it my way. I haven’t compromised my values, I haven’t compromised who I am.”
Walsh, leaving a forum at the jazz center, shaking hands and laughing amicably, hurried to a car, ready for his next fundraiser. A recent poll showed him only trailing front-runner Juanita Perez Williams, a Democrat, by a few percentage points.
Across the city, Walsh campaign signs were propped up at street corners. Across the city, this man, accustomed to board meetings and backroom negotiations, had become recognizable.
The election was 12 days away.
•••
Jennifer Owens knew she had to resign once she saw the note, stuck to a manila envelope, from the county’s Democratic committee chairman, Mark English:
“Committee members are prohibited from ever circulating petitions for any candidates for other parties who oppose our Democratic candidates in November.”
Early on a muggy Saturday in mid-May, local Democrats endorsed Common Councilor Joe Nicoletti for mayor, a move that disenfranchised Owens, a Walsh supporter, and Tim Carroll, a former top official in Mayor Stephanie Miner’s administration.
The election was 178 days away.
Owens, a lifelong Democrat, was Walsh’s friend. She circulated his campaign petitions.
After reading the note, taped to a packet of Nicoletti canvassing documents, Owens emailed English. She stepped down.
“The line was drawn in the sand. They said, ‘If you do this, you’re basically not a part of us.’ So in some ways, I feel more like I was kicked out,” Owens said, referring to her support of Walsh.
President Donald Trump was elected because many Republicans, against their better judgment, Owens said, voted in the name of party loyalty. Owens watched Democrats make the same mistake in Syracuse, she said.
Walsh would unite the city, Owens said, unlike other candidates, including Perez Williams, who upset Nicoletti in September’s primary.
•••
Bob Andrews met Laura Lavine, the sole Republican mayoral candidate, at his favorite coffee shop. It was March, two weeks after the county’s GOP committee voted to endorse Lavine, a former superintendent of LaFayette schools.
The election was 223 days away.
Andrews, a big man who sports a pair of full rim eyeglasses like Roger Sterling or Lane Pryce of “Mad Men,” spoke with the party designate at a Cafe Kubal in Syracuse’s Eastwood neighborhood. Breaking party ranks, Andrews told Lavine he would support Walsh, his friend.
“I don’t think Ben was given much of a chance,” said Andrews, a former GOP committee chair, in an interview.
Walsh, at the beginning of the year, without a path to the ballot, was initially interested in the GOP’s endorsement. Some committee members, though, refused to consider the former city official as a potential candidate.
Andrews thought Walsh, who previously worked beside Democratic leaders and played a major role in the redevelopment of Hotel Syracuse, could be a strong candidate for the GOP. Others saw it differently. Walsh wasn’t a registered Republican.
“I know he was also talking to the Democratic Party at the same time,” Andrews said. “But, you know, I looked at it as his family history … I knew his family history was there.”
•••
If he wins, Walsh would be the first mayor of Syracuse to ever be unaffiliated with any political party. Alexandra Moreo | Photo Editor
Hundreds of people mingled together on East Onondaga Street, chatting. It was a pleasant summer morning in mid-August. Walsh was there.
Ed Riley stepped forward, grabbing a small podium in front of his new property: 413,000 square feet of ornate furnishings, gaudy chandeliers and ballroom space.
Riley had fully reclaimed Hotel Syracuse, renovating an iconic city landmark left vacant after years of bankruptcy court proceedings and sales. It was the building’s official reopening.
The election was 446 days away.
“He was key to getting this done,” Riley said of Walsh.
Hotel Syracuse has been touted as a symbol of downtown revitalization. Riley said the project, which could cost more than $80 million in total, if including a second phase of construction, would have gone nowhere if Walsh wasn’t Syracuse’s deputy commissioner of neighborhood and business development at the time.
Under Walsh’s leadership, the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency granted Riley’s limited liability company, Syracuse Community Hotel Restoration Company 1, millions of dollars in property tax breaks to redevelop the 93-year-old building, which contained pipes and wiring installed during the 1920s.
Walsh, on the city’s behalf, helped negotiate a 14-year payment-in-lieu-of-tax agreement, also called a PILOT, with Riley’s team, the developer said.
“I worked with (Walsh), shoulder to shoulder, for the better part of three-and-a-half years,” Riley said. “I know how he gets people … together.”
•••
Walsh walked into the stone building once controlled by his grandfather.
Near the start of her first term, Miner asked Walsh to join City Hall, overseeing SIDA as its executive director.
For Tim Carroll, former director of mayoral initiatives, Walsh immediately fit in. Walsh had coordinated urban revitalization efforts for the local Metropolitan Development Association, a precursor to CenterState CEO. He knew the ropes.
Carroll, growing to like the new hire, asked Walsh if he had any political aspirations. After all, his father, James Walsh, served as the area’s Republican congressman for decades. His grandfather, a Republican, was elected mayor in the 1960s.
Walsh said yes, Carroll recalled in an interview.
But, at the age of 18, Walsh had registered as an independent. Partly because of “youthful rebellion,” he said, and partly because, growing up, he saw the personal attacks of “party politics.”
“I think a lot of people in politics see politics as the end. It’s all about winning and losing, and being loyal to your party,” Walsh said. “And that always turned me off.”
Walsh, down a hallway near the mayor’s office, on the first floor of City Hall, started his new job. A few days later, he watched a SIDA meeting for the first time as a staff member.
The election was 2,843 days away.
Graphics by Andy Mendes | Digital Design Editor
Illustrations by Casey Russell | Head Illustrator
CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, the period during which Ben Walsh was appointed to Mayor Stephanie Miner’s administration was misstated. Walsh was appointed at the start of Miner’s first term. The Daily Orange regrets this error.
Published on November 1, 2017 at 1:15 am
Contact Sam: [email protected] | @SamOgozalek
