The Rest of the Story

 

     Sources tell thefrontpageonline.com that there is a back story to the late-hour Vera endorsement.

The other two candidates asked for the mayor’s endorsement, they said, an understandable move. The mayor flatly said no to both. He answered no to the first inquiry, the story goes, because he still was looking for a way to shoehorn himself back into the race.

     Last Saturday afternoon, Mr. O’Leary happened to be in the neighborhood. Not so idly, he wandered into Mr. Vera’s Sorrento Italian Market.

     The candidate told the mayor that he was sorry family circumstances would prevent him from running for re-election. Moments later, the mayor ordained Mr. O’Leary as his candidate of choice.

     “If I were running,” Mr. Vera told the newspaper, “I would not endorse anyone.

     “I have waited this long before giving an endorsement because I wanted to see what kind of person Mehaul was. I did not know him from Adam.

     “I know the other guy (Mr. Malsin) because he is a Planning Commissioner, not because I attend their meetings.

     “Let me tell you the difference between the two. One is a businessman — and  the other one, I do not know. “

     That was the varnished version of what Mr. Vera said. He had verbally lurched in a different direction before catching himself.

     Smiling slyly, and proud that he had kept his thoughts to himself, he laughed heartily. Looking across the desk at his interrogator, he cracked: “You almost  got me.” And he laughed again.

     “You noticed the pause, right?”

     Back to Mr. O’Leary:

     “Mehaul is young, and he is a businessman,” the mayor said. “That’s what we need at City Hall, people who are young. He is level-headed and down to earth.”

 

     For sheer volume of high-octane endorsements in this campaign, Mr. Malsin is the king.

He has attracted so many he could virtually afford to hand off a few to his opponents and retain the juiciest ones for himself.

     In every election cycle, the value of endorsements is debated. While the wittiest and smartest pundits are wrestling over the true answer, the fact is that every candidate pursues them as if they translated into gold.

     Therefore, the correct answer is yes. Whether or not endorsements translate into actual votes, they are psychologically priceless.

     Which does not solve the question of whether or how much Mr. Vera’s blessing will assist Mr. O’Leary. 

     The meaningfulness of Mr. Vera’s gesture remains an open-ended question in late March. It will be measured in the next two and a half weeks before a final answer can be given after the election.

     In several ways, the mayor’s choice of Mr. O’Leary is logical. For one, it has a kind of father-and-son look to it.

     A personality-driven ethnic Irishman would appeal to a personality-driven ethnic Italian.

     The forty-year-old Mr. O’Leary, thin on organizational ties, has emphasized his business pedigree, a magnet for the mayor.

     Mr. Vera wakes up every morning talking about how he has spent his three terms at City Hall trying to persuade the professionals to operate the government  by fundamental business principles.

     Stylistically, they differ in one way: Mr. Vera is adamantly hands-on. His far-flung business empire is not littered with managers who have power. There is a single authority. He does everything significant himself. Consultation is an unknown concept.

 

     On the early morning that the mayor met with therontpageonline.com, long before the start of the conventional business day, his telephone rang seven times. There was no No. 2 person to call.

     While Mr. O’Leary clearly is the man in charge of his Irish pub Joxer Daly’s, he is “very comfortable assigning people to responsibilities.”   

    

     The mayor loves the surprised look on people’s faces when he flashes his streak of independence, allowing him to playfully act out what his colleagues would never dare attempt.

     Fellow Council members Alan Corlin and Steve Rose actively embraced the candidacy of Mr. Malsin from the first day, and they are actively working for his election.  

     For reasons of sensitivity, or what some would regard as good manners, neither Mr. Rose nor Mr. Corlin is predicting a winner between Mr. Silbiger and Mr. O’Leary.

     At least up to this morning, Councilwoman Carol Gross, Mr. Vera’s  ally of choice on the Council, had not endorsed any candidate.

 
Postscript

 

     Settling into his favorite chair in the cozy confines of his pocket-sized office at the rear of the Sorrento Italian Market, the mayor looked tired. But the subjects laid out before him were irresistible.

     Opening with several promises, the candid Mr. Vera began to speak expansively about an array of people and topics who have interested him over the last two decades. They ranged from the City Treasurer’s office to the next police chief to the names of people who should be replaced, and finally, to the future of his market.

Tomorrow: The end