Pamela Hunter, the new chair of the Onondaga County Democratic Committee, is real Syracuse. Growing up as the daughter of a traveling preacher, she gained perspective through those journeys. After 20 years in the Salt City, where she lives with her husband and son, she has a sense that city residents are not practicing politics at a 2019 level. “There’s too much at stake to wait around for politics as usual,” says Hunter, currently full time since 2015 at the state Assembly, representing the southern and eastern portions of the city of Syracuse and the surrounding towns of DeWitt, Onondaga, Salina and the Onondaga Nation. “The more…
Author: Walt Shepperd
Pat Hogan knows the close ones. He’s been there. Twice. In 2003 he was pushed by the Working Families Party to pursue the Democratic primary for the 2nd District City Council seat. The challenge was seen as punishment for incumbent Marty Masterpole’s reneging on a pledge to vote for the living wage. Hogan lost by 19 votes. Two years later Hogan again challenged Masterpole in the Democratic primary. While the Working Families remained inactive, he was cross-endorsed by the Republican and Independence Party ballot lines and won the Democratic primary by 21. Term-limited after eight years as the district’s councilor,…
If the current media-hyped wave — the focused nomination of women for political office — is real, it may be a generational as well as a genderal phenomenon. Mackenzie Mertikas, victor in the recent election for Syracuse University Student Association president, maintained on the April 1 cover of The Daily Orange campus newspaper, “SU as a whole lacks female representation and in many areas is controlled by white men.” Mertikas hopes that her example will be empowering for other women. For the wave to crest, however, role models will need to emerge providing examples beyond the ballot box. If the…
Father Bernie Mahoney and daughter Joanie Mahoney have much more in common than most Tipperary Hill family members. They both served on the Common Council, they both ran unsuccessfully for mayor (although Joanie eventually became Onondaga County executive from 2008 to 2018), and now both will be grand marshals of the 37th annual St. Patrick’s Parade in downtown Syracuse. Both are looking forward to the parade as a family event, as they welcome more than 40 relatives who will be marching, including 16 of 17 grandchildren who live in Onondaga County. This year’s parade will kick off at noon Saturday,…
Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, 66, has held the office for more than 27 years.
AHOY Comics is what happens when two former Post-Standard colleagues, writer Hart Seely and artist Frank Cammuso, start brainstorming. “Well, me and Frank were sitting around one day,” Seely recalls, “and we were trying to figure out what the hell we were gonna do, and we just kinda said, ‘Why don’t we start a comic book company? Why don’t we have a small boutique line of comics and do what we wanna do?’ And (comics veteran writer) Tom Peyer was perfect for it. And that was that.” Seely, Cammuso and Peyer started to plan AHOY Comics in January 2017. They…
Ryan McMahon wants to tackle three main issues as he serves as executive: infrastructure modernization, economic development and poverty.
Outgoing Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney talks race, politics and her new SUNY-ESF position.
We take a quick look at who’s whom in the City of Syracuse administration. See where they came from and what they hope to accomplish.
A growing number of observers of the 24th District congressional race are reflecting that the television campaign ads are making it the dirtiest such contest they’ve ever seen. Third-term incumbent Rep. John Katko, a former federal prosecutor, says after a long campaign it’s just the nature of it, unfortunately. He blames the bad vibes on outside groups stretching the truth. Dana Balter, who most recently taught Citizenship and Policy at Syracuse University before taking time off to campaign, says she isn’t slinging any mud. Balter held a recent meet-and-greet at St. Lucy’s Church on the Near Westside, not a speech-making…
Like the Syracuse New Times, gubernatorial candidates Howie Hawkins and Stephanie Miner are local and alternative. As the backbone of the local Green Party, and former rank-and-file member of UPS union 317, Hawkins has run for office unsuccessfully 24 times. But winning is not the point, he observes, since amassing more than 50,000 votes in each of the last three elections for governor has ensured a place on the ballot for the following election and a platform for his ecologically friendly messages. After a stint on the Syracuse Common Council and two terms as the city of Syracuse’s mayor, Miner,…
Neither Republican County Comptroller Robert Antonacci nor veteran Democratic schoolteacher John Mannion play the saxophone, which will leave an empty spot in political and cultural activities in Central New York’s 50th state Senate District. At the end of this term Republican John DeFrancisco, who currently occupies the district’s Senate seat, will be stepping down after 26 years, following 41 years of public life that also included seats on the Syracuse City School District Board and the city’s Common Council. Fifteen years ago these pages reported Antonacci, a registered member of the Independence Party, approached Democratic Party county chair Bob Romeo…
New York’s 53rd District is up for grabs this November. SNT talks to candidates Rachel May and Janet Burman about what they bring to the table.
Koolakian Menswear has been in Syracuse since 1905. Current owner Ed reflects on the changes in the city and the fashion world.
A dozen supporters of Cynthia Nixon’s campaign for governor filtered into Forman Park on East Genesee Street across from the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Sept. 1, followed by a dozen waving signs for Rachel May, who is challenging David Valesky for state Senate in the Sept. 13 Democratic primary. The local stop, on the road between Ithaca and an appearance at the New York State Fair, was a hoped-for beginning to answer the question of where were the upstate topics in the single debate staged by Nixon and incumbent Andrew Cuomo on Aug. 29. At the local rally, the former…