Rochester Paper Won't Endorse Candidates in State Races

By: Joe Strupp For the first time in its 171-year history, the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle will not endorse any candidates running for the New York state legislature.

Why? They?re not good enough, say editors.

"We're getting off the merry-go-round because we are as much a part of the problem as the candidates," James Lawrence, Democrat and Chronicle editorial page editor, who has run more than 50 editorials this year criticizing the state legislators, told E & P. "For us to come back at election season and endorse these people is as bad as anything they?ve done."

Withholding endorsements on such lesser-known candidates has a greater impact on voting than not endorsing in a presidential race because most voters have not followed such lower-level campaigns and often rely more on local papers for guidance. But Lawrence said, ?We are not quitting, we are being realistic and looking at the system that is in need of change. We have people who go to Albany and roll over and take orders from legislative leaders.?

In a stinging editorial published Sunday, Lawrence explained to readers that the paper would not endorse anyone in the 13 state Senate and Assembly races within the paper?s circulation area. The piece argued that 98% of Albany incumbents are re-elected anyway, giving little chance for real change via the ballot box.

?Endorsements feed this beast,? the editorial said. ?We hope with this decision to spur the public to spur the candidates to promise change. Choose those who you believe will follow through.?

Instead, the editorial urged voters to pressure politicians to change their system and replace Senate and Assembly leaders. Specifically, the paper backs altering the current procedure that denies any bill in committee from reaching the full legislature for a vote without approval from the Senate president or Assembly speaker.

?Because caucus meetings are private, all the deals are cut in secret,? the editorial said. ?The chamber floor is a place where power is wielded, never tested.? The paper also called the process ?a charade.?

Lawrence, who has overseen the Gannett Co. Inc. paper?s editorial page for 13 years, said he had received about a dozen phone calls and more than a dozen e-mails on the idea, mostly favorable. ?We didn?t come to this decision overnight,? he said. ?We decided to announce it after the primary. We are not going to play this game anymore.?