Adam Bello is a great guy.
But he runs with the wrong crowd.
As he announced his candidacy Saturday to be executive of Monroe County, it was hard to see him at the lectern for all the baggage he carries as the candidate of the New York Democratic Party. He is a foot soldier in Andrew Cuomo’s quest to make this the “progressive capital of the nation.”
And that’s not a good fit for Monroe County.
Monroe County is a middle-of-the road community, with a touch of conservative and a touch of liberal and a broad swath of just-plain-folks in the middle. It is a place where they take some from Column A and some from Column B and tend to recoil from extremists on either side.
Which is not a good fit for today’s New York Democratic Party – which is all in for the revolution. The menu of New York Democrat agenda items is a culture warrior’s dream, a socialist manifesto for progressive dominance.
That’s the jersey Adam Bello chose to wear.
He’s the candidate of no bail for rapists and people who commit assaults and burglaries. He’s the candidate who wants to increase wages paid to inmates by 600% -- to go along with their free tablets and college educations. He’s the candidate of drivers licenses and free college for illegal aliens.
Those are the current legislative priorities of the party he represents.
And which he would bring to power with him.
Because county executive is a unique county office in that it makes policy, and carries with it a huge number of patronage jobs, and directly impacts the lives of hundreds of thousands of residents. County clerk, sheriff and district attorney are apolitical, in that though they are elected, they have specific functions closely regulated by law. That means there isn’t really a Republican or Democrat way to do sheriff or DA.
County executive isn’t like that. County executive is about making policy, not just implementing it. County executive is about appointing department heads and setting courses.
And the course of the state Democratic Party is a bit strong for most Monroe County residents.
Most Monroe County residents are pro-choice, but few of them can stand and cheer third-term abortion as the leadership of the state Democratic Party did. Most Monroe County residents can accept the legalization of recreational marijuana, but they can’t understand the Democrat refusal to consider the concerns of a broad array of medical, law enforcement and mental health experts.
The prospect of Adam Bello bringing the agenda of his party to every Monroe County community is not an appealing one for many Monroe County residents.
Adam Bello is a great guy, but he is also a wholly owned subsidiary of Morelle Inc. and consequently an outgrowth of the state and local Democratic Party. His campaign treasurer is Joe Morelle’s Assembly chief of staff – and presumably the current leader of the congressman’s Rochester office. Bello is himself a former Assembly staffer for Morelle, and Bello ran the Monroe County Democratic Committee as executive director when Morelle was chairman.
His treasurer’s husband is a former staffer for Assemblyman David Gantt.
Joe Morelle has been getting Adam Bello jobs for years, and Monroe County residents don’t believe he did that out of the goodness of his heart. Jobs bring loyalty, and loyalty brings control – and Joe Morelle has had his hand in the most progressive aspects of New York’s governance for the last several years, and is staking out for himself a position among the most progressive of New York’s new crop of congressional Democrats.
If Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez makes sense to you, Adam Bello is your guy.
If you like the way the Democrat-controlled Rochester City Hall and City School District are run, Adam Bello is your guy.
If you want David Gantt to have even more influence in Monroe County, Adam Bello is your guy.
If you want Monroe County government to become a parking place for out-of-work Democrat activists, Adam Bello is your guy.
If you want Andrew Cuomo to have an ally running the county as he eliminates aid to towns and villages, Adam Bello is your guy.
If you think even more county tax dollars should be transferred into the city, Adam Bello is your guy.
But if not, he’s not.
He’s running with the crowd that gave us Leticia Astacio and photonics.
Adam Bello is disqualified under the birds-of-a-feather rule.
He’s a great guy, representing a party that sees most of Monroe County as the enemy.