As a voter registered "independent" and not affiliated with any political party I don't think the collective term "blanks" properly captures my motivations. I suggest "non-sheeple".

I suspect that the party-line voting trend was simply based on non-Presidential election voters voting along party lines.

As a longtime registered Democrat, I am not surprised by the Republican windfall. Democratic leaders have set a tone of distrust and division. Term limits should be in place for the Mayor, City Councit, NYS Assembly, and School Board. How effective can you be establishing growth in a city when you can't see past your own political ambitions. Advocacy for urban development is limited among our Democratic politicans. Republicans take care of thier own in the suburbs regardless of socio-economic status. Democrats will chalk this up to a loss and hope that residents will forget that they now are a party of politicians that just talk the talk. Republicans proved Tuesday they can walk they walk and bring young, new political leaders with them that they have no problem passing the torch to.

Suburbs aren't intellectually stimulating. The people who live there are Republican types, average Joes, modest in every way. The many registered Democrats are unenthusiastic moderates who were led into it.

Maybe voters looked at Joe Morelle's votes in the Assembly, and the Assembly backgrounds of the Democrats in the county legislature (at least 5 of them basically work for Sheldon Silver, directly or indirectly) and concluded they didn't want the Monroe County legislature to raise the budget and taxes quite as fast as the Assembly does. Or maybe they don't want their towns run with the same quality schools and low crime rate as the City of Rochester, which the Democrats have done such a fine job with over the past 20 years.

The county Republicans gave us ample reasons NOT to vote for them. However, the Democrats, under the poor leadership of Joe Morelle, gave us NO reason to vote for them. The Dem's lit was all about how terrible and corrupt the Republicans seem to be. But I know from the mail I got, the Dem candidate in my area not once mentioned any of his ideas or plans. Maybe he didn't have any. I'll never know since he lost.

Joe Morelle either needs to resign immediately or allow the fresh candidates who want to run for office to actually speak for themselves. Once candidates are under the wing of MCDC, original ideas are replaced by generic blandness. Candidates should be about ideas and plans. If they aren't they shouldn't be running.

I saw a television ad that said it all...Joe Morelle is bringing Albany style politics to Rochester! The truth is that rather than leading, the Democrats have become the party of "no"! They do not float real ideas, they simply always say no! It is sadly true that a number of them work in the NYS Assembly and now want to bring that approach to governement here...No Thanks!

Look at what happened this election. A vicious attack ad on a Judge paid for by the Democrat Party...then no aplologie from the Chairman for running it...then Fair Campaign Practices violations (two in a week)...then he even loses his own town back to the Republicans. He loses the legislature which appeared to be his...and, he still has no apologies.

He set up his own town supervisor for defeat by dragging his feet on Medley Center funding...he rejects the idea of a theatre in his own district to force it downtown...and, he takes his orders from Sheldon Silver...not us, the people that elect him! It is time for Joe to Go! Both as Chair...and from the Assembly...we need someone who cares for our future...not his own power

In April, just before I decided to run for Rochester City Council, I was told by a Democratic leader that this would be a futile task for me, as all of the decisions had already been made. I was then, and am now, attempting to get a job with the Obama administration in the Health and Human Services Department in Washington to help get stem cell & regenerative medicine resources out to where they are needed. This leader told me to stay focused on the DC possibility and forget playing local politics, because I had no chance with it.

Obviously, I did not follow this man's advice! I am happy that when I began this course in April that I was one of 20 candidates for City Council. In the end, I was one of 6 candidates for city council thanks to my nomination and endorsement by the Working Families Party. And I thank very much the 1,694 of you who voted for me!
I still want to bring CHANGE to Rochester. I want a downtown that is civilized, where one can live; not the wasteland it is today. The way this will happen is when we have a true democracy in Rochester. Less than 10% of the voters actually chose our leaders this election, in the sense that very few people were involved in the Democratic Party endorsement and nomination process. This process was a travesty as we know from Tom Brennan's experience running for Commissioner of Schools, where in three of the City's LD committees, he came in third place. But like all the other candidates who did not get 50% of the committee vote; Tom had to enter a run-off at Party convention with the convoluted rule that committee votes for the run-off candidates were entirely up to the LD leader, all of which gave all their votes to David Gantt's darling Cynthia Elliott, in spite of the fact that she received no more than a few votes from the original committee caucuses while Tom received the third highest in each. Word on the street has it that this was the result of a deal struck with Gantt to endorse her (almost assuring the nomination as well); and in return he would not run another City Council candidate to oppose the others.

Joe Morelle, who presided over this process fixing, either needs to resign immediately or allow the fresh candidates who want to run for office to actually speak for themselves. Once candidates are under the wing of MCDC, original ideas are replaced by generic blandness. Candidates should be about ideas and plans. If they aren't, they shouldn't be running.

An example of this was evident when I and the other City Council candidates presented ourselves in caucus to the committee that David Gantt controls. We all made speeches presenting our case in hopes of a real vote. Mr. Gantt did not even bother to stay in the room to listen to what I had to say, about Renaissance Square, about high tech possibilities with stem cell research for jobs in our area, and for high speed rail. Mr. Gantt was not even in the room when all of us spoke to his committee! Mr. Gannt was outside, seen through the glass window, smoking a cigarette during the entire process! And, when the votes were tallied for David's committee, it was unanimous. EVERYBODY David chose had EXACTLY the same amount of votes!! And who was the leader of the MCDC when this happened? Joe Morelle, that's who.

By closing out the process in the committees the way it did, it insured a low turn-out in the City, which hurt the County-wide races.

I will be holding an event in a couple of months to have a better look at where we are all going politically. I will invite Green Party members, Working Family members, and all of you who have no political affiliation. If the Democratic Party in Monroe County wants to succeed, I think it is time we all looked at where it's leadership has taken it and decide if we want to continue in the same direction.