This year's Buffalo mayoral campaign may be the most important election for the city in years, with candidates vying to replace a much-maligned mayor in a bankrupt city. Whoever wins will represent the face of change in the city, for better or for worse.
But if you ask the average UB student their opinion on the city's mayoral race, you will likely receive only a blank stare in return.
"It's hard to get students to care about elections," said Matt Pelkey, a senior legal studies major.
Pelkey is one of the few students who have paid attention to the upcoming election, a three-way race between Democrat Byron Brown, Republican Kevin Helfer and independent Charles Flynn.
"It's tough at UB because a lot of students don't live in Buffalo," said Pelkey, who works for Helfer's campaign and is the former president of the College Republicans. "A lot of them cannot vote."
While there are many students that are not eligible to vote, there are just as many others who can and do not participate. And even when all students are able to vote, such as in SA elections, turnout is low. Last year only 1,577 voters came out to the polls, less than 10 percent of the student population.
"You've got to want to be involved," said Chris Mohr, president of the College Democrats. "(Students) should want to know what's going on."
UB students can be very aloof with regard to the issues, said Mohr, a junior political science major.
"I bet you couldn't ask any student who the candidates are," Mohr said.
Part of the issue is that while students are not interested in politics, politicians will not pay attention to them. But students will not become interested if there is a lack of attention.
"No politician wastes time on students, and then no students want to get politically active," Pelkey said. "It's a Catch-22."
Pelkey points out senior citizens as a demographic that can get what they want.
"Senior citizens have great government programs and they flock to the polls. I bet we could have cheaper education if we came out to vote like they did," he said.
Mohr also believes it is the students' responsibility to become politically active.
"Political activism is not the politician's responsibility," Mohr said. "The burden is on the students, it is their civic duty."
As a result of the lack of interest, little has been said about UB or college-aged students in any of the candidates' party platforms. According to Helfer's campaign manager Christopher Grant, the candidates are certainly keeping students in mind, especially those graduating.
"When they graduate, they won't have to look elsewhere for jobs," Grant said. "We want them to look to Buffalo first before going elsewhere."
Grant, who graduated from UB Law School in 2005, said a big issue on the table right now is the plan for a casino to be built in downtown Buffalo.
"We have to have a well-developed plan," Grant said. "We can't make the same mistakes Niagara Falls did."
Even early on, there has been a good deal of negative campaigning between the two candidates. Much has been done by both Brown and Helfer to link each other to County Executive Joel Giambra, whom 80 percent of Erie County residents believe should resign before his term is up. Giambra has been at the center of tremendous controversy in Erie County after personally leading the area in severe debt and ruining the budget for years to come.
"Giambra is the kiss of death," Pelkey said.
The election attacks went one step further when Brown recently accused Helfer of putting a racial slant in his ad campaigns by saying in the ads that Brown ran with "the wrong crowd."
Helfer fired back that the accusations are only Brown's attempt to deflect attention away from his own failures as a State Senator.
In the primaries, Brown won the Democrat support, while Helfer captured the Conservative platform after a write-in campaign.
Incumbent Anthony Masiello has chosen not to run for re-election, ending a term in office that frequently faced intense scrutiny.
Photo: Garrett Price
Photo: Courtesy of Amanda Winkelsas, credit: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
