Joan Christensen Exits the Stage

In a State Legislature where you’re more likely to die in office or resign in disgrace than actually lose an election, Assemblywoman Joan Christensen is leaving on her own terms. Or is she? Envision if you will a political drama filled with revenge, plot twists and backroom deals. Okay, maybe it’s not all that dramatic, but in a race that is far from over, let’s speculate for a few minutes, shall we?

A few weeks ago, when fellow Democrat Jane Fahey-Suddaby announced a primary challenge, Joan Christensen signaled that she welcomed the opposition and was determined to run and win the race. Now, stop right there. In the 20 years that Christensen has been in office, she faced a primary exactly once: the first year she ran and was elected. What could have spurred a primary challenge this year? (This is the fun part, where we get to hypothesize.)

Jane Fahey-Suddaby’s brother, County Judge Joe Fahey, lost a primary challenge for Mayor of Syracuse to Joe Nicoletti in the 1990’s. Joan Christensen endorsed Joe Nicoletti for Mayor last year. Could the primary challenge have been political payback for endorsing the wrong mayoral candidate? After the primary challenge was announced, let’s suppose Christensen went to the local Democrat Party committee to gauge the level of support for this challenger. Now remember that the local committee overwhelmingly favored Stephanie Miner over Joe Nicoletti last year. Having seen the writing on the wall and a coordinated effort to oust her for shunning the party’s preferred mayoral candidate, the Assemblywoman may have decided to cut her losses and move on, announcing her retirement.

That’s where we stand now, with Jane Fahey-Suddaby the only announced candidate in the race for either party. But let’s go a little further. One prominent Democrat who is considering joining the race is City Auditor Phil LaTessa. Guess who LaTessa endorsed in last year’s mayoral primary race: Joe Nicoletti. This is shaping up to be a very interesting, nay, intriguing, race.

Oh, and on the Republican side, preferred candidate Dan Liedka, Mayor of East Syracuse, says he’d rather stay in a crowded State Senate primary to face an entrenched incumbent where he is short on money and support instead of jump into this open seat Assembly race with his party behind him. Huh?