Who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune

"Leaders Against Johnson" are Dependent on Gantt and Morelle

So a group of "black leaders line up against Johnson," in the words of today's Democrat and Chronicle story.

Only it wasn't so much a group of "leaders" as a group of elected and appointed political hacks, all in the pocket of either David Gantt or Joe Morelle, the brains and driving forces behind Tom Richards' candidacy for Mayor.

Not "leaders," but followers.   Not leaders, but dependents of Gantt and Morelle, each with a personal interest, such as their main source of income, that depends on doing what Gantt or Morelle tell them to do.

One such "leader," Lovely Warren, makes her living as Gantt's legal counsel and Chief of Staff.   Warren is widely considered the beneficiary of a backroom deal between Gantt and Morelle to install her as Mayor after a Tom Richards term.   To serve as Gantt's proxy in the office of Mayor.

If Rochester had a quality daily newspaper, it would have disclosed how many other of the assembled "leaders" get most or all of their livelihood from organizations whose funds come from State grants made by David Gantt or Joe Morelle, or from appointments controlled by either.

The only real story here, other than Joe Morelle playing the race card for Richards in desperation, is as old as human nature itself:   he who pays the piper calls the tune.

As if Tom Richards, resident of Rochester's whitest precinct and multi-million dollar beneficiary of the sale of RG&E to Energy East, said to have cost hundreds of local jobs, has much in common with the concerns of most African-American households in the City.