Councilman Anthony Merante
Mayor Mike Spano
By Dan Murphy
With early voting beginning in 36 days, we begin our coverage of the biggest race in Yonkers-the race for Yonkers Mayor. Incumbent democrat Mayor Mike Spano is seeking an unprecedented fourth term. His opponent is republican councilman Anthony Merante. Mayor Spano defeated Councilwoman Corazon Pineda-Isaac in the democratic primary in June.
He enters the fall campaign as a popular Mayor presiding over a City that has made progress on many levels, including education, crime and development. And when you look at the way other cities are operating, and struggling, Yonkers looks even better.
This is the challenge that Merante has before him. He needs to find a way to criticize Mayor Spano without overlooking the successes, many of which he has supported as a councilman. Merante’s campaign recently released a video on Social Media criticizing Spano for the problems of bail reform. The recent release of a man who assaulted a Yonkers cop ,and breaking his nose, without bail is one example of the failures that some see with cashless bail.
Merante said that Spano “lacks the political courage” to standup and ask Governor Hochul to do something about bail reform “It’s obvious that Mike Spano is conflicted since his friend Governor Hochul has endorsed him for reelection.” Merante added, “ I’m not a fan of NYC Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, but I have to say, he’s a “ballsy guy” and a strong leader. The NY Times had reported, Adams stated in a press conference before a meeting with Hochul calling the law “insane, broken system” because it allowed repeat offenders to keep getting arrested and then released without bail,” said Merante.
But Mayor Spano recently made comments against the release of Johnny McCray by County Court Judge Maurice Williams. “This situation involving the assault on one of our Yonkers Police Officers is the very definition of insanity. The justice system is consistently bailing out criminal offenders. This Officer is now out on leave and not able to do his job, while this offender is able to continue to make a living. How can any reasonable person expect that we can protect the public if we can’t even protect our Police Officers? We need to step up and re-commit to keep those proven to hurt and plague the community in jail where they belong. Period,” said Spano.
What will the turnout be on November 7, in a non-presidential, non-gubernatorial year? Can Merante get out his supporters while hoping that democratic turnout is low? Political watchers in Yonkers say, “Spano will also get cross over support from republicans and independent voters.”
But will all the talk about national issues, like the migrant crisis have an impact on the Yonkers election? Most people we spoke to said no. “Merante needs to tie Spano to the far left wing of the democratic party. But that is not easy to do, especially with Mayor Spano, who governs lilke a moderate democrat and -a majority of voters like the way that Yonkers is going and are tired of national politics.”
“Merante needs to ride the wave of anger over problems with crime and the migrant crisis in order to win. but will the voters focus on those issues or how is my quality of life in Yonkers?”
