News Blog
Notes on the Walker-Clifford affair
My God. Have we completely forgotten how to do subterfuge in this country? What happened to brush passes and secret codes? Or trench coats and full-figured dames with dark pasts? Has the whole word gone crazy?
The Molly Clifford-Gary Walker plot to keep Tom Richards in the mayor’s office is unacceptably prosaic. They apparently carried out their scheme via email, colluding with the chair of the Monroe County Independence Party to launch a pro-Richards ca 
mpaign. They got busted when the party chair mistakenly sent the whole smash to the D&C in an unbelievable gift of journalistic good fortune.
Kidding aside, this has to be mortifying for Clifford and Walker. I’m willing to bet this kind of thing goes on in politics all the time, but still, how many times have we been told not to put anything in an email that you don’t want the whole word to see? (Also, would Walker really do this without consulting his boss, Richards? It seems implausible.)
Clifford and Walker have never been anything but professional and courteous during my dealings with them. Clifford gets a lot of guff for having a resume that apparently qualifies her for every job everywhere — she’s been everything from a party boss, Rural Metro spokesperson, to the city’s director of fire administration — but I get the impression that she isn’t thrilled with being used as a utility infielder, either. She's the Swiss Army knife of government service.
Personally, I don’t see this whole thing being a terribly big deal. Walker and Clifford are free to support whomever they like; what they do on their own time is their business. But Lovely Warren, the Democratic candidate for Rochester mayor, might disagree. If either Clifford or Walker had hopes of staying on in a potential Warren administration, they’d better hope that Warren has a sense of humor.
The Molly Clifford-Gary Walker plot to keep Tom Richards in the mayor’s office is unacceptably prosaic. They apparently carried out their scheme via email, colluding with the chair of the Monroe County Independence Party to launch a pro-Richards ca
- FILE PHOTO
- Molly Clifford.
Kidding aside, this has to be mortifying for Clifford and Walker. I’m willing to bet this kind of thing goes on in politics all the time, but still, how many times have we been told not to put anything in an email that you don’t want the whole word to see? (Also, would Walker really do this without consulting his boss, Richards? It seems implausible.)
Clifford and Walker have never been anything but professional and courteous during my dealings with them. Clifford gets a lot of guff for having a resume that apparently qualifies her for every job everywhere — she’s been everything from a party boss, Rural Metro spokesperson, to the city’s director of fire administration — but I get the impression that she isn’t thrilled with being used as a utility infielder, either. She's the Swiss Army knife of government service.
Personally, I don’t see this whole thing being a terribly big deal. Walker and Clifford are free to support whomever they like; what they do on their own time is their business. But Lovely Warren, the Democratic candidate for Rochester mayor, might disagree. If either Clifford or Walker had hopes of staying on in a potential Warren administration, they’d better hope that Warren has a sense of humor.
