The leader of the Monroe County Democratic Committee is speaking out about a recent effort to try and get Rochester residents to vote for Tom Richards for re-election as mayor, even though Richards has said he is not campaigning for the seat.
The comments come after the leader of the county's Independence Party recently called on voters to cast ballots for Richards even though Richards earlier had said he would not run for family reasons. Richards is still on the November ballot on the Independence and Working Families party lines. Lovely Warren beat Richard in the Democratic primary and she faces Green Party candidate Alex White in the upcoming election.
After word of the Independence Party effort came out, the Democrat and Chronicle revealed that City Hall spokesman Gary Walker and Director of Fire Administration Molly Clifford apparently had some involvement in helping the local Independence Party leader put together an opinion piece about the idea.
Morelle tells WXXI News that he does not sense any kind of split within his party, and he believes Warren will get a strong turnout of Democrats next month.
"I certainly talked to some folks in the Democratic party who have strong feelings about this, I’ve told them that it’s our obligation to respect the voters wishes, voters in the Democratic party spoke loudly and clearly on primary day. "
Morelle also tells us that he does think that Richards was clear in the statement he released this week in which the mayor said he stands by the commitment he made in September, when he announced he would not campaign for re-election.
