But Nate is no outsider. He is the ultimate insider, who has since merely fallen out with everyone because he has a gargantuan ego and zero people skills.
Don’t believe me? Let’s go back to February 2018, before Nate’s first run for Congress, when he was still the Rus Thompson-backed supervisor of Grand Island. There was a very strong candidate running for that seat – Army veteran and former Erie County prosecutor Sean Bunny. Nate expressed an interest in running, and the party bosses decided that he was the best shot at winning, so they quite literally cleared the field for Nate, forcing everyone else out of the race, including Bunny, who has regrettably not sought elected office since.
When forced to exit the race in 2018, Bunny was diplomatic and expressed above all an unwillingness to do harm to the Democratic Party in a bruising primary battle against McMurray.
“While I am proud of the campaign I ran, I did not become a candidate to hurt the Democratic Party or hurt our chances in November,” he added. “The most important objective is defeating Chris Collins and his anti-Western New York agenda this fall.”
Bunny would not say if he will support another candidate and would not comment when asked if he was satisfied with the party process that is coalescing around McMurray.
That’s what public service is about – putting others before one’s own self-interest.
Nowadays, McMurray will scream bloody murder about Jeremy Zellner to everyone who will bother to listen. But back then?
Zellner acknowledged that he and seven other Democratic chairmen endorsed McMurray to avoid what could prove a divisive primary.
Nate took to Twitter again on Valentine’s Day eve to pen a weird sort of love note to the people whom he purports to be wooing for an endorsement.
“After much effort” is defined as, two emails – one on February 13th and another the next evening. I hope he’s ok from the strain.
Here, he accuses the party boss of excluding the guy no one knew was running until he Tweeted about it. Evidently, everyone is supposed to either read his mind or closely follow his Tweets. McMurray’s candidacy is based on the premise that ECDC Executive Committee members, representing the county party organization’s rank & file, will jettison one of the strongest, smartest elected officials we have for a three-time loser who is quite obviously just settling scores and feeding his ego.
The pretense – really, the slur – here is that the Executive Committee members are seat-warmers who reflexively do Zellner’s bidding, but the “independent” party chairs really want Nate in there. Maybe one or two, but this is another gaslighting, making the gullible believe that the Executive Committee would really pick Nate if only they had the freedom to do so.
He didn’t help Kim Beaty. He didn’t help Kevin Hardwick. He didn’t help Randy Hoak. He didn’t help any town committees. If you don’t support Democrats when no one’s looking, how can you presume to demand Democrats’ support now? But he’ll make it about personalities and individual beefs he has, and pretend they’re contrived.
Witness the sheer immensity of the egotism here.
The interview is not for him to do anything else but explain to the people gathered why they should get rid of Poloncarz in favor of McMurray. It really is that simple – it’s not really his place to ask questions, but to answer them. The ECDC Executive Committee is not made up of shrinking violets, and I suspect they’ll be the ones doing the interviewing. The same goes for any local committee that may entertain him.
Fundamentally, he does not understand that the purpose of going before the Executive Committee is to ask them to do something for you. He thinks he has already deserved it, and anyone who says differently is a paid shill.
He “believes in reason” and that’s why he’s going to tell the party bigshots to tell Poloncarz to pound salt in favor of three-time-loser McMurray. Why? For “change.”
Nate does not have the self-awareness to grasp why that room will be “tough.” He will overtly insult the committee members by accusing them of being in Zellner’s / Poloncarz’s pocket without once considering that they actually like and support Mark.
So, what is it about the “direction” of the party “or the city and county” with which you “don’t agree”? Is it that – that they like Mark more than you? That they trust Mark more than you? That their committees have all helped by Mark and vice-versa?
Is it the fact that they won’t do your bidding? Because I think it’s the fact that they won’t do your bidding.
Is it the fact that they have exhausted their patience for you? Because I think it’s the fact that they’ve exhausted their patience for you.
And this is how McMurray sees himself:
Mark Poloncarz came in and sold to the electorate the idea that they and their quality of life mattered.
