No Trojan Horses for Mayor of Mount Vernon!
By: Amiri Baldwin
Tags: Republicans, Westchester County, Politics, Secrets, Republican Party

Andre Wallace Signs Deal with Republican Party

Across America, we have seen how Trumpism has normalized deception and dirty tricks to assault our constitution and political system. Thus, an old tale of an ancient city can offer disturbing lessons for a Westchester community. For that is exactly how the Republican Party of Mount Vernon plans to subvert the upcoming mayoral election.

Most of us will recall from our school days the ancient legend of the Trojan Horse — and how it was used by a Greek invading army to conquer the city-state of Troy. The Republican Party has now secured their own Trojan Horse to infiltrate our Democratic primary for mayor — but only if we allow it.

The ancient legend tells of how the Greeks constructed a giant wooden horse to be left outside the impenetrable walls of Troy. That gambit assumed that the defending Trojans would be tricked into thinking the statue was a peace offering, one left by the supposedly departing Greek invasion force after a long stalemate in fighting. But the Trojans were unaware that the Greeks had not retreated from their territory. Some were hidden in that hollow horse — and the rest were stationed out of sight: waiting to pounce upon the Trojans at the right time.

Of course, we know what happens after that. The hapless Trojans bring the Trojan Horse into the city and, in the dark of night, the Greeks exit from that fake statue, open the gates, and invite the invading Greek army to ransack the once-great city of Troy. Now Republicans are planning to use the same trick to take control of Mount Vernon city hall.

In April 3, 2019, the Republican Party of Mount Vernon agreed to designate Andre Wallace, Mount Vernon City Council President, as the Republican nominee for Mayor — notwithstanding that Wallace was elected to the Council as a Democrat and is seeking to win the Democratic nomination for Mayor on June 25th. The certificate of acceptance of that bizarre arrangement was filed with the board of elections the next day. But Republicans do not want Mount Vernon citizens to know this backroom deal, lest voters refuse to take the bait and invite the Wallace Trojan Horse candidacy into the first-floor offices of city hall. Yet voters should be aware that the party of Donald Trump has good reason to believe that this stratagem can work: they did the exact same thing four years ago with the candidacy of Richard Thomas, the current mayor.

But here is what should really alarm us. The Republican Party hasn’t been friendly to the interests of Mount Vernonites since Teddy Roosevelt was president. But even the GOP of four years ago is not the toxic cesspool that is now the Republican Party of Donald Trump. Across the nation, Republicans in city halls, state capitols and Congress have sworn total loyalty to the cult of the Russian president’s boy toy — the most racist, sexist, corrupt, and incompetent president in American history. The same Donald Trump, who is leading a party that is waging a war on women and the voting rights of minorities throughout the nation, is now the accepted party leader of Andre Wallace. Think about that. That big D at the end of his name is now jointed by a big R: and the local Republican Party Leader, Thomas Keller, has now become Wallace’s sugar daddy.

Republican Party Authorization of Andre Wallace as Republican Nominee for Mayor

Andre Wallace has signed his name (and thereby his soul) to a party nomination document that unites him with the anti-immigrant posture of the Trump Administration and the NYS Republican Party. This is a slap in the face to the many immigrant populations that have made Mount Vernon a diverse community. And that state GOP organization shamelessly alludes to Trump’s MAGA motto with a website banner ad flashing “Making America Great.” Great for whom? Great for white nationalists afraid of black and brown people? Great for the special interests controlling swaths of Mount Vernon commercial real estate? Great for shady business interests operating in the waste management industry — interests that have become the de facto puppet master of the Thomas administration? If this GOP deception is executed (again), if we should allow ourselves to be duped by the Trojan Horse candidacy of Andre Wallace, we should not be surprised when we see a photo of him wearing a red MAGA baseball cap — standing on the steps of city hall with his new club manager: Mount Vernon GOP leader Thomas J. Keller.

So here’s what we should protest during every mayoral debate between now and June 25th: “Fool us once, Republicans? Then shame on you! Fool us twice? It’s not going to happen! Fuggedaboutit!” It will not happen because we know Mount Vernon must become a new model of functional governance. No more bowing to the special interests claiming the city as their kingdom. We need leadership who is unbought, unafraid, and unwavering in commitment to our community. And it is essential to expose the backroom plot involving red-cap carpenters working feverishly with hammers and nails to craft a hollow wooden horse to dupe the voters.

So we cannot be misled by HOLLOW promises coming from HOLLOW politicians who are the HOLLOW receptacles of a party notorious for its HOLLOW allegiance to the rule of law — and truth and justice.