None of this distracts us from Jim's exit after three decades of public life. "When I went to Washington," he told the folks at the roundtable, "I wanted to help my community. I had the common councilor's mentality." Jim's biggest footprint is going to be the money he brought home to his hometown in the form of a project that got to be called the Syracuse Neighborhood Initiative, a banner he waved proudly above TMR. "They can fight all they want to about the earmarks (aka "local pork" grants)," he explained. "We should never give those up, no matter who's in the White House." So what if he's on the list of top pork-barrelers. "Sue me," he commented with a grin. Jim said his main goal in setting up the neighborhood grants for Syracuse was to increase the number of people in our town who own their own homes. That goal may not have been reached, he explained, "but it's been a success because it shows neighbors there is hope, that somebody cares about them." Congressman James Walsh of New York served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal in the 1960's.
Jim Walsh reflects on doing his 'bit' for three decades
Walsh reflects on doing his 'bit'
Saturday, March 29, 2008
DICK CASE
POST-STANDARD COLUMNIST
Jim Walsh said goodbye to some friends the other day. He spoke at Thursday Morning Roundtable of University College, likely for the last time as our man in Washington, D.C.
"I did my bit," he said to the audience, without a trace of embarrassment or pride in his voice.
Jim's calling it a career in Congress at the end of 2008. This is to be his 10th, and last, term in Washington.
He laughed when our reporter asked him about reconsidering retirement this week. No way was the message. The question was prompted by Peter Cappuccilli, the prime Republican candidate, who dropped out of the race for health reasons earlier in the week. That leaves Dan Maffei, the presumed Democratic nominee to replace Jim Walsh, standing alone in the field just now.
There are frantic motions on the sidelines, of course, as there were when Jim announced he won't run again, back in January. Among others, Ryan McMahon, a Syracuse city councilor, raised his hand again, as did Nancy Larraine Hoffmann, who used to be a Republican state senator. Larraine came on fighting (with the Onondaga County GOP chair), saying his remarks were a "throwback to another era." Shortly, Larraine bowed out.
Speaking of throwbacks . . . .
None of this distracts us from Jim's exit after three decades of public life. "When I went to Washington," he told the folks at the roundtable, "I wanted to help my community. I had the common councilor's mentality."
Jim's biggest footprint is going to be the money he brought home to his hometown in the form of a project that got to be called the Syracuse Neighborhood Initiative, a banner he waved proudly above TMR. "They can fight all they want to about the earmarks (aka "local pork" grants)," he explained. "We should never give those up, no matter who's in the White House."
So what if he's on the list of top pork-barrelers. "Sue me," he commented with a grin.
Jim said his main goal in setting up the neighborhood grants for Syracuse was to increase the number of people in our town who own their own homes. That goal may not have been reached, he explained, "but it's been a success because it shows neighbors there is hope, that somebody cares about them."
He mentions that a team at SU's Maxwell School, headed by professor Bill Coplin, studied SNI's first years. The research shows, among other findings, that 1,226 "homeownership units" were rehabbed or built by SNI programs 2000 to 2005; 161 new households have been added to the community and the number of tax delinquencies declined.
Jim outlined his successful efforts to take the "Upstate seat" on the House Appropriations Committee, quoting his mother who once told him, "The harder you work, the luckier you get."
"You don't have to be a genius to be a member of Congress," Jim explained, "but you do have to be patient and persistent."
He plugged the consolidation of government services, a topic on our minds because of the suggested elimination of the Clay Police Department, as recommended by the Clay town supervisor. Even though New York voters are burdened by heavy taxes because of overlapping levels of government, the congressman suggested that the golden rule of consolidation has to be improvement of government services rather than the amount of money saved.
Commenting on the change in his attitude toward the war in Iraq, Jim said "it became very clear that some voters had lost faith in our government's war policy" and he needed to respond to that.
"If they (the Iraqis) want a democracy, they have to fight for it," he said. "We should be transitioning our troops out and let the Iraqis take over. It should be their fight."
Asked to comment on the role of lobbyists in Congress, Jim said he'd never been offered a payoff for a vote, but he warned, "if you're in a position of power, you need to know that people are watching you. Ask Eliot Spitzer about that."
What about after Washington?
Before he won his first term in Congress, Jim worked for the telephone company. Yes, he might go back to that line of work. He also might consider working as a lobbyist (he knows how government works; he's got the contacts). On the other hand, he'd hate to lose the connections he made in Ireland in helping to negotiate an end to the fighting there. . . .
Frankly, he said, "I don't know what I'll do. I've had a lot of interesting offers, including things I never thought about. We'll see. . . ."
That bus center
The plan to relocate where buses move out of downtown to South Warren Street is coming along, but slowly, according to the man in charge. I talked to Frank Kobliski, chief operating officer of Centro, this week.
The new downtown center's to be built south of the Hotel Syracuse parking garage. Frank admitted to substantial delays and blamed those mainly on the property owner, whom he identified as Ike Rosen, of Miami.
A preliminary review of the project has been submitted to the Federal Transit Administration, he explained, and the first steps taken in an eminent domain proceeding on the property, which is to be demolished.
Dick Case writes Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Reach him at dcase@syracuse.com or 470-2254.
