Walt Shepperd is a veteran of Central New York's political scuffle, having covered government and politics in Syracuse for more than four decades before being asked for press credentials.
He is the Senior Editor of the City Eagle and the Mayor of Montgomery Street in downtown Syracuse.
Shepperd is also the producer of the The Media Unit, Central New York national award winning teen performance and production troupe.
Samadee is his alter ego. At least that's the rumor.
Samadee was intrigued. His candid conversation with retiring Democratic Party Elections Commissioner Ed Szczesniak had fallen short of an endorsement of his aspirations toward a presidential candidacy, but seemed almost supportive, telling him it was never too late to get involved in the process. He had also told Samadee, however, that you needed lots of bucks and a message, which was really nothing new. At Christmas Eve dinner at the Dinosaur the Wannabee had chanted, “Lots of bucks, lots of bucks,” all the way through the fried green tomatoes and into the catfish.
The Has Been had tried to raise the question of message quietly...
Samadee was taking notes. Over the past two weeks he felt he had expanded the support base for his unannounced presidential candidacy beyond the Has Been, the Wannabe and two people in Spafford. He felt definite encouragement from two important local politicos, but since he had pledged not to take any campaign contributions he didn’t have the $1,000 necessary to register with the 42 other candidates on the New Hampshire primary ballot. He had taken notes on the victory speeches after the Iowa caucuses, and was now glued to C-Span as the losers proved more entertaining, their supporters ironically enthused. “Forty eight states to go,” noted Democrat John Edwards, a distant third...
The pace in the locker room at the Y slowed for Martin Luther King Day. Samadee watched as senators, judges, bus drivers and firefighters passed each other naked, exchanging pleasantries in the showers. Their banter did not include mention of his presidential aspirations, probably, he figured, because he still had not publicly announced.
“Why don’t I get a good feeling about MLK Day anymore,” asked former County Legislator Will Morgan.
“Because it’s now just like Christmas,” the Has Been reflected, “It has meaning, but it’s mostly a ritual. It’s even commercialized...
Jim Walsh sat in his office filled with people to the point where movement was almost impossible, the trademarked Irish impishness flashing in his smiles. “I feel sanguine about where we are politically,” he said, announcing he would not seek reelection in the fall.
Samadee, the Has Been and the Wannabe stood with the overflow in an adjoining room, shuffling through the pages of a dictionary. “Here it is,” the Wannabe whispered as the overflow shushed him. “It’s from the Middle English. It’s an adjective meaning blood red, sometimes hyphenated...
