Jim McManus, a native New Yorker (and NY Yankee fan),

comes from a family which has been politically active for

more than a century. Despite that pedigree, Mr. McManus

has never run for public office and now that he is a senior

citizen, says with a smile he has no desire to, "no not

really, not at my age. "Asked what's the crucial element for

a successful fundraiser his response is simple and to the

point: "have a good candidate."

It was refreshing to have someone of Mr. McManus'

background acknowledge that they were not aware of all

the issues on the minds of New Yorkers. For example the

'leash law', which he was not shy about asking me to

clarify for him when asked if he supported it. Essentially,

the 'leash law' requires dogs to be leashed while they are

being walked, taking their exercise in the park, and in some

cases even if they are in a designated dog run. Once this

information was conveyed Mr.McManus confirmed his

support saying "from your explanation I think I'd be for it. I

think the animal should be on a leash other than areas that

they have set aside where they can let the animal run

loose."

When asked to rate the job performances of NYC Mayor

Rudolph Giuliani and NYC Police Commissioner Howard

Safer, his response was affirmative for both. "I think the

Mayor has done a good job, I think the Police

Commissioner has done a good job." When asked if he

thought the Police Commissioner and the Mayor were

working well together, it was again refreshing to hear

someone acknowledge that they are "not (in) on any inside

(information) so I don't know." Mr. McManus' candor and

sense of humor shone through when asked about the

inclusion of the NYS Dairy Farmers in the Multi-State Dairy

Compact. He was unaware of

the compact but was eager to learn about it. The compact

is a cartel of sorts (of which NYS Dairy Farmers are not

presently included) which allows the farmers to set a

certain price for various dairy products so that they may

make a competitive and liveable wage. Upon hearing this

his response was, "well since in my district the only cows

we have are two legged cows, I really don't know too much

about it, so I'd rather not make a comment on (that issue)."

On a more serious note he was very concerned about the

NYS commuter tax (currently in appellate decision but

there are strong indications that it will be re-instated). "It's

bad for the city. Thousands of people come into the city for

different jobs and of course they have to pay taxes. Now

the thing is I think we'll be able to keep more companies in

the city. With the appeal of this tax a lot of companies

move out because they can't hire employees because of

this tax. So to get certain types of people they move

out of the city. So you (may) say what do we need them for

if they want to hire people from Nassau (for example), but

they also hire people from the city. So I think it's important

that we keep companies in the city, and I think that's one of

the reasons a lot of companies leave the city (because the

workers who have the needed skills for specific

businesses may not reside within NYC)."

Currently 47% of registered voters in New York are

Democrats. Mr. McManus theorizes that number will

decrease before the year 2000, because the number of

voters who are registered as Independent or "blanks" are

the second largest group of registered voters. Their

numbers are on the rise, and as they continue to increase,

both major party's (Democrat and Republican) registered

voters are on the decline. Whichever party one aligns with,

Mr. McManus' advice to first time voters is simple

and sound: "belong to an organization and vote with that

organization". That said, it is interesting to note that in the

last two mayoral elections, constituents in the "Clinton"

district (predominately Democrats) gave their support to

the Republican candidate and incumbent, Mayor Rudolph

Giuliani.

The upcoming US Senate election has been a hot topic of

political discussion among New Yorkers. Although neither

Mayor Giuliani nor Hillary Rodham Clinton have "officially"

announced their candidacy, it is implicit they will be the

standard bearers for their respective parties in the race. We

discussed Winston Churchill's quote: "if you're not a

liberal at 20 you have no heart, if you're not a conservative

at 40 you have no head." McManus responded

that he "admired Mr.Churchill very much", but he believes

"you should go to the grave being a liberal." Paradoxically

he does allow that while he was raised a Democrat he does

not presently endorse any candidate for the Presidential

election for the year 2000 and he does not feel energized

by Mrs. Clinton as a candidate for the Senate categorizing

her as "an unknown quantity, with no track record in NYC

or NYS, so we will have to wait and see." This does not

mean that Giuliani is home free. Long Island Republican

Congressman Rick Lazio, not content to twiddle his

thumbs while Hillary "listens" and Rudy remains in a 'will

he or won't he run' mode, has made a declaration of his

candidacy for the Senate race. Lazio was recently

requested by NYS Republican Governor George Pataki to

bow out of the Senate race to eliminate the 'spoiler' factor

, for the good of the party. It appeared that Lazio was going

to do as the Governor asked but instead has had a change

of heart. Lazio has issued a challenge to Mayor Giuliani to

make a declaration of his candidacy by August 31st 1999. If

the Mayor does not make a more substanative statement

other than "it looks like I will" Rep. Lazio has announced

he intends to remain in the race. Also it must be

acknowledged that the Giuliani administration has had its

troubles of late with the public and the press; Anthony

Baez, Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo, tension with NYC

Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew, the dead bull, dead dogs,

banning the press from public areas, etc, et.al. With the

election less than 18 months away, unless they are given

strong motivation to vote otherwise, it appears that two of

the three candidates may induce some constituents to add

to the increase of the number of the "blanks".