On Thursday night, the Conservative party offered its nomination to Housing Commissioner Joe Mascia — a clear rejection of the longtime incumbent David Franzcyk, who has overseen the utter collapse of his Fillmore district neighborhood over the past three decades. Franzcyk requested the party line, but could not even find a supporter on the committee to nominate him.
The vote was unanimously in favor of Mascia, which rarely happens, I’m told. The party also offered nominations to Councilmen Darius Pridgen, Joe Golombek, and Richard Fontana; and to City Comptroller Mark Schroeder.
Mascia has not yet announced his candidacy for the Fillmore district Council seat, but is already organizing and is widely expected to announce in the coming weeks.
Franczyk is deeply unpopular inside and outside the district, and the headquarters’ faction of Democrats who would have been expected to support his candidacy are abandoning ship for Mascia, who is also attracting considerable support from prominent members of the political club known as Grassroots.
Mascia says he is welcoming support from across all party lines, and from communities all across the district.
It is unclear if Franczyk will retire in the face of such dire political prospects. Operatives suspect that he may earn fewer than 1,000 votes, which would be an embarrassing rejection for such a long tenured incumbent, who would presumably desire a graceful close to a long and tired political career.
There are rumors that Franczyk is desperately looking for “a soft landing,” which political observers construe would mean a cushy political job with a comparable salary and fewer responsibilities. That prospect remains unlikely with the city, given the the incumbent’s frayed relationships with the Mayor and Council members. A more likely landing spot would be a job in the Poloncarz administration, observers say.
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