June 4, 1993
Gadfly and perennial potential politician Art Wenzel has announced his intention, again, to seek a four-year engagement at City Hall.
Wenzel, 35, who promotes music concerts, says that he intends to seek the county Democratic Committee’s endorsement for the seat. The local party will make its endorsements for the fall election this weekend.
Other Democrats who have publicly indicated their plans to make a run for one of two positions open this year are incumbent Ann Bunker and Jerry Morgan, a corrections officer who dropped out of the race but recently decided to re-enter it. Others — lawyer Robert Bergan, suspended Assistant Police Chief Carmen Bertonica and former city public safety inspector Tom McNabb — have hinted that they, too, would like the $10,000-a-year job.
In a letter to Democratic leaders, Wenzel charged that the current crop of city lawmakers is out of touch with the people they represent.
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“It’s time to put the power back to the real people of this community, not a select few who play to the usual partisan relationship that only benefits themselves,” he wrote. “Council members should not be above the rest of the community.”
By comparison, he added, “I’m in touch with the average citizen on the street. I speak to them every day.”
A frequent critic of City Manager James Malone, Wenzel charges that City Hall has become too bloated with managers. “Government is too large. The city manager continues to hire high-level management at the expense of taxpayers,” he said. “Whatever happened to the labor force?”
Wenzel, who has become known to many city residents for his public appearance — brightly colored clothes, tall frame and shoulder-length blonde/white hair — as much as his public appearances at City Hall, is hardly new to elections.
He has run as a write-in candidate for, at various times, City Council, the board of education, mayor, state Senate and state Assembly. Last fall, he ran for U.S. Senate, even confronting Sen. Alfonse D’Amato at a campaign stop.
— Compiled by David Wilcox
