Is ASC Ready for Prime Time?

Alfred State College may find itself in the blinding spotlight of a national political campaign.

How, you ask?

The 2006 election cycle is beginning to shift into gear as prospective candidates line up for a shot at public office. One of the most closely watched (and probably bitterly fought) will be the re-election campaign of New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

At a national level, the campaign to defeat Clinton is a top priority for Republicans. According to the Associated Press:

GOP leaders have been looking for a strong challenger to beat or at least bloody Clinton in 2006 and make a 2008 presidential bid by her more difficult. Polls show the former first lady is the Democratic front-runner for the White House nomination.

So what's the connection to Alfred State College, you ask?

One of the challengers looking at tossing his hat into the ring is Edward Cox, the son-in-law of former President Richard Nixon. As that Associate Press story reports:

Lynn Mueller, an Albany-based consultant, said the budding campaign has already hired fundraisers and a pollster.

Asked about the chances that Cox will challenge Clinton for re-election in 2006, Mueller said: "It's as close to 100 percent as you can get unless something bizarre happens, which we don't expect."

Mueller said a federal campaign committee will probably be operating by the end of June and a formal announcement will probably come this fall.

Well, Ms. Mueller, welcome to The Twilight Zone!

The bizarre goings-on at Alfred State College could come back at Cox if he challenges Clinton. The connection, you see, is that Cox is a member of the SUNY Board of Trustees.

In announcing his exploratory committee, Cox said:

"I am considering this run because New York needs a senator truly focused on solving the chronic problems that have driven too many jobs and too many of our children out of state."

"New Yorkers have real needs and they demand real results."

A key part of the Cox's strategy against Clinton is to hammer her for her failure to respond to the dismal state of western New York's economy, Newsweek says.

Cox backers have a poll showing Clinton vulnerable in western New York, where they say she made promises of economic improvement that have not materialized.

It's a good strategy. The problem is that the mess at little old Alfred State College could knock the wheels off it before Cox even gets his campaign on the road.

As a member of the SUNY Board of Trustees, Cox plays an important role in overseeing the operation of the state's university system...including Alfred State.

The SUNY board has been aware of leadership problems at ASC for several months now. For Cox, this could quickly become a political liability. It will be tough for him to hammer Clinton for failing to respond to problems with the state's economy when he has failed to respond to a serious situation at one of the institutions he oversees.

As the incompetence of Gupta and her entourage of sycophants -- aka the president's cabinet -- takes ASC down the drain, as donors stay away from the college in droves, as good people quit to find jobs somewhere else, as enrollment drops, as the college's deficits grow, as faculty positions are cut and the top level administration becomes bloated, as impulsive spending squanders college funds, as Gupta's favorites are rewarded and perceived enemies punished, as faculty and staff moral declines, and as Alfred State struggles to retain its hard-won reputation as a high-quality insitution of higher eduction, this question will be asked - "Where was Ed Cox?"

Any campaign against Clinton will involve hardball politics, and you can bet that the Clinton camp will give back as good as it gets.

It's 18 months (give or take) to the 2006 elections. Both camps are already stockpiling the ammunition and beginning to line up the big guns. In most years, the farce being played out a ASC would barely be news worthy across the hill in Hornell.

But in the white hot glare of the coming political campaign, a campaign that is going to put Clinton in the cross hairs, what goes on in our little valley could be grist for political operatives, pundits and blogsters of all sorts for months.

As Cox's political consultant said, it would take something "bizarre" to stop his political debut.

Welcome to Alfred!