There is only one candidate in the Nov. 8 mayoral election that has thousands of screaming supporters cheering in downtown Syracuse during the fall and winter months with his visage emblazed on their chests.

Al the Ice Gorilla, the Syracuse Crunch hockey team mascot, has launched a write-in campaign for the office of mayor after hearing disappointment about the job done by Democratic incumbent Matt Driscoll and a lack of confidence in the prospects of Republican challenger Joanie Mahoney, said Crunch owner and Al confidant Howard Dolgon.

‘No one knows who the mayor of Orlando is, but everyone knows who Mickey Mouse is,’ Dolgon said. ‘It would be great for this community. People would want to come here to meet the mayor.’

Al has been spreading his message through Dolgon and other political advisers, remaining silent himself, but having the look of a formidable foe.

‘Have you ever heard a mascot say anything?’ Dolgon asked.

Other mascots have quickly become the strong base for the Al for mayor campaign. More than 50 mascots nationwide have endorsed Al for mayor of Syracuse, including his cross-town partner in minor league sports, Scooch, mascot of the Syracuse SkyChiefs. Otto the Orange, to this point, has remained silent about his political leanings, Dolgon said.

Perhaps the most important mascot endorsement Al has received thus far came from England. He received an endorsement from the mascot of a soccer team who has won election for mayor twice, Dolgon said.

Since Al is a permanent resident of the city of Syracuse, he should be eligible to run for political office, and if elected, run the city along with his advisers, Dolgon said.

‘Can you imagine having a gorilla as mayor? He would have to do a better job than the current one,’ Dolgon said.

The Onondaga County Board of Elections, however, is not taking as liberal a stance on election regulations.

‘To take office, you have to be a real person. You can’t have a fictional mayor,’ said Onondaga County Elections Commissioner Edward J. Szczesniak.

In order for Al to be elected mayor, the man inside the suit would have to run and use his real name, Szczesniak said. If Al was to receive more votes than any other candidate in the election, the person receiving the second most votes would win, he said.

‘Really, it is more of a joke,’ Szczesniak said. ‘You can call it a protest vote and put a nice spin on it, but it is obviously a joke. Any write-in candidate faces a serious uphill battle anyway.’

Al is not letting sentiments like that stop him, however. He has challenged both Driscoll and Mahoney to a ‘skate debate’ to be held after the first period of tonight’s Crunch home game.

‘It is a race on skates that will be won by the swiftest and the best-looking,’ Dolgon said.

Driscoll’s campaign would not comment on Al. Mahoney’s campaign coordinator Travis Glazier said his candidate would likely concede that Al would win the skate debate.

It would be easy to dismiss Al as a joke and a clever way to gain publicity as the Crunch begin their 12th season, if it were not for his serious stance on many of the key issues dominating this election.

‘Initially we thought, ‘Let’s get the mascot to the run.’ We thought it was a fun idea, but now everyone is saying we got to get (Driscoll) out,’ Dolgon said.

The issue at the center of Al’s campaign is the one that drew him into political life in the first place – economic development.

Al is for any type of economic development, including DestiNY USA, which will bring jobs to people in Syracuse, Dolgan said. At the same time, however, Al believes it is important that a city’s downtown be vibrant and a center of business.

‘Driscoll is invisible downtown. Businesses are leaving. There are no renovations,’ Dolgon said. ‘The Oncenter hotel idea was exciting, but now that’s down the toilet. This whole DestiNY USA thing is a joke.’

The catalyst that lead to lampposts downtown near the Oncenter being lined with ‘Vote Al’ posters were unreturned phone calls about seven months ago. The Crunch was approached by the Metropolitan Development Association of Syracuse, an organization that helps private businesses in the city with development projects, about creating a proposal to help promote Hancock Airport. A $3 million grant had just been awarded for the promoting the airport, and so the Crunch came up with some ideas to use a bit of that money and sent them to the MDA, Dolgon said.

Officials at the MDA liked the ideas and told Dolgon he would also need to get approval from the mayor’s office. Dolgon made three phone calls to Driscoll’s office seeking to speak to the mayor about the Crunch’s proposal.

When Dolgon got a return call, he was boarding a plane on a Friday afternoon in New York City on his way to Syracuse. He asked Driscoll if he could call the mayor back on Monday and was told that would be fine.

Dolgon estimates that subsequent to that one conversation, he has called the mayor eight times hoping to speak to him about the proposal and has yet to get a return phone call.

‘Combine that with the lack of progressive activity, and it’s scary,’ Dolgon said. ‘To have such a big business in town and not even have the courtesy to say, ‘I looked at your proposal and I’m going to pass?’ That tells me the kind of guy he is.’

There are, however, more issues in this campaign than simply ways to improve downtown Syracuse. Al is a candidate with steady views on ways to cut down violence and crime in the city, as well as the role Syracuse University should play in the city.

Al will be reaching out to the minority community with the help of Dolgon’s friend Rock Newman, an activist who has worked on a successful mayoral campaign in Washington, D.C., as well as a campaign for human rights around the world. Dolgon said the Al campaign feels this demographic has been ignored in the election.

‘We are going to get the vote out in the black community,’ he said.

Dolgon said the Al campaign embraces SU as a neighbor who can help rejuvenate the city. Dolgon said Al believes more needs to be done to make sure the young minds at SU want to stay in the city after graduation, to make sure Syracuse does not become a stagnant, ‘graying city.’

It is in crime prevention that Al’s GOAL initiative – or ‘Go Al’ – takes shape. It is Al’s belief, Dolgon said, that locking people up is not the solution to a crime problem. Instead making sure there are alternatives to a life of crime is essential. Al would make sure young people in Syracuse had things to do, so crime did not become an attractive alternative.

‘You have to have a goal. That is why our theme is ‘Go Al.’ It plays off well with the hockey, too,’ Dolgon said.

The lone candidate to embrace Al as a real political force in this campaign is Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins. After hearing the platform Al has been running on, Hawkins said since he is on the ballot, he would seek Al’s endorsement before Election Day.

‘I think he should be one of my supporters,’ Hawkins said.

Hawkins said his idea of turning downtown into the art and culture center of Syracuse would be in step with Al’s views. The two also share views on using SU’s resources more wisely in the community.

‘I really do think that while it is funny and cute, if the reasons he is raising are serious, he is right to try to get the candidates on those,’ Hawkins said.

Glazier said the Mahoney campaign sees Al’s campaign as a good way to get out awareness about the election.

‘She thinks it’s a lot of fun,’ Glazier said. ‘We just wish he could comment on some things himself. But he obviously doesn’t talk.’

Glazier said Mahoney is not concerned Al could affect the outcome of the close mayoral race.

Whatever the outcome of the election is, Al will be satisfied knowing he got his message out.

‘Our chances are getting better every day,’ Dolgon said.

Published on October 27, 2005 at 12:00 pm