As the Republican in the race for mayor of Syracuse, Tom Babilon admits he’s an underdog in an overwhelmingly Democratic city. But he says a win is possible.
Only 13% of voters in the city of Syracuse are registered Republicans. Babilon, though, said that doesn’t tell the whole tale of why he believes he has a chance to defeat Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens, seen as a frontrunner in the four-candidate contest.
“Her two primary opponents have refused to endorse her, and a lot of the people, a lot of Democrats actually come over to my side on that,” Babilon said. “I mean, we've got a lot of donations and support from both people who previously supported Pat Hogan and Chol Majok, and they've indicated they're not going to vote for Sharon. And we've got two other independents that are Democrats, you know, Alfonso Davis and Tim Rudd."
Babilon figures if he can get at least the more than 10,000 voters in the city who voted for President Trump last year, he’ll have a chance.
At the top of the list of issues for Babilon is public safety, noting a declining number of police officers in the city. He said, among other things, the city residence requirement for officers should be scrapped and the city needs to show it’s behind the department. An example of that, said Babilon, is when the Walsh administration eliminated the ShotSpotter program after a Common Council mandate to cut costs.
“He could have cut many things other than ShotSpotter from the police budget, or he could have said, ‘Hey listen, you know what? Instead of cutting this percentage from the police budget, I'm gonna take it out of the mayor's office,’” Babilon said. “He could have come back with a counter and said, ‘I think public safety is very important. I think we need to have the investment here and I'm gonna reduce the same amount of money, but I'm gonna take it from different departments other than police,’ which is what I would have done."
Babilon, an attorney, spent 10 years inside city government as part of three administrations, and he said he’s seen plenty of waste that could be eliminated to deal with the city’s structural budget deficit.
He is also a fan of deregulation, suggesting that too many city rules are duplicative and discourage new business. He’d like to see more government consolidation.
On the poverty front, he believes education and economic opportunity are key, suggesting the city make it easier for residents to expand on their side gigs, selling homemade merchandise or food.
“You know, I love to have like a free market day at Clinton Square where people can just come and do that kind of thing,” he said.
Babilon said his experience in City Hall has formed his policies.
“I was there for 10 years and I just see them make the same kind of mistakes over and over. They're still making them,” he said. “You know, we don't collect money, we give money away. That doesn't really give us any kind of benefit. We spend money on projects where we shouldn't. You know, there's just all kinds of ways to save money, make Syracuse safer, make it a better place for everybody and that's really what I want to do.”
Babilon is facing Democrat Sharon Owens and independent candidates Tim Rudd and Alfonso Davis in this year’s election. Early voting runs through Sunday, Nov. 2. Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.
