Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard is asking candidates who have submitted validated petitions to run for mayor a weekly issue-oriented question. The candidates get up to four days to reply and must limit responses to 250 words or less.
This week’s question: What was a mistake you’ve made in your career, how you dealt with it, and what you learned from it?
Thomas Babilon (R): About two years into my legal career my former partner and I decided to hire an associate. We interviewed a candidate who had recently been admitted to the bar and who superficially appeared to be the right person for the job.
He was hired under the assumption that he was a reputable person. He had just passed the state’s character examination.
In the next few weeks, this person met secretly with clients and stole over $10,000 from our firm. He took some cases that were frivolous or unwinnable and gave those clients unrealistic expectations.
I fired him, the police were called, and he was criminally prosecuted. He lost his license to practice law.
I had to ensure that our clients were made whole. I met individually with them, explained the situation, and gave them the opportunity for a refund, or to have our continued representation. We were left representing clients without fees, refunding fees that we never received, and having to explain to clients how they had been lied to. It was incredibly embarrassing, created a financial hardship, and there were concerns about the impact on our firm.
What I learned from this is that people are not always who they seem to be, that someone can be qualified on paper for a position and still be disqualified by their character. I learned that it is incredibly important to put honest people in positions of trust and power and that failure to do so can have countless, reverberating negative impacts.
Alfonso Davis (independent): Davis did not respond to this week’s question.
Sharon Owens (D): Hmm, pick one mistake. Early in my career I made a mistake that has guided how I approach multifaceted projects requiring collaborative partners. I’d earned a promotional opportunity and soon after was assigned the responsibility of managing a million-dollar funding application submission.
I was determined to prove myself and my ability to get the job done, so I set out to write and submit the application on my own. Mistake. I underestimated the need to develop a team to plan, write and submit the application. No surprise, the submission wasn’t awarded.
Thankfully, I had another opportunity to submit a similar application. This time I established a team, and we designed a management plan that included a timeline and budget. We were clear about deadlines and ensured we had the needed tools and technology to accomplish the goal. The application was submitted and awarded.
I learned that every project requires a team with a strategic project management plan. I learned the funding we would have received after my first attempt wasn’t about proving how skilled I was but had the purpose of creating a service for our community. I got a similar opportunity to approach and wisely put my own ambition aside, remembering the greater good.
That experience helped me understand that the work that we do is not just to accomplish a goal but to create an opportunity that can positively change lives.
Tim Rudd (independent): My career has taught me to prioritize my family and the integrity of my spirit over any job.
Last September, I gave $1,000 to Sharon Owens to encourage her mayoral campaign. At that time, I told her to leave city government; that she should stand on her own and be free of Ben Walsh and the failures of his administration. She said she could not and would continue as his deputy.
I disagreed, but let it go. That was a mistake. I should have pushed more for how important space is to being able to make necessary but potentially uncomfortable decisions.
As a Councilor, and then as the Mayor’s Budget Director, I witnessed the lack of integrity in the Walsh administration up close. There is a need for change.
Sharon lacks the capacity to make the necessary changes. I learned this last November when a whistleblower showed up in City Hall. What unfolded revealed the order of Sharon’s loyalty. She willfully turned a blind eye to protect the mayor. The circus that ensued spilled into the public because I could not unsee what I had learned.
In that circus, the Walsh machine slandered me as a racist to discredit me. If I am such a racist, and Sharon has such moral strength, you might think she would reimburse my contribution? She has not.
My mother taught me to live wholeheartedly. I donated earnestly. Sharon can keep the money. Wisdom is rarely free.
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