Life in Gotham: A Gotham City Municipal Election Series (1990).

[Bigby]

US Presidential Election, 1988:

Governor Mario Cuomo (D - NY)/Senator Tom Harkin (D - IA): 292 EVs, 52.5% PV
Vice President George H.W. Bush (R - TX)/Senate Minority Leader Robert Dole (R - KS): 246 EVs, 46.8% PV

Cuomo's first year in office, 1989, went well for the Democrats as Communism abroad began to crumble, the economy continued to grow and prosper, and liberal legislation was passed thanks to a majority in both Houses. Cuomo signed bills from Congress that raised taxes, increased regulations on steel, coal, and oil, and even eeked out the controversial 1990 assault weapons ban. As a compromise, Cuomo had slightly lowered the corporate tax and slashed back government spending on welfare and farming subsidies. Sadly for Cuomo and the Democrats, the American public would consider them as going too far with the liberal reforms, eventually. In April of 1990, the US stock market finally crashed, and with it, a moderately deep recession hit with it. Though lauded by liberals and environmentalists, the new environmental regulations were linked with once again rising gas prices and the fact that the harshest economic downturn occurred in the resource hotspot of Appalachia and the industrial center of the Mid-Atlantic. Despite the intentions of Cuomo's passage of the assault weapons ban bill, crime had only continue to increase, now at a somewhat more accelerated rate. Talks of the Republicans taking Congress were already buzzing by July.

Falcone's Gotham:

Luckily for Gotham, Falcone has avoided most of the potential scandals and has not committed any felonies while his office. This has helped clean his image and made him appear as a genuine statesman rather than a closet mobster. However, the economic recession hit the steel powerhouse of Gotham harder than normal, just like the rest of the Mid-Atlantic. Though the damage was far lower than the damage caused by the Great Depression, many Gothamites were already shrieking in fear of Falcone's continued tenure leading to the undoing of Burton's restoration of the city. Steel factories were already laying people off, cutting back hours and production, and a few of the more unfortunate ones had already closed their doors. Other industries were experiencing economic downturn as well, but the brunt of the focus was on steel. Falcone had not passed any local environmental regulations, having run against Hill's urban environmentalist platform and keeping that promise, but he did pass substantial labor regulations that stripped power away from the upper class and non-unionized workers. It did not reflect well on Falcone that union workers affiliated with his union and those allied to his union were the only Gothamite workers to see an overall increase in wages and standard of living while those not in his union network or unionized at all saw the inverse.

Falcone's socially conservative platform also caused some heartache for a more socially liberal city like Gotham. Despite Falcone's own involvement in Gotham's (legal) vice underworld, as Mayor he has instituted higher taxes on gambling, alcohol, and tobacco. The tobacco and alcohol sin taxes had not created an underground trade for those items like many of Falcone's opponents believed, though the taxes have led to increased break-ins for those items at stores. In a historical nod to the Prohibition era, many Catholics, including those who voted for Falcone, voiced complaints that the new alcohol taxes increased the difficulty of holding communion routinely. Falcone committed a huge gaffe when his basic response was "you guys could always use grape juice instead like Protestant groups." Hate crimes against LGBT members of Gotham have oddly spiked, which Falcone has sent police after but has failed to denounce or particularly attack, which has earned the ire of many cultural liberals. Finally, Falcone's new municipal regulations against abortion have been linked to the increased single motherhood rates and deaths from back-alley abortions, though Falcone has went on the record by saying that "this extra two weeks on not allowing abortion ain't done nothin' wrong."

In response to Falcone's combination of social conservatism and economic liberalism, a new bipartisan group has formed called the "Court of Owls." Their founding members include Thomas and Martha Wayne and Theodore Cobblepot. The Court of Owls primarily consists of Gotham's upper-middle and upper classes, but affiliation is not limited by income and their rallies and meetings are open to the general public. Their platform this election includes repealing regulations on Gotham's steel industry as well as repealing the new sin taxes on the economically conservative side, while increasing hate crime legislation enforcement and repealing the new extra two weeks on Gotham's abortion ban on the liberal side. Their base largely consists of the more conservative base in Gotham, but many liberals that once supported Falcone over Hill have also defected against Falcone to join this new political entity. The Court of Owls have endorsed Falcone's most prominent challenger, Japanese History professor Richard Sionis of Gotham University.

The Candidates:

Mayor Carmine Falcone - "Don't Ruin A Good Thing."

Falcone is running for reelection on his continued platform, trying to pin Gotham's misfortunes not on his policies but instead on the general decline of the United States in general. This does appear somewhat genuine, as Falcone has previously denounced President Cuomo's assault weapons ban and environmental regulations while also criticizing the President for his cuts to farming subsidies and welfare spending nationwide, with the latter receiving more condemnation. Mayor Falcone has doubled down on support for his policies, and has appealed to the police force for extra support against the rising crime rates. Despite this warming himself with his own base, many policemen have been discontent with Falcone's administration primarily because of Deputy Mayor Truman Dent. Dent has been nothing but a glory hound during the previous four years, and new investigations have been opened against him in regards to his treatment of his son, Harvey. Dent's antics have taken the spotlight off of Falcone's previous gaffes at the expense of magnifying Dent's own gaffes. In general, Falcone is painting the status quo as a minor bump in the road and he promises to reform when necessary to ride the storm. "Don't listen to the likes of Sinois and the Court of Owls. They're tryin' to blame the generally bad state of the whole country on me as if I control the whole friggin' country." Some of Falcone's support was returned to him out of fear of Sionis's libertarian message and platform, but Falcone will need to convince undecideds that his policies are not the specific cause of Gotham City's wane.

History Professor Richard Sionis - "It's Never Too Late To Save Gotham."

Professor Richard Sionis is one of the least wealthy members of the Court of Owls' founding members, but his intellect and passion for politics makes him a wonderful public face for the political group. While he has avoided making too many political waves in the past for the sake of his job, Sionis decided to run after his son Roman was laid off from his steel factor job. Sionis has stated that he wants to be "the Commodore Perry of Gotham," an inclusive and enterprising Mayor who can undo the damage caused by the recession and Falcone's communitarian policies. Sionis has run on a pro-business platform consistently, but the brunt of his message has been focused on repealing Falcone's "erroneous" regulations rather than going further back in time before Falcone. Unlike Thomas Wayne, Sionis has attacked Mayor Falcone and Deputy Mayor Truman Dent outside of policy. "Falcone and Dent have a well-meaning facade, but it just masks the ill-gotten gains they have gotten in office. The mask hides the face, but frees the soul. Notice how Falcone's enterprises have increased their scope of influence and income while other alcoholic and gambling institutions have crumbled under these new taxes and regulations." Sionis also likewise opposes President Cuomo's assault weapons ban and environmentalism, but sounds a lot like Cuomo on social issues. Sionis has made history as the first Gotham mayoral candidate to support gay rights in Gotham history. "Say what you will about gay marriage or gay adoption, but these anti-gay attacks have been wrong. No one deserves to be hurt or killed because of who they love, and it is a shame that Falcone has done the bare minimum to help these poor souls." Many of Wayne's supporters from 1986 have reported an uneasy feeling about Sionis's willingness to get mud-slinging in the campaign, and many religious groups that normally embrace candidates like Sionis are somewhat unhappy about his vocal LGBT support, but Sionis considers it a worthy gamble.

You have 48 hours to vote this time. Choose wisely.

[Bigby]

Just a heads up that I had to exclude the background to the 1988 Presidential election. I will post the maps and a basic synopsis of the elections that happen in between Gotham Mayoral elections and then begin a new post explaining what happened in the national election season to garner that election result. I had to omit the details because I exceeded the character limit big time.

Though the Democratic Party was far to Falcone's social left outside of Gotham, Gotham's election of Falcone became a predictor of Democratic victory nationwide. In 1986, the Senate was lost to the Democrats while the party retained their majority in the House. Reagan regained his positive approval rating, and the economy continued to excel. While the stock market flatlined in 1987, the crash that many anticipated failed to realized. Gorbachev's Soviet Union continued to open up on friendlier terms with the United States, and the Eastern Bloc was finally showing open signs of decay, with many Communist nations even having their governments overthrown by their own citizens. By 1988, East Germany was crumbling, with the Berlin Wall going down and talks of reuniting Germany under way. George H.W. Bush was expected to win a landslide in 1988.

However, the American electorate had different plans. Rather than opt out of running, New York Governor Mario Cuomo declared his intent to run for the Democratic primary of 1988. Though Cuomo had attacked Reagan at the 1984 Democratic Convention, Cuomo instead focused his ire against H.W. Bush and the Republican establishment in general. Winning the Democratic race easily showed how Cuomo's general popularity and this focus against the future of the GOP rather than its past worked. Cuomo chose Iowa Senator Tom Harkin as his running mate to secure the rural and populist wing of his party. On the Republican side, Bush won the primary season outright, but was surprisingly anchored down by Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, who won convincingly in Iowa and almost won New Hampshire. Dole forced Bush to return to his Rockefeller Republican roots, which depressed the GOP base. While Bush won the first debate by a slight margin, Dole crashed at the V.P. debate against Harkin and Bush shot himself in the foot by saying at the second debate: "Read my lips, we must be open to new potential taxes." Reagan's popularity buoyed Bush surprisingly enough, but not enough to prevent Cuomo from squeaking out a slim popular and electoral victory both. For now, the Reagan Revolution was over, especially for Bush.

The 41st President of the United States Mario Cuomo (D - New York), Elected for the term of 1989 to 1993.

[Goldwater]

Sionis.

[White Trash]

Falcone

[SATW]

Richard Sionis

[Antonio the Sixth]

This is genuinely hard. I'll reserve my judgment for now.

[Bigby]

This is genuinely hard. I'll reserve my judgment for now.

Gotham's very nature in the comics means that I won't make Gotham's electoral choices easy, regardless of differences from in the comics. Feel free to ask questions and make suggestions at any time.

[Antonio the Sixth]

This is genuinely hard. I'll reserve my judgment for now.

Gotham's very nature in the comics means that I won't make Gotham's electoral choices easy, regardless of differences from in the comics. Feel free to ask questions and make suggestions at any time.

Basically, Sionis seems pretty decent and has a number of proposals I'd support, but I fear that voting for him means putting the moneyed interests of Gotham back in charge.

[Bigby]

This is genuinely hard. I'll reserve my judgment for now.

Gotham's very nature in the comics means that I won't make Gotham's electoral choices easy, regardless of differences from in the comics. Feel free to ask questions and make suggestions at any time.

Basically, Sionis seems pretty decent and has a number of proposals I'd support, but I fear that voting for him means putting the moneyed interests of Gotham back in charge.

You would have to gauge how strong that fear is compared to the fear that Falcone's policies will worsen, and the fear if Falcone is genuinely profiting from his own policies or not. Sionis himself is endorsed by the Court of Owls but has never held an interest in amassing mass amounts of wealth like Wayne or Cobblepot, and has not expressed an interest to do so as Mayor.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Fair enough, I'll buy into the "time for a change" option this time. If nothing else, out of sympathy for a fellow social sciences academic.

[Bigby]

Fair enough, I'll buy into the "time for a change" option this time. If nothing else, out of sympathy for a fellow social sciences academic.

Richard Sionis is an investor in the show Gotham, but I decided to make him a historian here because of his fascination with Japanese relics (masks included) as well as personal preference. At least on the flip side I have Falcone as not being an open mobster here as well, and so far not being revealed as one in secret. Alternative universes are fun for this reason.

[Mr. Smith]

Falcone.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Falcone.

[Bigby]

Voting closes around 2 PM eastern. I'll write a synopsis and then prepare for the 1994 mayoral election.

[Bigby]

Sorry for not replying guys, but I fell asleep after my Civ Pro class was cancelled. Sionis has officially won the election, and I will post the results tomorrow. The 1994 Mayoral Election will come Friday or Saturday.

[Bigby]

(Forgive the wait, y'all. Been busy with law school, so I am able to go ahead and post this on a sick day. The 1994 election will come tomorrow on Friday.)

1990 was a year when several leftist candidates fell across the United States, and Gotham is included in that wave. The House went majority Republican for the first time in forty years thanks to a whopping landslide change of sixty seats (towards a 235 seat majority) in the GOP's favor, making the experienced Jack Kemp of New York Speaker of House over the barely for a year incumbent Tom Foley. The Democrats held onto the Senate with 54 seats, possibly due to Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole's poisonous influence. In Gotham, the Mayoral Election was decided on the slimmest of margins while the Councilman elections went overwhelmingly against Falcone's favor 7 - 3. Regardless, Sionis defeated Falcone's juggernaut.

The Gotham economy continued to decline while the crime rate continued to rise, just as everyone nationwide anticipated for themselves. However, what worsened Gotham's particular mood was the reemergence of the Gotham mafia, this time under the previously dormant Maroni family. Sal Maroni, Jr. utilized Gotham's state of decay to revive his father's dynasty and claim his own fortune. Crime did not skyrocket as a direct result of the Maroni revival, but much of the crime that happened thanks to random criminals now became organized by Sal Maroni himself. In fact, this sudden precision to Gotham's wrongdoings hurt Falcone directly. Falcone's casinos faced constant heists, his liquor stores were stolen from, cash and booze both, and frequent attempts on Falcone's life were made during the latter half of the campaign season. Falcone failed to own it up properly, and by the time of the debate, Falcone openly appeared more timid and frightened of a man than in 1986. Sionis, meanwhile, appeared calmer, steadier, and braver. Sionis grilled the Maroni return intensely, and won over the admiration of voters by attaching Maroni's crime family's resurrection to Falcone's failed policies, and as of lately, his craven reaction. Sionis's concerns about Falcone's ties to the mob died down after the rise of Sal Maroni, as voters considered this in poor taste.

Falcone almost won reelection, having built up a substantial base of unionists and working class citizens. Still, late deciders and citizens unhappy from the start and pulled in for Richard Sionis. Sionis won with 54.5% of the popular vote and earned the right to call himself Mayor-Elect, and after January 15th, 1991, Mayor. His acceptance speech focused on fighting crime in general, toppling the Maroni crime family while it is still in the womb, and even a promise to Falcone that as a show of good faith, investigations into the assaults against Falcone and his businesses would be taken care of just as intensely as if the attacks from Maroni happened on Sionis himself. Thomas Wayne, Sionis's biggest backer, was the first to laud Sionis for his graceful victory. Unlike Falcone, Sionis respected Gotham tradition by waiting until the New Year to announce his Deputy Mayor. However, he did go ahead and recognize the refusal to accept the Deputy Mayor position by Thomas Wayne and Thomas Cobblepot, who voiced their refusal for the position because they understood the antipathy towards Big Money in Gotham's current political climate and also because they were tending to their new fatherly duties. (Bruce Wayne and Oswald Cobblepot had graced the previously childless families with their births in mid to late 1987.)