Unless the leadership of local political parties can generate some enthusiasm and interest in getting candidates to run for local offices, it is looking more and more likely that this November may see more non-competitive races than ever before. The buzz is that there are not a lot of people willing to run this time around.

For example, there is very little discussion about anyone running against Republican James Orman, the first-term county treasurer, who was the final in a series of candidates to successfully take on long-time incumbent David Farrell. The GOP took three giant swings at winning the seat and it was only the third time around that they picked up the post. Several key Democrats contacted in the last several weeks know of no one seeking the full-time position.

With half the Cayuga County Legislature up for re-election, there are several races, mostly with incumbent Republicans, where there is no talk about anyone running against them. It is not clear if Christopher Palermo (District 1), David Axton (District 3), George Fearon (District 7), Steven Cuddeback (District 9) or Cynthia Aikman (District 15) are even going to have opponents.

Axton won a special election to fill the seat left by the passing of Bernard Smith and Aikman handily won a special election to fill the seat of the late Steve Netti. In Aikman's case there is talk about Matthew Salemi, who did not qualify for a Republican primary last year, trying this year. It would be interesting if the Democrats can't find a candidate to run against Fearon, who narrowly won re-election four years ago against first-time challenger Lon Fricano. Raymond Lockwood (District 5), who has honorably adhered to sticking to his pledge on the non-binding term limit rules, may have only Aurelius town board member Paul Pinckney running in the race to succeed him.

Linda Murphy (District 11), who was considering a city council race, may have a Democratic opponent, if not a Republican challenger. Democrats are said to have someone ready to run and the Conservative Party has been hunting for a candidate to endorse, as well.

The final race that still has to be sorted out, candidate-wise, is that of first-term legislator Daniel Schuster (District 13) who has not made his intentions on seeking re-election public. Several different Democratic sources have said he is running and not running #) there is no word on a potential GOP challenger.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com