'TRYING TO GET IDEAS OUT THERE,' CHRIS MAJ SAYS

'Rookie' Adds Unconventional Flavor To Mayoral Faceoff

Chris Maj, at 26, is the youngest candidate for mayor in the Democratic
primary. He also is the hardest to define.

For sure, he's not your father's - or your mother's - Democrat.

He's an Eagle Scout who got invited to leave Rochester Institute of
Technology for an especially vociferous protest.

He's a high-tech computer programmer who gets around on a low-tech bicycle.

He's a hunter and fisherman and probably the only candidate in the race who
would like the endorsement of the National Rifle Association.

And he's a longtime advocate for the legalization (and regulation) of drugs
such as marijuana.

He's also a political candidate who seems to have little interest in
raising or spending money. As of Sept. 2, he had spent $750, more than he
wanted.

Given the variety of his stances, Maj may be that apolitical political
animal who offers people just as many reasons to vote for him as against him.

Maj says he could win but, regardless, he has a role to play in the campaign:

"I'm trying to keep everybody honest. I'm trying to get ideas out there, to
give people an option."

Though Maj refuses to attack his opponents - "I'm not going to diss them" -
he does take on their proposals and their styles.

"They all have worn-out ideas," Maj says.

Maj's own political ideas began to form when he was growing up outside of
Springville in Erie County. "I was in the sticks, cows on one side, horses
on the other," he says.

When he was 10, Maj says, he began to understand that there was a gap
between those who were very rich and those who weren't. "I didn't want to
be part of that," he says.

He also was disturbed by the failed West Valley Demonstration Project, a
facility near his home that was supposed to recycle nuclear waste. The
project operated for six years before it was shut down in 1972 and a debate
over cleanup has gone on for decades.

In addition to taking part in Boy Scouts, Maj founded a student newspaper
in high school at Springville-Griffith Institute. He played soccer and
baseball there and was first trombone in the student band. He also was a
member of a punk reggae band, "The Crappers."

Maj has loved computers since he got a Commodore 64, when he was 5 years old.

The computers were first an avenue to games, but later they opened the path
to the Internet.

"Going online is great," Maj says. "You get all this stuff and you read.
And you get a lot more news than you get at 5, 6, and 11."

He went to RIT to study computer engineering. While there, he helped to
start Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, a group that called for the
legalization and regulation of some drugs.

"The drug war was a failure," Maj says. "It was just putting so many poor
people in prison."

In 2001, his senior year, Maj was thrown out of RIT for a year after he
took part in a demonstration protesting the school's links to the
Department of Defense.

"I was a little loud and I got the boot," Maj says. "... I dropped the 'F'
bomb a couple of times. It was poor taste, but I don't think it was
anything outside First Amendment protection."

Maj appealed his banishment, and a year later it was thrown out. However,
he didn't return to school - he was already doing well enough in his own
computer programming business. He writes software, too, much of which he
then gives away for free.

Maj lives in Corn Hill in the city and has "a beautiful girlfriend" named
Kate (he declines to give her last name). He has been a member of the
Liberal and Green parties, though now he's enrolled in the Democratic Party.

In addition to his bike, Maj owns a pickup truck. "Gets me around, A to B.
Used," he says. "I needed to get it because I go deer-hunting in the fall
and I can throw that in the back."

Maj runs his campaign on a shoestring, selling Maj for Mayor T-shirts at
cost ($10) and printing up his own fliers and distributing them himself.

Sometimes he campaigns with Harry Davis, who is running for City Council on
the Red Write & Blue Party line. (Maj also is on this ballot line, which
means he will continue to run for mayor even if he doesn't win the
Democratic primary.)

Davis, 54, sees Maj as a refreshing alternative to other candidates.

"He's young, determined and he's not cluttered with ideas that things can't
be done," Davis says. "... He connects with everybody."

Maj focuses on three issues - sprawl, education and crime. As the campaign
has gone on, he has formulated some effective sound bites.

"All the other candidates want to hire more police," he often says. "But
I'd much rather see us hire more teachers."

The line draws applause, though audiences are less vocal when Maj suggests
that the Rochester school board be made up of students or when he suggests
that half the city district students should be bused to suburban schools.

The other candidates generally let Maj's ideas float freely, not attacking
them, not endorsing them.

Though he would like more response to his proposals, Maj thinks his
decision to run for mayor was a good one.

Why did he decide to run?

"I knew the seat was open," Maj says. "And I knew I had better ideas than
these professionals doing a bad job. Give a rookie a shot."