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Don’t Call Him William, But Do Call Him If You Want to Win
Dinkins’ top political advisor still major force

By Sal Gentile

Bill Lynch has not gone by “William” since high school. Even his political consulting and lobbying firm, Bill Lynch Associates, bears the shorter version.

“If it was William Lynch Associates,” he explained, “people would say, ‘Who the hell is that?’”

This is probably because Bill Lynch has, over the span of a very lengthy and sometimes tumultuous career, evolved from community activist to campaign manager to deputy mayor, all as – and only as – Bill Lynch.

And it might also explain why Bill Lynch has, throughout it all, remained Bill Lynch.

With the gravelly voice and freewheeling demeanor of a battle-hardened political operative, he seems to care more about what he is saying than how he says it. That quality seems at the source of both his most heart-wrenching political frustrations and his greatest electoral successes.

“I’m not a good pitcher,” he said of his ability to attract potential clients to his firm. “I don’t try to come to them being a salesman.”

Lynch says he is not interested in marketing, but in finding real solutions that work for real people. The only difference is that he is no longer responsible for implementing them, and does not himself reap the political benefits that result.

Rather than sell whatever policy or wayward ambition his clients ask him to, Lynch tries to acquaint them with their communities. Only then, he says, can they really know how best to serve their constituents – and, in turn, win their votes.

“I am not a silver bullet,” he tells clients of his abilities, “but at the end of this process, you will be the most improved student.”

Lynch started out as a grassroots activist, and worked as the political director for local 1707 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.

Eventually, he and several fellow community activists decided that simply having ideals and fighting for them was not enough.

“We decided if we were going to make real change, we’d have to get involved in the political process,” he said. “From that point on, I had the buzz.”

He managed Major Owens’ (D) Brooklyn successful 1982 campaign to replace Shirley Chisholm in the House of Representatives. Two years later, he first worked with David Dinkins on Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign. Lynch was Manhattan county chair and Dinkins state chair.

When Dinkins was elected Manhattan borough president in 1985, Lynch headed his transition team, and stayed on as chief of staff. Four years later, he crafted the campaign that elected the first and only African-American mayor of New York.

When Dinkins won that race, he asked Lynch to be his deputy mayor for government affairs, one of the most influential positions in his administration (a post held by Kevin Sheekey under Michael Bloomberg). Lynch made a rare exception to accept that very public role – one, he says, he would never have made had it not been for Dinkins.

“Lynch was, in many ways, the heart and soul of our administration,” Dinkins said. “He was the person to whom I looked for most things.”

While working for Dinkins, Lynch concentrated more on policy and less on politics, experience which ultimately guided his career as a consultant.

“It gives me a different kind of sense to that area,” he said. “I’ve been there.”

Lynch admits, however, that he may have gotten too immersed in policy and not enough in politics, and is clearly still heartbroken over Dinkins’ 1993 loss, which seems to have replayed itself in his head in the years since.

“I blame myself,” he said. “The buck stops here.”

The administration “did some good things and some bad things,” and that, because of a failure to market the good properly, “the bad stuck.”

“We tried to do good government,” he said. “I didn’t keep my eye on the reelection ball.”

Dinkins praised him regardless.

“Bill used to say that, and I would agree … ‘good policy is good politics,’” he said. “He got me elected in the first place.”

Lynch’s career has had other high points. He helped bring Nelson Mandela to the city in 1991, and helped bring the 1992 Democratic National Convention to New York.

So though he has not slowed down, he also does not know exactly what the future might hold.

“I’ve done Dinkins, Mandela, and a presidential,” he said. “The next step is – I don’t know."