The mayor may not have helped himself in those areas by constantly praising Democratic lawmakers.

The mayor, he said, had helped his wife get a janitorial job with the Board of Education.

"It would be nice if the mayor helped us come up with a plan, supported it and we can implement it," she said.

A mayor can help make the institutional environment very hostile to anybody involved in drugs who is going to come before an agency.

The mayor can help with access to the business community.

I cannot see how the mayor can help any candidate better than piling up on him.

The former mayor of New York City helped the group set up an education system that has served 30,000 inner-city youngsters.

The mayor, she said, has not helped much, either.

But there are controversies here, too, with suspicions that the mayor is helping religious education more than secular schooling.

Equally important is how the mayor and other politicians have helped reinforce the idea that the Independence Party represents independent voters.