0
Albatrosses and election 2010
20 August 2010
An uncredited photo from the mayor's news "blog": two election hopefuls and their albatross. Looks like a big, happy family. Once upon a time, it was. The two councillors beside him were ardent supporters of the mayor and pretty much followed his lead back when this council was newly elected. You could basically count on a six-three vote back then. What the mayor wanted, the mayor got. I was, of course, one of the three on the losing side of many fights.
Over the past year or so, Councillor Jeffrey has gone on her own way and taken a far more adversarial stance on some issues, probably to appear as independent when she declared her run at the mayor's seat, long before he himself had made any announcement.
But Jeffrey enthusiastically backed the mayor when he led the motion to repeal the permits for the Admiral Collingwood Place development in 2007, so despite the distance she has put between them these days, she has to share in the responsibility for the hole on the main street today. That is likely the biggest albatross around her neck this campaign.*
Councillor Sandberg has remained a fervently loyal supporter, though. When a newspaper article commented that some of council had lost faith in the mayor, Sandberg publicly decried at a council meeting that "I've never lost faith in you, your worship." In an act of remarkable hyperbole, he has referred to Carrier as the "best mayor" this town has ever seen.
The bond is so strong that the mayor has endorsed Sandberg's campaign for AMO president on Sandberg's Web site (it's the only local endorsement so far). Whether that endorsement hurts or helps Sandberg remains to be seen, but I tend to think the latter: it's an albatross. **
I personally question the wisdom of any mayor - who I believe should appear politically neutral and objective - publicly endorsing one candidate over another, but then our mayor publicly endorsed the PC candidate for the federal race and the mayor of Wasaga Beach for the position of Warden of the county. Both candidates won, but there has to be some enmity now from the losing sides. That latter endorsement will, I think, come to haunt the mayor when he runs as candidate for the PC nominee.
The photo was taken at the recent AMO conference, where Sandberg won the race for the organization's presidency. Several members of council and some staff went to the convention to support his campaign. I am sure that is not part of our mandate as elected representatives. It already cost taxpayers $25,000 for him to run for the position (at the same time council was refusing the United Way a much smaller donation request). How much more did the convention cost us? And what will it cost us in future to maintain that position? Those are, of course, questions that will certainly arise this election.
~~~~~
* Add patios to that necklace. She and Councillor McNabb were the driving force to move the patios to the curbside, which is why we have no patios today. Councillors Sandberg, Foley and Labelle supported her. But there are more albatrosses. Among them: she voted against having a public discussion or a referendum on a ward system, voted against allowing me to get the information on the town's legal costs in its move against the Admiral Collingwood development (I had to file a Freedom of Information Act request to get them). She voted to reduce the speed limits on Hwy 26 without a public meeting, to make a large part of Second Street 'no parking' without a public meeting (let alone no public complaints about parking there!), and supported the mayor's fight against educational development charges even after we lost the case, and eventually costing the town $428,000. And she didn't keep council informed in this latest flap over the BIA pulling out of its contract with the town, which now drops the entire cost onto taxpayers. A lot of dead birds, there.
** Unblushing support of the mayor will be Norm's biggest albatross in an election where a lot of people want change from this highly unpopular regime. But that's not the only one: he also supported moving the patios, the educational development charges fight, lowering the speed limits without public input, against a ward system referendum and a few others. The costs for his AMO presidency and the costs that it means for the town in future years will certainly be questioned by some voters and could be another dead bird on the necklace.
Over the past year or so, Councillor Jeffrey has gone on her own way and taken a far more adversarial stance on some issues, probably to appear as independent when she declared her run at the mayor's seat, long before he himself had made any announcement.
But Jeffrey enthusiastically backed the mayor when he led the motion to repeal the permits for the Admiral Collingwood Place development in 2007, so despite the distance she has put between them these days, she has to share in the responsibility for the hole on the main street today. That is likely the biggest albatross around her neck this campaign.*
Councillor Sandberg has remained a fervently loyal supporter, though. When a newspaper article commented that some of council had lost faith in the mayor, Sandberg publicly decried at a council meeting that "I've never lost faith in you, your worship." In an act of remarkable hyperbole, he has referred to Carrier as the "best mayor" this town has ever seen.
The bond is so strong that the mayor has endorsed Sandberg's campaign for AMO president on Sandberg's Web site (it's the only local endorsement so far). Whether that endorsement hurts or helps Sandberg remains to be seen, but I tend to think the latter: it's an albatross. **
I personally question the wisdom of any mayor - who I believe should appear politically neutral and objective - publicly endorsing one candidate over another, but then our mayor publicly endorsed the PC candidate for the federal race and the mayor of Wasaga Beach for the position of Warden of the county. Both candidates won, but there has to be some enmity now from the losing sides. That latter endorsement will, I think, come to haunt the mayor when he runs as candidate for the PC nominee.
The photo was taken at the recent AMO conference, where Sandberg won the race for the organization's presidency. Several members of council and some staff went to the convention to support his campaign. I am sure that is not part of our mandate as elected representatives. It already cost taxpayers $25,000 for him to run for the position (at the same time council was refusing the United Way a much smaller donation request). How much more did the convention cost us? And what will it cost us in future to maintain that position? Those are, of course, questions that will certainly arise this election.
~~~~~
* Add patios to that necklace. She and Councillor McNabb were the driving force to move the patios to the curbside, which is why we have no patios today. Councillors Sandberg, Foley and Labelle supported her. But there are more albatrosses. Among them: she voted against having a public discussion or a referendum on a ward system, voted against allowing me to get the information on the town's legal costs in its move against the Admiral Collingwood development (I had to file a Freedom of Information Act request to get them). She voted to reduce the speed limits on Hwy 26 without a public meeting, to make a large part of Second Street 'no parking' without a public meeting (let alone no public complaints about parking there!), and supported the mayor's fight against educational development charges even after we lost the case, and eventually costing the town $428,000. And she didn't keep council informed in this latest flap over the BIA pulling out of its contract with the town, which now drops the entire cost onto taxpayers. A lot of dead birds, there.
** Unblushing support of the mayor will be Norm's biggest albatross in an election where a lot of people want change from this highly unpopular regime. But that's not the only one: he also supported moving the patios, the educational development charges fight, lowering the speed limits without public input, against a ward system referendum and a few others. The costs for his AMO presidency and the costs that it means for the town in future years will certainly be questioned by some voters and could be another dead bird on the necklace.
