The Mumpsimus Blog site: The Mumpsimus Blog site -> The Mumpsimus Blog

The mayoralty race got started today (Sunday) when Deputy Mayor Sandra Cooper held a meet-and-greet at the Legion. And if that meeting was an indication of the trend among local voters, I'd suggest Sandra already has a lengthy lead against her competition.


Originally booked for the Legion's small room, organizers nervously took a last-minute chance and booked the larger room, but had only set up about half the room with chairs and tables, hoping for a modest turn out. By the time Sandra spoke to the crowd, tables and chairs had been shuffled out of storage to fill the room, with very few left empty. It was a full audience.

And it wasn't just the usual circle of friends and family around her. There were a lot of supporters,...

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.
...

Just before we went in camera, Monday, I asked Councillor Jeffrey if she had voted to pull the the BIA out of the contract it signed with the town. She said yes and indicated it was a unanimous vote (although it was not made clear who was at that meeting).

At that point, the mayor took over and shoved the rest of the discussion behind closed doors.

While some of that heated debate probably belonged there, how someone voted in a public meeting did not. I think that section should have been held in public. Instead we had an angry 90-plus minute "discussion" about it behind closed doors.

The public only knows, because I asked and she answered before we went in camera, that council's representative on the BIA - Kathy Jeffrey...

Vote on the Peak FM's poll here: thepeakfm.com/home/default.aspx

No surprise, but I voted no. Last time I checked (late Tuesday night), it was 85% against.

I attended the grand opening of the Collingwood Public Library, noon, Thursday, May 27, just before I drove t the FCM convention. It was a glorious day, and not merely for the weather, but because it was the culmination of years of effort by library boards, ongoing ever since I was first appointed to the board, back in 1991. All of the years of work and lobbying paid off, Thursday. Several hundred people turned out for the grand opening.

But for all the pomp and circumstance in the ceremony, I had to shake my head at the hypocrisy.

...

The chance for public input into the local election system was shut down last night by Collingwood Council in a 7-2 vote. The mayor and Councillors Edwards, Sandberg, Jeffrey, Foley, McNabb and Labelle voted no.

I had proposed a referendum question for the 2010 municipal ballot that read, "Are you in favour of having a "ward" system as the method of electing future Town ...

Got an email late yesterday with the mayor's comments in response to Steve Assaff's comments on the mayor's comments about the Admiral Collingwood development... got that? Anyway, I got the press release the mayor sent from an outside source, since it appears council and staff wasn't copied with it.

The mayor sent out his "media release" from his business office email address. So is this an 'official' response or a personal one? It says "Mayor Chris Carrier Responds..." but because of the source and the select audience of recipients, should the media treat it as a personal or an official comment? Can an individual rather than the head of council send out a "media release" and be taken...

You have to shake your head and wonder, some days. Today was one for me. There on the front page of the EB is a quote from the mayor aimed right at me:

So what does he then go on to do in the story? That's right: throw those proverbial stones at me. Ironic? Perhaps just a little...

Ah, so, according to the mayor, releasing figures about publicly-funded legal expenses is campaigning. I suppose that means residents shouldn't be told how council spends their tax dollars*...