Podunk to the polling stations

Podunk's municipal election comes a calling in mid November, like all other municipalities in British Columbia, we go to the polls on Saturday, November 19th.

For those that have left Podunk for greener pastures, here's the list of those that wish to be King or Queen.

MAYOR

Only two candidates this time, Mayor Herb Pond seeks another term as captain of the good ship Podunk, having been on the bridge through the years where the place seemed more in tune with the Titanic. During Pond's term of office, the town has seen a rather severe contraction of economic factors. None of which are really his fault and while promises of a better day are made regularly, there still seems an air of what can happen next around here. Perhaps that is why only one other candidate has chosen to challenge Pond.

Gloria Rendell who is employed by the local Credit Union has tossed her hat in the ring in quest for the mayor's chair at City Hall. She's a bit of an unknown quantity, a few years ago she was a joiner as they say, taking on numerous community activities as a way of participating in the city's life. Of late though she has had a rather low profile, it will be interesting to see what she brings to the debate.

Interesting to note is the number of names who did not choose to seek the highest office in Podunk. Former Mayors Don Scott and Jack Mussallem both took a pass, councilor Paul Kennedy not only didn't seek the mayor's office he also chose not to run for council this time. Maynard Angus, who doles out Community Futures monies like Santa Claus on Christmas Eve also expressed no interest in the job. Defeated MLA Bill Belsey took a pass on the job as did the usual collection of local movers and shakers who have always been suspected of seeking the title.

Instead, we are left with the incumbent and one other challenger, whatever does this mean about the state of the city.

The real horse races are at the council table, as eighteen challengers seek six council positions.

COUNCIL RACE (incumbents in Red)

Kathy Bedard, incumbent, the councilor once again seeks to continue her reign at the left hand side of the mayor's chair. Head of the local small business development centre she seems to win election after election, despite not really taking many stands on a number of issues.

Marty Bowles, president of the local BCTF chapter, Bowles will apparently have a bit of time to campaign as his members patrol the picket lines around the city. He launched his campaign about three weeks ago with a number of letters to the editor, the first anyone outside of the BCTF heard of any of his ideas.

Tony Briglio, incumbent, another employee of the Credit Union Briglio is a member of the Northern Health Authority board, his last campaign was based on keeping our community healthy. Read into that making sure the hospital didn't get downsized in any capacity.

Mario Castelli, a former real estate agent (for a brief time) Castelli now drives bus in the city and is heavily involved in the union movement there. He's another unknown quantity, an occasional letter to the editor writer it's not really clear where he stands on a lot of the issues.

Brenda Cook, she has a name everyone seems to recognize but I can't find anyone that actually knows what she does, where she does it or what she believes needs to change with the city.

Ken Cote, incumbent, Cote ran last time as the guy that wanted to change the way City Hall worked, too much mystery, not enough for small business was his stand. Since then he's been part of a group of six that took far too many issues in camera, leaving the citizens wondering what exactly was going on down on Third Avenue. He also doesn't like to be criticized about that too much, as his letters to the editor testify towards.

Danielle Dalton, an employee at the Crest Motor Hotel and a serious joiner in community circles. Dalton is making another attempt to take a seat at the council table. Despite her community activities it's not clear if she'll find the necessary support in the city to make the leap.

Frank DeBartolo, the head of Local four of the PPWC, DeBartolo was frequently in the news as Skeena Cel imploded upon itself and then crashed again when Dan Veniez played his little shell game out at Watson Island. Obviously a labour leader and of that mind it will be interesting to see what kind of vote tally he receives. Especially when you consider the vast majority of his constituents, those of the PPWC have long since moved out of town for other work.

Steve Fitzpatrick, a civic employee if memory serves correct and strong in the union movement and a frequent participant in civic activisim, he ran last time around and came up short. It will be interesting to see the inisights he might have as to the city/city worker situation at the moment.

Sheila Gordon-Payne, a local health care employee, she certainly trumps Briglio in the "healthy community aspect". A strong community person, she has served in the past on the Independent School Council in town, is a member of the well know local family. She has many contacts in the community as is considered a straight shooter. Probably the best bet of the bunch to get elected.

Nelson Kinney, incumbent, everybody's favorite hairdresser, Nelson is back for another shot at glory. His last three years were rather uninspiring. He wasn't heard very often on the bigger issues, as he mainly champions the causes of senior citizens and for that he'll probably be re-elected. As the Randy Travis song goes, "we're gonna love you forever, as long as old ladies, talk about old men".

Gabe McLean, once again Gabe has decided to take his shot. In what seems like the tenth consecutive attempt for office the airport employee and labour rep (if I remember correctly) will seek office. And most likely be back in three years looking for a shot once again.

Mitchell Myers, not much known about him apparently an electrical student at NWCC. Maybe if elected he could fix the lighting at city hall so we could actually see what the heck is going on when they televise the meetings on channel 10.

Erika Rolston, local activist and environmentalist. Has a good network of local lefties that might help get out the vote. Could be a darkhorse possibility.

Jack Rudolph, incumbent, running for council seems to be Jack's thing. Last time he ran he lost out only to rejoin the circle when that goof Scott Randolph left town. Randolph ran for office and then took off for Powell River, instead of a byelection Jack got the tap on the shoulder having the next highest vote total. Probably appropriate anyways, as many suspect that Randolph was elected by seniors who forgot their glasses and couldn't make out the difference between Rudolph and Randolph. Jack spends most of his time talking at Tim Horton's. Probably will get back in, much to his relief.

Lothar Schiese, who the heck is he?

Joy Thorkelson, Union leader of the UFAWU the strongest of unions in the city, Thorkelson is a long time community activist and frequently has banged heads with Mayor Herb. If she can get out the union vote in town she's probably a shoe in.

James Vassallo, another media type that wants to be the story rather than cover the story. Following in the footsteps of the unlamented Scott Randolph, Vassallo is a reporter for the Daily News. Randolph was a reporter for the radio station at the time. History will not repeat itself, Mr. Vassallo will not have to turn down news assignments to cover council, he won't be sitting at the table.

And there you have it the Best and the Brightest? Five incumbents want their seats back, Paul Kennedy having chosen to sit out both the council race and the mayoralty challenge.

There's a very heavy union presence in this years wannabes, which could make for a very fiery council if a few of them get in. At least five of the participants would be considered hard core labour types, giving the debate this time around a bit of life.

My picks for shoe in candidates are Sheila Gordon-Payne and Joy Thorkelson, does that leave Ms. Bedard on the outside looking in? Quite possibly, both of the challengers are strong speakers and well thought of in their constituencies, this could spell the end of Bedards time on council.

It will be interesting to see how the BCTF strike will impact on Bowles candidacy, if the schools are still out by election day there may be a backlash against his union or then again he may reap the benefits of a strong union groundswell, hard to say where his vote will go.

I'm not sure how the Briglio and Cote campaigns will go, at times they took to lecturing the community about how they were here for the good of the town and didn't appreciate the constant criticism of council's machinations. Sorry, but thin skins are not a good thing for a politician, especially in a town where the economy is in a tailspin and the only creative ideas come from the Port Corp, not city hall. The electors may punish these two as well.

The Sunshine Boys, Nelson and Jack may get back in just by being the schmoozers they are, non offensive they just chat up the same old folks day in and day out, if enough of them get to the polls they'll get back in.

So lets see I have Gordon Payne, Thorkelson, Kinney and Rudolph back in office. Leaving me with two more to go. If the Briglio and Cote campaigns tumble then I think that Steve Fitzpatrick may get in, having built a profile last time around. The last choice is a wild card, I'll go with Marty Bowles, the current teacher's dispute is a high profile issue and he's on the front line of that one, priceless in the world of image making.

If I"m correct the labour types will have recaptured a share of council in numbers not seen since Lester and Miller. Could be an interesting time for ole Podunk.

As for mayor, well it would appear we're destined for three more years of Herb!

The votes get counted November 19th, watch this space if anything exciting happens during the campaign.