The highest in profiles of the concerned citizens of the last two months or so has decided to take her concerns to the public and seek office as a city councilor in Prince Rupert
Anna Ashley who was in the forefront of the debate over the hiring of a consultant by Mayor Herb Pond has placed her name in nomination for the November 15th municipal election.
And while originally declaring that she had no political ambitions beyond the quest for information on the hiring of Tanalee Hesse, Ashley outlined that it was because of the number of people asking her to run for office that she decided to enter the fray and add her name to the fifteen candidates seeking our vote in mid November.
It’s an announcement that may cause more than a few of the supporters of Mayor Pond to go “ah we told you so”, as she and fellow concerned citizen Gina Garon both seek a spot on council this fall.
The Daily News provided Ms. Ashley with a fair amount of coverage in her campaign launch, with a review that took up about half of the article that spanned two partial pages in the Wednesday paper dedicated to the council nominations, explaining how she came to reach her decision and the amount of time she took to think over the prospects.
We suspect that the remainder of the alphabet list of candidates will expect to receive similar coverage during this campaign, which should keep the Daily’s stable of writers busy composing profiles right up until Election Day.
Ms. Ashley’s opening themes and a quick synopsis of the remaining candidates was highlighted in Wednesday’s edition of the paper.
The Daily News however, might want to take a look at some of their back issues over the years and note some of the past candidates for council during past campaigns. As a few of the “newcomers” as they call them in their article, are actually rather long term fixtures on the political scene in Prince Rupert and are making a return to the municipal ballot after their three year hiatus from the municipal electoral excitement.
.
Left out of the loop completely in the article were candidates Mario Castelli and Paddy Green, who seemed to both disappear into the cracks of political reporting, not mentioned in this update of those seeking a seat on council.
Council critic decides to stand
Anna Ashley among 15 seeking election to Prince Rupert council
By George T. Baker
The Daily News
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Pages one and three
Despite saying that she never intended to run for city council, Anna Ashley decided to join the local political derby on Friday after much discussion and thought.
At 4:30 p. m. that day, the final list of candidates for city council was produced and, while the names were familiar, there were a few surprises on the electoral sheet – none bigger than Ashley’s who had said leading up to the candidacy declaration that she had no intention of running.
“I’ve had a lot of people twisting my arm this week about running because of the fact that the entire council is running again except ken Cote and there hadn’t been that many names coming forward. When I saw that – and the phone calls and emails I have been receiving – I did a lot of soul-searching, and I put so much time and effort to try and make sure something happens and at this time it doesn’t look like anything is happening, I did put my papers in today,” said Ashley.
Ashley realized that she would be perceived to be going against her word having said that she was not running for council when she first spoke up about the city’s issuance of a no-bid contract to a consultant that brought much attention to city hall.
For her part, Ashley said there was nothing else she could do to ease her mind that things would be done right by council other than running.
While Ashley let it be known that she was definitely interested in running, Ken Cote has decided to leave city politics.
As the highest vote-getter on council during the last two elections, Cote said the decision was reached before he was voted in last time that two terms would be plenty for him.
“I made up my mind that I would give six years to the community and that’s what I’ve done,” said Cote.
“My belief is that people who live and work and derive their living from this beautiful city of Prince Rupert should volunteer some time toward it to make it better and that was my intention when I ran for council.”
The other names on the list are a cross-section of the well knowns and the barely heard-ofs.
Outside of Cote, the whole current city council has reenlisted its services for public office. Tony Briglio, Joy Thorkelson, Sheila Gordon-Payne, Kathy Bedard and Nelson Kinney have all put their names on the ballot.
“I’m going to run because there needs to be aloud voice coming to the health system that’s for sure,” said Briglio, who currently sits on the Northern Health Board.
There are newcomers as well to the council picture. The newbies are Erika Rolston, George Sampson, Gina Garon, Gable McLean, John Purdy, Jason Schellenberg, and Joe Viscount.
In total there are 15 people looking to fill the six seats each in council.
“I’ve decide to run because I really believe that I have something to contribute to council, that I have a creative approach to problem solving, that I have a lot of valuable experiences to contribute to helping Prince Rupert get back on its feet where it needs to be,” said Rolston.
Rolston said one of the things she would really like to see the city take the lead on is incubating small business in town.
“We need a place where small business can function and a brick and mortar place where they can operate out of that so that they can minimize or eliminate overheads and get off the ground in a real way instead of six months of hand-holding and off you go,” said Rolston.
As for those hoping to be elected mayor, with Friday’s announcement that Herb Pond would not seek reelection that leaves Jack Mussallem and Don Scott as the contenders for the big prize come Nov. 15.
Anna Ashley who was in the forefront of the debate over the hiring of a consultant by Mayor Herb Pond has placed her name in nomination for the November 15th municipal election.
And while originally declaring that she had no political ambitions beyond the quest for information on the hiring of Tanalee Hesse, Ashley outlined that it was because of the number of people asking her to run for office that she decided to enter the fray and add her name to the fifteen candidates seeking our vote in mid November.
It’s an announcement that may cause more than a few of the supporters of Mayor Pond to go “ah we told you so”, as she and fellow concerned citizen Gina Garon both seek a spot on council this fall.
The Daily News provided Ms. Ashley with a fair amount of coverage in her campaign launch, with a review that took up about half of the article that spanned two partial pages in the Wednesday paper dedicated to the council nominations, explaining how she came to reach her decision and the amount of time she took to think over the prospects.
We suspect that the remainder of the alphabet list of candidates will expect to receive similar coverage during this campaign, which should keep the Daily’s stable of writers busy composing profiles right up until Election Day.
Ms. Ashley’s opening themes and a quick synopsis of the remaining candidates was highlighted in Wednesday’s edition of the paper.
The Daily News however, might want to take a look at some of their back issues over the years and note some of the past candidates for council during past campaigns. As a few of the “newcomers” as they call them in their article, are actually rather long term fixtures on the political scene in Prince Rupert and are making a return to the municipal ballot after their three year hiatus from the municipal electoral excitement.
.
Left out of the loop completely in the article were candidates Mario Castelli and Paddy Green, who seemed to both disappear into the cracks of political reporting, not mentioned in this update of those seeking a seat on council.
Council critic decides to stand
Anna Ashley among 15 seeking election to Prince Rupert council
By George T. Baker
The Daily News
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Pages one and three
Despite saying that she never intended to run for city council, Anna Ashley decided to join the local political derby on Friday after much discussion and thought.
At 4:30 p. m. that day, the final list of candidates for city council was produced and, while the names were familiar, there were a few surprises on the electoral sheet – none bigger than Ashley’s who had said leading up to the candidacy declaration that she had no intention of running.
“I’ve had a lot of people twisting my arm this week about running because of the fact that the entire council is running again except ken Cote and there hadn’t been that many names coming forward. When I saw that – and the phone calls and emails I have been receiving – I did a lot of soul-searching, and I put so much time and effort to try and make sure something happens and at this time it doesn’t look like anything is happening, I did put my papers in today,” said Ashley.
Ashley realized that she would be perceived to be going against her word having said that she was not running for council when she first spoke up about the city’s issuance of a no-bid contract to a consultant that brought much attention to city hall.
For her part, Ashley said there was nothing else she could do to ease her mind that things would be done right by council other than running.
While Ashley let it be known that she was definitely interested in running, Ken Cote has decided to leave city politics.
As the highest vote-getter on council during the last two elections, Cote said the decision was reached before he was voted in last time that two terms would be plenty for him.
“I made up my mind that I would give six years to the community and that’s what I’ve done,” said Cote.
“My belief is that people who live and work and derive their living from this beautiful city of Prince Rupert should volunteer some time toward it to make it better and that was my intention when I ran for council.”
The other names on the list are a cross-section of the well knowns and the barely heard-ofs.
Outside of Cote, the whole current city council has reenlisted its services for public office. Tony Briglio, Joy Thorkelson, Sheila Gordon-Payne, Kathy Bedard and Nelson Kinney have all put their names on the ballot.
“I’m going to run because there needs to be aloud voice coming to the health system that’s for sure,” said Briglio, who currently sits on the Northern Health Board.
There are newcomers as well to the council picture. The newbies are Erika Rolston, George Sampson, Gina Garon, Gable McLean, John Purdy, Jason Schellenberg, and Joe Viscount.
In total there are 15 people looking to fill the six seats each in council.
“I’ve decide to run because I really believe that I have something to contribute to council, that I have a creative approach to problem solving, that I have a lot of valuable experiences to contribute to helping Prince Rupert get back on its feet where it needs to be,” said Rolston.
Rolston said one of the things she would really like to see the city take the lead on is incubating small business in town.
“We need a place where small business can function and a brick and mortar place where they can operate out of that so that they can minimize or eliminate overheads and get off the ground in a real way instead of six months of hand-holding and off you go,” said Rolston.
As for those hoping to be elected mayor, with Friday’s announcement that Herb Pond would not seek reelection that leaves Jack Mussallem and Don Scott as the contenders for the big prize come Nov. 15.
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