Election 2008

[titan5]

Okay other than John Ruttan running for Mayor (yes I am a supporter), has anyone heard anything more about who might be running for Council?

I have heard that Jeet has his papers in to seek the seat for the new Nanaimo Provincial riding, so his seat may be open.

I have heard that Dawn Tyndall has been talking to Bill Holdom about trying a run at Council again, with Bill thinking of running for Mayor.

And before anyone rails about how Ruttan lives in Lantzville, the Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce just awarded him "Nanaimo's Citizen of the Year" due to his long standing contribution to our town.

[dilligaf]

And before anyone rails about how Ruttan lives in Lantzville, the Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce just awarded him "Nanaimo's Citizen of the Year" due to his long standing contribution to our town.

I think Rickj is going to have a bird over that one.

[Rickj]

No Bird.... Any private group is more than welcome to vote "Citizen of the Year" to whoever they want. Many organizations have created their own "Citizen of the Year" award. Depends on their version of the criteria.

Each organization will quite often promote their own. Does not mean that the individual would be a good elected official. It is a fair distance between promoting business and making land use/infrastructure/social planning/public safety decisions.

In terms of creating interest, promoting discussion and generally being counted on for interesting comments however irrelevant I nominate dilligaf as NanaimoInformation.com's 1st Annual Citizen of the Year.

[dilligaf]

In terms of creating interest, promoting discussion and generally being counted on for interesting comments however irrelevant I nominate dilligaf as NanaimoInformation.com's 1st Annual Citizen of the Year.

But you dont know if I live in Nanaimo! I could be anywhere.

[dilligaf]

Each organization will quite often promote their own. Does not mean that the individual would be a good elected official. It is a fair distance between promoting business and making land use/infrastructure/social planning/public safety decisions.

On a more serious note, you are presuming that the electorate cannot be counted on to decide who will make land use/infrastructure/social planning/public safety decisions for them. I would prefer to have the choice of the best candidates and make that decision myself.

[wino]

In terms of creating interest, promoting discussion and generally being counted on for interesting comments however irrelevant I nominate dilligaf as NanaimoInformation.com's 1st Annual Citizen of the Year.

I second the nomination!

[Rickj]

But you dont know if I live in Nanaimo! I could be anywhere.

Thats ok... I know that being elected NanaimoInformation.com's Citizen of the Year will not put you into the situation where you will have to actually make any relevant decisions.

[Rickj]

On a more serious note, you are presuming that the electorate cannot be counted on to decide who will make land use/infrastructure/social planning/public safety decisions for them. I would prefer to have the choice of the best candidates and make that decision myself.

This may sound a bit cynical but the electoral system be it municipal/provincial or federal is not really about those that are best for the job. Certainly at the provincial/federal level it is about who gets the most new members for the party and also gets those people out to a nomination meeting.

At the municipal level it is more vague but much of it is about name recognition not thinking ability. Does anyone believe that anyone on any council (with a few exceptions) are Mensa members? Not at all, in many cases they are people with time on their hands who have an interest in a good debate.

Look at the expertise of council? Any land use planners, social workers, infrastructure experts, emergency planners etc?

Critical thinking skills should be required however even those are exercised so rarely. How often does any member of Council (except Mr. Sherry) go against a recommendation of staff?

[dilligaf]

This may sound a bit cynical but the electoral system be it municipal/provincial or federal is not really about those that are best for the job.

It is for me. It should be for everyone. Those who are best for the job are the only ones I will work for.

[Smokey©]

Interesting that the list of land use planners, social workers, infrastructure experts, emergency planners covers people that have run for council and not been elected in the last few elections.

We seem to have stuck mostly with those that have represented us reasonably well over the years. It takes more then just knowledge to be a councillor or mayor, it usually takes someone that can manage their time to work the system.

The staff at City Hall are hired to be the planners and experts. Taking that information from staff and arriving at a solution is one of the keys to doing a good job.

I was not aware of those on council that are members of Mensa (perhaps you could enlighten us who they are).

Being a ONE ISSUE candidate also does not help elect a councillor as we saw when the FoPN membership ran a variety of members for council and mayor, one of them being a social worker.

The key IMHO seems to be a person that can convince the majority of the electorate that they are capable of having the skills to serve in the position that they are running for. Being involved in committees and community projects or services does help but not as much as the skills needed.

Name recognition is also an asset. . . you can ask Bill Bestwick or Tom Krall how their name assisted them in being the TOP vote getter in the elections that they have ran in. Then again, Bill King might not agree that only name recognition is enough. Bill King stepped down among controversy and was unable to get re-elected when he ran again. . . and IMHO Bill King has the skills needed to be a council member, but people remembered the controversy only and associated that with his name.

Bill McGuire did not win with his name or his community service over the years. Anyone remember how John Ruttan did last time. . . did his name help?

How about Ted Schellenburg? A radio announcer used his name and image to get him elected to Federal Office however he did not get re-elected. Meanwhile Leonard Krog has the ability to get re-elected, not re-elected then elected again not only because of his name but his parties ability to get the vote out has helped him. Frank Ney was our provincial MLA for one election while he was mayor. Tommy Douglas and Dave Stupich both ran on their track records to get seats.