Going to the Polls?

An Ipsos Reid Poll was released about the Mayoralty race in Calgary on September 18th.

I found the results of the poll rather surprising. Their results are showing that Bronconnier is an early favourite with 47% of Calgarians planning to vote for Dave and a whopping 35% undecided. (I am always a little cynical about these numbers, after all, they are asking all Calgarians, not just the 20% who are likely to make the trek to the polls on the 15th. A lot of people have an opinion, but that opinion only matters if it is supported by a little graphite "X" in the right square).

Also of interest in the poll was the note that no other potential mayorality candidate has more than 2% support entering into the race.

Part of this seems to point to issues of name recognition - certainly if you have lived in this berg for any period of time, you can name our current mayor - although according to Ipsos Reid only 42% of those polled could name him when asked to name potential mayoral candidates. (That's actually quite depressing if you think about it). Alnoor, who started his campaign quite early in the spring did remarkably well on being named as a potential candidate garnering 10% recognition (compare this to the less than 1% garnered by the other seven candidates).

Seeing Sandy Jenkins named as second most likely to win the race quite surprised me - perhaps it is because I live and work in the 'burbs, but the only reason that I knew Sandy was making a run for the seat was through a bit of creative research.

Regardless, I think that the results will be taking a major swing, especially as it comes to name recognition as big bucks Alnoor has laid a green seige to our city, plastering his green "GO" signs on billboards, transit and more. But will this be enough in a City where too many seem to vote based on name recognition without giving rational thought to the issues and doing any research on the candidates who are running.

When it comes down to it, transportation, infrastructure, housing and crime really boil down to sound bytes - and this can be majorly influenced by the media. If they like the man, they publish his sound byte.

Dirty Deeds...

An old ACDC tune springs to mind as I think about what is going on up in Ward 4... "Dirty Deeds, Done Dirt Cheap"...

Up in Ward 4 incumbant Bob Hawkesworth is defending his title from Richard Evans and Alex Peterson.

Bob has a steller track record and is well thought of in Calgary. He's 56 years old and married. And politics is his passion.

I haven't heard too much (yet) out of Alex Peterson, but Richard Evans has been quite vocal - and I must admit that I dislike what I have been hearing out of him.

Let's start out with Alex Peterson. All that I was able to find was that he is a SAIT student who is 20 years old and single. No web presence, nothing.

And on to Richard Evans. He is a 35 year old married safety consultant. He's all over the web both on his campaign website and his personal website - and this is where it gets rather interesting.

It's no secret that Evans is backed by the PGIB, and he proudly (and loudly) proclaims himself to be a Conservative. (Much like his friend Craig Chandler he thinks that all true Albertans are Conservatives - I think he is in for a bit of a surprise).

Reading over Evan's campaign website I notice that he is trying to be a bit of a moderate. But it's when you surf over to his personal website that some of the fun begins. He has posted a most amusing little video animation that has a decided USA election feel ridiculing his opponent Bob. (Well, it's amusing to those under the age of seven). Somehow he thinks that making Bob look bad will make him look good. (Sorry Evans, that's not the way that we campaign in THIS city!).

He points out at the end of the video clip that Bob was a sitting NDP MLA prior to stepping forward to represent Ward 4 in Calgary. (I applaud! That's a GOOD thing - although Evans seems to feel that anything that is not conservative is also not good).

When you do a bit more digging on Evans, you also find that he has a track record on sites like Canadian-Cynic. And it's not a good track record. Go take a look here or here or here. This guy is downright creepy - and the way that he acts as childish predator towards anything he disagrees with... well, the less said the better.

Previous elections with McIver down in the south have shown that the PGIB plays as down and dirty as they can to get their candidates into positions of influence. Bad luck seems to happen to anyone running against their candidates - just talk to anyone who has run against Ric in the past. Strange details about opponents seem to be spread around, and rumours that are awfully difficult to fight get a bit of momentum. (It's always strange when the same rumour starts about four different candidates, but Ric seems immune from it). From what I have seen Evans seems to be cut from the same cloth.

Somehow I think that Ward 4 is going to be a nasty back alley fight set well to the soundtrack of "Dirty Deeds" as Evans pulls the dirty tricks and Hawksworth stands up straight and tall refusing to bow to the same level.

Unions Take the Gloves Off

Often you hear of political donations referred to as "investments", and Kim Guttormsom's article in today's Herald brings up the issues of unions and organized groups making significant donations to political campaigns. Take a gander at her article here

It's quite obvious that CUPE has geared up to play a role in this election, but Kim's dug up some interesting comments and statistics.

What I find quite troubling is the amount of money that we are talking about.

The Amalgamated Transit Union (Local 583) is donating $20,000 to two candidates. They are backing Helene Larocque (Incumbent Ward 3) and Al Koenig (president of the Calgary Police Association who is running against Joe Ceci in Ward 9) each to the tune of $10,000. That's a lot of money - and you can be sure that they expect something in return for their gesture of good will.

The Calgary Police Association is backing at least two candidates - Al Koenig (their current president) and John Mar (running ward 8), with rumours that they might be backing a third as well. The amount of money looks to remain undisclosed until the candidates have to submit their campaign donation paperwork to the city - but what the CPA considers "modest" might be sizable.

It doesn't come as a surprise to see unions getting involved in the political landscape. During the leadership race for the provincial conservatives local unions were making donations in the only legal way that they could - through purchasing large quantities of memberships in the party for their "members". (Remember that while provincial politics does have a cap on the size of donation that an individual or corporation can make to a political party, that cap does not apply to the civic game).

Over the past year we've heard a great deal about labour strife in the city - with unions taking advantage of the current market conditions to try to increase their members salaries. The transit union, EMS and firefighters were just a few of the groups involved in union arbitration or disputes.

In her article Kim notes that Kevin Galley, president of CUPE local 37 (city's outside workers) notes that his members won't be donating to any political campaigns, but they are still involved. CUPE Local 37 along with CUPE Local 38 and CUPE Alberta have been running a number of ads in local media and have launched a website aimed at influencing the vote. It is interesting to note that they have only posted survey questions answered by those candidates which they are backing - and those questions are phrased in a leading manner, "Have you quit beating your wife yet? Y/N?". (A number of other unionized groups from the firefighters to the librarians have joined the coalition on the website, but the ads that I have seen are only noted as sponsored by CUPE 37, 38 and Alberta).

As voters we need to be concerned when special interest groups (I don't care who it is - the librarians, transit workers, police commission or the PGIB) take an active role in funding political campaigns. After all is said and done, it's money that comes with an implicit obligation. And I don't like seeing my politicians bought. Is it really any different than walking into an office with a briefcase stuffed with unmarked bills and forgetting to take that briefcase with you on the way out? (Something that mayoralty candidate Alnoor openly admits to having done in the past).

Down to two contenders before the race is off the blocks.

<>This year's mayoral race is a bit different than those we have encountered in the past - we have nine candidates running, two of which have deep pockets to the tune of a million dollars to spend on promotions.

Dave Bronconnier - the incumbant looking for a third term after spending three terms as alderman for ward 6. He never has reached the popularity or recognizability of our last 'people's mayor' - but Klein had a charisma that is hard to match. His campaign finances are rumoured to be in excess of one million dollars.

David Bertram - a virtual unknown. A quick dig through news articles and the web failed to bring anything up on him. This puts him at a definite disadvantage.

Elizabeth Kaur Fielding. The only woman in the running, she has tried (and failed) a bid for MLA previously, and has some campain experience helping with David Nguyen's campaign in 1995, and managed the mayoral campaign for Harry Dhillion in 2004. Her website feels quite unpolished, and seems to spend a lot of energy discussing her recent health issues and experiences with naturopathic cures.

Allan Foster - another quiet campaign without a readily apparent presence in newspapers or the web.

Harry Heck - he seems like quite the character, but somehow his website is remnicent of the Jamacan Bobsled team of '88. My guess is that he is running to get his name publicly known as a boost to his career as a real estate agent. (it's not the first time that a realtor has taken advantage of a political campaign to increase their market profile.

Sandy Jenkens seems to be the inner city advocate. He has been profiled in the Herald and has put some thought into his website, but I doubt his pockets are deep enough to make as much noise as the millionare duo.

Alnoor Kassam - deep pockets but a very checkered history seems to shadow his past. He got a head start on the campaign starting at the end of May. According to the media he also has a million dollar budget.

Jonathan Joseph "JJ" Sunstrum - another lower budget candidate who will probably not be getting his deposit back. He does have a website up, but it's yellow on white, and seems to be "404". (It's high stakes gambling here folks!)

Jeremy Zhao - here's a student with real guts. He has a total budget of $500 - his deposit. A nineteen year old university student doesn't have the life experience to take the top position in a city of this size, but it will look good on his resume.

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Don Braid had a rather interesting article in the Calgary Herald on Tuesday, September 18th "Challenger takes on Bronconnier dollar for dollar in this campaign"

Both Bronconnier and Alnoor have million dollar budgets (neither will confirm the exact amount), but it looks to be high stakes gambling with two sitting in the casino with the cash to back their bids. It's actually a bit depressing to realize that the mayors job is something that is now up for sale.

<>Kassam is a relative newcomer to Calgary, having arrived in 2004 (notably too late to have run in our last election), and has been playing high stakes business man. Unfortunately in his zeal for making a quick buck, he has generated enough bad press to cast his political statements into question. Kassam himself makes it very clear that affordable housing is very important to him. However, according to Don Braid's article "More recently, he [Kassam] found himself on the wrong end of media reports when he radically raised the rents in a Mount Royal lowrise -- for one tenant, from $650 to $2,500 a month."

Well, that's quite recent, but well documented history shows Kassam quickly leaving Kenya under questionable circumstances.

According to Braid, "Kassam, who fled Kenya in 1993 with the law at his heels for his involvement in the country's greatest banking scandal. He was a principal of Trade Bank, as well as Diner's Club. A huge inquiry over government subsidy of exports focused on the fate of the bank.Kenyan officials have said he's welcome to return, as long as he coughs up $23 million Cdn he's alleged to have taken with him."

Well, it's nice to know that he is welcome to return home, and he tries to put a good spin on it - but the real truth will come out on the 15th when Calgarians share their thoughts if a million dollars invested in spindoctoring will create a positive note in the minds of Calgarians.

Some days I think that Politics is a game where the highest stakes player wins. It's about money - and the man with the most money seems to take home the trophy at the end of the day.

What are your thoughts on our Mayoral candidates?

The Race for Calgary

The race for Calgary is on as we enter another exciting fall election season.

And it feels right to take this opportunity to share my thoughts and ideas on a wider forum - taking private conversations to a public political blog.

Four years ago our civic election was followed up quite rapidly by a provincial election, and it seems that this could easily be the case here as well.

Provincial Scene
Looking into the provincial scene a lot of openings are developing for the Liberals to gain a solid foothold in Calgary and Edmonton. Recently the news has been filled with names of MLAs who have made the decision to retire and step aside for some fresh blood. Not surprisingly many of these were the same MLAs who backed the wrong horse on the leadership vote.

Some, like Dennis Herard are not very surprising - after all he is getting older and it's time for him to retire. However some others like Greg Melchin are a bit young to be setting aside their political aspirations.

The recent byelection in Calgary was most telling. I was fortunate enough to be involved with Craig Cheffin's campaign, and was pleasantly surprised by the responses that I received when I went door knocking. Ten years ago in Calgary you would have expected to be chased off of the property if you mentioned that you were a liberal... but today? You are welcomed with open arms and invited to put a sign on the lawn. Most refreshing.

Certainly there is a great deal to explore on the provincial scene, but right now the civic election is a bit more interesting.

Returning to civic thoughts, it seems that the seat of Mayor is up for contestation. Certainly Bronconnier has a lot of momentum as the incumbant (and admittedly a war chest to take pride in), but Alnoor is likely to bring about some competition.

The more that I read about Alnoor, the more I worry about the future of our City. When I first heard his name and did a quick explore, I found his website. A quick look-over had me questioning a few items, such as his claim to have started the first matchbook factory in Kenya (it seemed a little out of the norm for someone running as Calgary's mayor). So I did a wee bit of research. Apparently the bit about the matchbook factory was true... but the other hits that I encountered in regards to Alnoor in Kenya were much more troubling.

For example, coverage of his checkered history in regards to the Kenyan banking collapse. Isn't it strange that he neglected to mention the years of his life and major role that he played with a national bank on his original website... this has been remidied (no doubt as a reaction to the news coverage of Alnoor's Kenyan history), but still rather troubling. While it is difficult to find the full story in Canada so many years later, the fact remains - Alnoor is still a 'person of interst' for the Kenyan governmental authorities.

Shouldn't the man (or woman) whom we choose to run our city be above suspicion?

As others have already pointed out Alnoor preaches that "affordable housing" is key on his issue list, but his past actions seem to decry this point. He owns a great deal of property in Calgary, and has raised rents significantly adding to the problem.

He also makes a few claims that he thinks that the city should be run like a business. On the face of it, this sounds quite good... however a business is in existance to MAKE a profit. Is this the role of a government? Or is the role of a government to provide infrastructure and social services to serve the people? I will not argue that we do need to take certain business practices into government to streamline service delivery and how things are run, but there is also a very important social role that cannot be overlooked.

The aldermanic race should be quite intersting as well. In the next few days and weeks leading up to the election I will be covering a number of the wards and brining up some salient points about people making a run for office, as well as the role of the news in their coverage of the candidates. It is clear to see that the papers have an agenda - and the subtleties used in presentation of the candidates are quite telling.

It is intreguing to note that CUPE has taken an active role in campaigning - they are trying to get a bit more influence in City Hall and push forward their own agenda.

So, keep posted as I dig up some of the dirt on the candidates, and explore what our city really needs from their elected governance body. Share your thoughts with me too!