Victoria councillors hope electioneering doesn’t overshadow decision-making, now that incumbent Victoria Coun. Lisa Helps has declared she will challenge Mayor Dean Fortin in November’s municipal election.
“It’s unusual to have two declared candidates quite so early,” veteran Coun. Geoff Young said.
“In the course of any discussion, I will make comments that are either supportive or unsupportive of the positions that are taken by any other councillor or the mayor,” Young said.
“I certainly hope we won’t get into a situation where comments are construed as supporting somebody or not supporting somebody because of the prospects of them running for mayor,” Young said.
It’s unfortunate that elections seem to be starting “earlier and earlier,” Coun. Chris Coleman said.
“The problem with people saying now what they are doing is it then taints whatever they say about the issues that come forward because people think it’s electioneering,” Coleman said.
Coun. Ben Isitt, who makes no bones about his plans to run for re-election, lauded Helps for being transparent about her plans.
With a third of the current term left to go, both Fortin and Helps have said they plan to focus on the business at hand and not get into active campaigning for several months.
Isitt said that as a first- term councillor, he hasn’t been through this before.
“There’s always a danger that as an election approaches, public figures will shift into campaign mode,” Isitt said.
“I think if we all exercise some self-discipline and we make sure we put the people’s interests first before our own, we should be in a good position,” he said.
“It’s part of a political process — and having people be transparent about their intentions can only be a good thing.”
Coun. Shellie Gudgeon said she doubted Helps’s announcement will make much difference in how council operates, given that Helps has been telegraphing her intentions for some time.
“I think Lisa has been pretty clear that she has been considering running for mayor for a long time,” Gudgeon said.
“I think part of our dysfunction at the council table has been the jockeying to show leadership. I’m hopeful and I’m optimistic that they really will refrain from too active campaigning,” she said.
Gudgeon, who was undecided about her political future early in the current term, her first, said she plans to run again.
Young, too, said his plans are to seek re-election in the fall, but noted that plans are always subject to changing circumstances.
He said he’s regularly asked about taking another shot at the mayor’s job (he ran in 1999). However, he said that if he were to take another stab at the top job, he wouldn’t announce his candidacy until much closer to the election.
“It’s not at the top of my list at this time,” Young said.
Coleman said he, too, will “probably” seek re-election.
Coun. Pam Madoff said it’s too early to announce her intentions.
She said the idea of a candidate announcing an intention to run, without then being in election mode, “seems a little hard to visualize.”
“So for me, I try to keep working on the work of council for as long as I possibly can before getting into that kind of fray. And a year out seems a bit soon for me,” Madoff said.
Coun. Marianne Alto, first elected in a byelection in 2010, said it has always been her intention to seek re-election for a second full term as a councillor. However, she has no plans to start campaigning soon.
“I certainly, personally, would not consider running for mayor after only one term as a councillor and I certainly don’t have any plans, personally, to do any significant campaigning in the foreseeable future,” Alto said.
Coun. Charlayne Thornton-Joe said she’s
undecided.
“I haven’t given much thought yet about my future decision,” Thornton-Joe said in an email.
“I will continue to stay focused on the work at hand and not be distracted by whatever plans my colleagues have.”
