Orléans Star
Published: Friday, January 15, 2010

A little guide for the new candidate

Welcome to 2010, the second decade of the 21st century and the year where many frustrated ratepayers will rise up, hopefully. On Oct. 25 of this year, your opportunity to reward or punish the mayor, your councillor and/or your school board trustee will present itself.  And if you are one of those wide-eyed and eager folks wanting to put your name on the ballot this time around, take it from one who banged on over 20,000 doors in 2004 during the federal campaign, get going and good luck.

So today I begin an occasional series of columns for new candidates (and those seeking re-election as well) to give you a flavour of what to expect.

To start, unseating an incumbent at the local level is difficult, not impossible, but difficult nonetheless. They have a degree of name recognition, a database of constituents they have helped and given the fact that, on average, seven out of 10 of your neighbours don’t bother to cast a ballot come municipal election time, they have a good shot on these attributes alone of getting re-elected.

As a newcomer to politics, expect that your motives will be questioned. Fair or not, voters are inherently skeptical of aspiring political wannabes, but don’t take it personally, it’s just the way it is.

Your elevator pitch of 50 words or less to answer the question as to why you want to serve better be good. More importantly, it must be sincere and truthful. As well, expect voters to sometimes ask if a councillor’s salary will be a step up or step down in pay for you. And for over 80 per cent of folks, based on the tax tables, it will be a step up, so don’t lie.

For younger candidates full of political ambition (and God bless you for it as our city council really needs some generational change), please make sure you are running to do something as opposed to running to be somebody or with higher political office on the radar. I offer this counsel now to you, ignore it at your own peril.

Next up, know your issues. City government (and the school board) is governed key statutes like the Municipal Act, City of Ottawa Act, etc. (Education Act for trustees) which delineate its roles and responsibilities. Please don’t knock on my door and tell me you are going to fix the property tax system, that is a provincial issue and the campaign is not until 2011, for example.

And get your butt down to some council, committee or school board meetings to get a sense of the faces and pace of local government.

Finally, get a legal beagle friend to help you with the important stuff about filing papers, deadlines, voters’ lists, donation and expense limits, etc. And don’t be afraid to ask the city eections staff, they can be quite helpful in this area as well. See you on the hustings.