Kingston’s Next Mayor
Kingstonist’s weekly poll is still in it’s infancy, and in an effort to see it flourish, we’ve been giving it a prime slot on Monday morning over the past couple of weeks. We’ll keep on with the status quo for the time being, however we may eventually change things up once everyone gets into the routine of voting on a weekly basis. Thus far, we’ve had a chance to balance things out by asking both a fluffy and a serious poll question. After asking our followers on Twitter for some suggestions for this week’s poll question, we were steered towards topics including the Third Crossing, Poker Run, Princess Street Promenade, Invista Centre pool, potholes, bike lanes and the list goes on. While our readers are genuinely interested in each of these projects, problems and obstacles, it’s clear that the fate of each of these issues will likely be written by the future leaders of the Limestone City. With that in mind, and now that Rosen has decided not to seek re-election, this week’s poll question tries to look forward and determine who’s right for the big job.
Who should become Kingston's next Mayor?
- Rick Downes (142%, 44 Votes)
- Other Candidate (94%, 29 Votes)
- Mark Gerretsen (71%, 22 Votes)
- Bittu George (23%, 7 Votes)
- Vicki Schmolka (10%, 3 Votes)
- Dorothy Hector (6%, 2 Votes)
Total Voters: 107
Loading ...According to the City’s website, no one has thrown their hat into the ring to become Kingston’s 95th Mayor. That said, we’ve heard rumblings here and there about which past candidates may try their luck again, or otherwise, which council members might be vying for a move up and into the big chair. So just what kind of leader does Kingston need right now? What sort of characteristics, and priorities will you be looking for when the time comes to cast your ballot in October 2010?
Today’s image is based on the original provided by ChernobylBob.
I vote for Don Cherry!
I'm quite new to the Kingston area and have no idea who any of these people are and what they represent… can anybody provide a brief summary? (Party / general approach etc.?)
This is for Mayor not Governor General.
Downes was a multi term councilor who lost in the last mayoral race(close), then lost twice running for the NDP. His opposition to the lvec was popular, but otherwise was extreme left/pro public spending
Gerretsen is a first term councilor and the son of our current liberal MPP. Its unlikely he'd have won a seat if his name had been Mark "Smith" instead, as he would have been an unknown with his resume. But he was able to instantly blanket the district with lawn signs at all the houses who carry provincial liberal signs. The liberal connection (with presumably organization/financial backing) makes him one of if not the favorite
George was a one term councilor and former president of the local Liberal riding association. He was very quiet on council, never seeming to take the lead in advocating for anything. His support for the lvec (after having been on the fence) probably cost him his seat. I haven't heard that hes considering a mayoral run, I'd be shocked if he did.
Schmolka is a first term councilor, very very left leaning. She'd probably be considered a leader/influencer among present council. She's often received criticism from the mayor for trying to add amendments to motions along the lines of having council interfere with staff's job. When she was first on council she was on the committee nomination committee that generated a bit of controversy when the rejected former councilor George but put on one of her campaign workers
Hector is a first term councilor, formerly with the Untied Nations. Among present council shed be "right leaning", but not really. You don't hear people being particularly against her, nor in favour, shes just kind of there. Id be surprised if she could mount a city wide campaign
The one missing from the poll you hear is considering running is 2 term councilor Smith. Downtown business owner with a family connection to the mayor. Would be considered right leaning, very pro to anything the downtown business association wants, would presumably have their backing in the race. Won his council seat with one of the lower numbers, was lucky there was a vote split
Thanks for this. Very good info here.
Mr. Recifier, thanks for the thumbnail sketch of the potential candidates. So according to the poll, the choices are left, farther left, extreme left, son of a Liberal, and someone with family connections to the current mayor. Scary…
I think my vote will be "other", please…
Apparently former councilor Jim Neil is running for councilor in Williamsville(Smiths district). He was part of the left wing group that all didn't run or got the boot the first election after amalgamation Surely there has to be some fiscal conservatives our there that would run?
And the first official mayoral candidate is…
Greg Soucie
um, who?
Hmmmm….this is very interesting. A few things come up via web searches, while this article from yesterday seems to be the most relevant. Highlights include: "(Soucie) A man who describes himself as a pot-smoking veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder who hates to leave his house is running for mayor in Kingston" and "He also muses randomly about whether a woman will want him for anything more than sex and threatens violence against people over personal slights". I can't seem to locate the YouTube channel mentioned in the article. Does anyone have any leads on that?
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheSoucman
Thanks for that! Of note, he wants to turn the K-Rock Centre into a casino, and transform the Memorial Centre into an 8,000 seat arena. Is this guy for real?
Found this, I can't help but ask- our first mayoral candidate is THIS guy?
Hector just filed to run again in her district. Looking like Downes vs Gerretsen? it would seem a lot of Schmolka's potential support will be committed to Downes.
I believe every single challenger for a council seat so far has lost one or more times before except Hemberger
!st term councilor Matheson entering the race is a surprise. Continuing in the tradition of having sitting councilors delusional over having city wide support for mayor (eg K george, D Meers, Stoparzyk, Hodge). No one was talking about him running as its inconceivable he could win
The good thing is, unlike Downes, he actually had some issues to mention. The bad thing is…it was all complete nonsense. eg lowering the price of the privately owned Frontenac's tickets (the city only controls the 1.50 surcharge that serves as the rent to pay the debt), the already decided by12-1 vote done deal Lake On Park fate, and strange comments on the pool that hes previously been clear he wants to go ahead no matter what the cost.
However he is interesting in that he may have just spoiled any chance of Downes winning.
What about councilers. I have not heard anything about anyone. Any good ones. Anyone to avoid
The big story in the council races is lack of candidates. At the moment a number would win by acclamation, even in seats with no incumbent. We'll have some different faces from retirements, but we may get a number of previously defeated councilors back . Looking at their websites (the ones that even have sites), there is pretty much nothing of substance to be found. If the election was today I'd think we'd end up with a very similar council direction as we have had the past 4 years. I’m surprised really, there seems to be dissatisfaction out there, and they get a big raise next time too. Still time though.
With Downes out of the mayoral race there really is no race, Gerretsen will win in a walk. Unfortunately that may lead to much less debate on issues that one would expect to start at the mayoral level and fall to the council candidates to answer on.
Couple new candidates today, one in what would seem to be a futile challenge to Schmolka, the other in the wide open Portsmouth race. Don't know anything about them .
Still a surprising 5 districts with only 1 candidate, 2 being former defeated councilors and one a current one a lot of people don't consider one of the better ones.
Greg Soucie- do we really want a pot smoker with post traumatic stress who cant keep his mind straight as our mayor? think about it
ummm, this post is really old and he's not running anymore….I think you'd better do a post about people who are running to help inform those who aren't paying attention.
FYI polls are set to run for one week only, so yes this one expired a long time ago before all of the candidates were declared. Not sure if we'll run another poll on the matter. I would rather do an interview with the candidates on a few questions to see where/how they differ on priorities etc…