Calgary Civic Election: Mayoralty Poll #4 - The Heat is On

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

In what way isn't it smart? Are the boys in blue going to rough up Nenshi into a dark alley somewhere?

No no that. I think it will cost him votes.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

I agree. Did you read the releases by Nenshi? Did you listen to his interview on QR77 yesterday? Spelled out his position pretty well for me.

Fair enough. That's simply a matter of opinion.

One more thing though. I'd like to bring this up again since I haven't really gotten a clear message from you on it.

So just to clarify, you feel that an appropriate response for Chief Rick Hanson, a civil servant, was to:

- See Nenshi quote figures from Statistics Canada and a Police Service Report

- Interpret that there was an insinuation made

- Issue a public press release targeting a single candidate for public office in the middle of the election campaign

- Say in that press release that the figures, from Statistics Canada and a Police Service Report, were inaccurate

- After being asked by the candidate that he entered into public dialogue with how those figures were inaccurate - and possibly provide some accurate ones - say that he did not want to enter into a debate

That's an appropriate response? Just checking.

I think given the position he was put in the response was fine.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

I think given the position he was put in the response was fine.

It would be inappropriate for Rick Hanson to enter into a public dialogue or debate with someone vying for public office during an election campaign no matter what position that person may put him in.

Hanson doesn't answer to Naheed Nenshi, Barb Higgins or Oscar Fech as candidates for public office. It's not his job to. In fact, it is his job not to. Those people can't put him in any position where an appropriate response is to issue a public press release in response to what they say.

This is, of course, beside the fact that Nenshi wasn't speaking to Hanson or his department at all in the first place. He, and apparently you as well, have said as much.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

I think given the position he was put in the response was fine.

Hanson should have kept his piehole shut because the question was directed to McIver.

Hanson came out and Nenshi was wrong, then never explained why.

Hanson got pwned.

[frinkprof]

Some news:

- Higgins has apparently released her donor list. 128 donors totalling $203K. Haven't tracked down a link, but I'm sure someone will post it soon.

- Ward 8 incumbent John Mar's campaign HQ was vandalized. Lots of his signs destroyed too apparently, which I think nearly every candidate has experienced.

[JiriHrdina]

She doesn't have the list on her web site - but it includes a few developers but not much else notable from what I can see.

[shermanator]

Didn't see this mentioned, but it looks like the media is pitting Nenshi and Hanson against each other when neither of them wished for it to play out that way. Sounds like the Chief and Nenshi mended fences on Friday. From Nenshi.ca:

I received a call this afternoon from Kevin Brookwell at the Chief’s Office. Chief Hanson, through Mr. Brookwell, conveyed his regret at how this story has now played out and confirmed that this was not his intent. He reiterated his offer to work with the new Mayor in understanding the budget line-by-line.

http://www.nenshi.ca/new/2010/261

[Addick]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Perhaps but it falls to the candidate to get his/her message out in a clear way.

No matter how clear one might be, there will always be a few who misinterpret what has been clearly stated.

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Yes I have - my take is that he was targeting McIver not the CPS directly. Which is why I'm saying it was the wrong specific issue to try to address.

It was one of McIver's largest blunders and it has gotten Nenshi a fair bit of face time and an apology from a public official.

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

I think given the position he was put in the response was fine.

Really? You don't think he could have re-worded it in a fashion that would have defended the force yet not have stirred the pot?

[JiriHrdina]

^I think the release from Nenshi suggests that neither really wanted to stir the pot - and both probably could have handled it better. Anything about crime/police is a big issue so it's not surprising that the media grabbed it.

Reading that statement from Nenshi I would say that he could have been more clear in his original statements about it - but Hanson could have also handled it better.

Hopefully this is the end of it.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Yes I have - my take is that he was targeting McIver not the CPS directly. Which is why I'm saying it was the wrong specific issue to try to address. If I was Nenshi I would have found a different way to go at it to keep on target.

Nenshi has been questioning how an advocate of zero-based budgeting can vote in favor of passing the police budget without a debate. The issue is specific to the police budget.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Slava

$700k!!!

Wow. Whether you love him or hate him that really is an amazing fundraising effort. That number really is astronomical. I would guess that would be more than all of the others combined?

It helps when you give your donors $10,000 every time they build a house.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

No no that. I think it will cost him votes.

I think it will cost him some votes for sure. I also think it will gain him quite a few more by showing that he is willing to do things that the old city council wasn't willing to do. Plus it gave him a lot of exposure and solidified himself as a serious candidate, since Hanson was willing to call him out on it.

Would Hanson have given a second thought it Amanda Liu had said the same thing? I doubt it.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Rathji

I think it will cost him some votes for sure. I also think it will gain him quite a few more by showing that he is willing to do things that the old city council wasn't willing to do. Plus it gave him a lot of exposure and solidified himself as a serious candidate, since Hanson was willing to call him out on it.

Would Hanson have given a second thought it Amanda Liu had said the same thing? I doubt it.

I agree. I actually think this is a pretty shrewd move from a candidate with nothing to lose and everything to gain from the publicity that something like this generates.

I have no idea how good a metric this is, but I'm hearing that requests for Nenshi signs are through the roof in recent days. Could be a coincidence....

[Knalus]

The interesting point I've found regarding elections, especially smaller, more local ones, is that the media chooses the contenders. If you look at SU elections at the U of C, you'll notice that the Gauntlet (the school paper) pretty much determines who is getting elected and who isn't. There is just no other way for a candidate to really get his or her name into consideration than to have reporters decide to cover what he or she talks about.

This election for me will be the election where, because I've followed it, I'll be able to see how well this idea works. In Nenshi's case, it'll really be interesting to see how well he does when none of the media want to talk about him. In Wayne Stewart's case, it'll be interesting to see how well he does, because he has a lot of signs, yet no media coverage at all - he isn't considered to be a "contender" by the paper, ipso facto he isn't. You can call it the Alnoor Kassam effect - except that everyone in their right mind wouldn't compare the two in any other meaningful way.

Seems to me if you want to win, the best way to do that is to get friendly with a reporter or two, over and above pretty much any other method. Second best method is to be bold and controversial. Nenshi's talk about the police budget was his only way of getting any votes.

I would venture to suggest that Jiri is mistaken on one point - the people who now dismiss Nenshi because he would question the police budget would never have voted for him anyways. It can't cost you votes if you would never would have gotten them anyway.

[Ashartus]

So does anyone know anything about Sandra Hunter? I thought I'd try to be thorough and at least see what all the candidates for mayor were about, but she doesn't even seem to have a web page or anything. No one seemed to know she was running before she filed nomination papers, and no one seems to have heard a peep from her since. If she was an "issue" candidate just trying to use the election to raise awareness about some issue I think she would have at least made some effort to get that message out. Every other candidate at least has some information available about them. Is she just someone who had an extra $500 she wanted to get rid of and spent it filing a nomination package?

[yads]

I think Hanson's response should have been that it is not his responsibility to approve the budget that he puts forth and that he will work with the new council to explain why the budget needs to be what it is. Not to have attacked Nenshi for not getting his facts straight.

[Ducay]

Its times like this that I wish I was in the sign printing business.

[Bigtime]

For any interested Ward 8'ians (I just made that up) there is a Zak Pashak "get together/fundraiser" this Wednesday at Concept Bar & Lounge, more info here:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/...52476514782319

[bcb]

What's confusing is that somehow the old city council (including Ric) treated the CPS as a sacred cow, immune from budget scrutiny.
Regardless of who Nenshi posed his question to, Chief Hanson singled out Nenshi, then refused to refute the 'allegations' with actual statistics.

As for the comment that Rick Hanson is the most respected public official in Calgary, hardly. He comes off as an uneducated, reactionary mouthpiece.
How many times now have stats been released to suggest that crime in this country is dropping, only to have Hanson (or other top brass) quoted in the Sun suggesting violent crimes were actually on the rise, but that any decrease in crime is directly due to officer diligence.

[jammies]

Originally Posted by bcb

How many times now have stats been released to suggest that crime in this country is dropping, only to have Hanson (or other top brass) quoted in the Sun suggesting violent crimes were actually on the rise, but that any decrease in crime is directly due to officer diligence.

Cue the "unreported crime is on the rise though!" crowd... as if there is some metric available by which such crime has been measured and found to be increasing. Just like any other bureaucratic organization, the police aren't interested in statistics that suggest their role could be decreased with little impact to their effectiveness.