Calgary Civic Election: Ward 6 Discussion

[jbot]

I know that royer has been going door to door himself. He, personally, came to my door. I voted at the early polling booths and I voted for him. Very interested. Unfortunately there is only one of him so he cant go to every door.

Apparently Yannitos is being funded by the same people as Dave Bronconnier. Some guy whose last name is Levitos (something like that) that was Bronconnnier big funder is Yannitos's as well.

[Mango]

I still haven't had the opportunity to vote. Throughout the campaign, no one came to my door in the Sienna Park area. However, Mr. Dimic was in WestHills the other night chatting to voters. He's definitely a passionate man and I've had the opportunity to chat with him on a number of occasions because he's called my place of work.

I like Mr. Yannitsos' history. He's lived in the area for a long time and I believe as a resident, he really knows the real issues of Ward 6. There are many. I also like his stance of the education and snow removal.

I'm going to visit each of the candidate's webpage and then make my choice.

[mandm]

I am still with Yannitsos. He, pootmans and Mielke have come to my door, but Pootmans is out since he doesn't live here. I think Yannitsos has the best big picture view and I like his cultural and non profit work which speaks to connections throughout the city. I emailed him through his website about LaCaille, as per the poster above, and he responded within a day saying that he knows the gentleman because they are both Greek and as President of the Greek Community he knows most members, but that they were not friends or had any business dealings. I find the comment about "funding" any candidates quite interesting since no one can donate more than 5K to any candidate and i don't think 5K no matter who it might be coming from is enough to "own" anyone. Bottom line is if you look at donors lists for the mayoral candidates that have come out, they all have people on them that could be questionable and since none of the aldermanic candidates have posted lists that I can see, to assume that Yannitsos and LaCaille are in cahoots is like assuming that because Nenshi is Muslim he may have terrorists contributing. It's ridiculous and a desparate attempt to sully someone's reputation based on their ethnicity - which actually makes it racist as well.

Mielke seems like a genuinely good guy and if he'd been stronger in the debates I went to, I'd be torn. Royers came off like a dufus at both the debates. Wills didn't bother showing up to the debates and doesn't live in the ward. Dimic - again nice man, but I wouldn't want my grandpa running the city. And doesn't live in the ward. Rogers, Tom M.- seem like genuinely nice men but not very strong on policy or experience. Coral Turner, I can't comment bcs she was away at all the debates and hasn't released much in terms of policy on her website.

So for me it was between Mielke and Yannitsos and I'm going with Yannitsos because of governance experience and non-profit work. But I'd be ok with either of these two winning because they both seem like good men - family guys who work hard and have public interest vs. power in mind.

[Kjesse]

The only candidate who I know came to my door was Pootmans, but I wasn't home. He left a pamphlet and signed it saying he hoped to talk and to call him, which was a nice touch. I like his policies and think he'd make a good alderman, but I won't vote for someone who doesn't live in the ward.

I was down to Royer, Mielke or Yannitsos. I'm going with Yannitsos, but I think there are a number of strong candidates in this ward and won't be disappointed if any of the top 4 polling candidates win.

[Ashartus]

I ended up voting for Mielke because he seemed to have the best grasp of the issues affecting the ward (or at least the part I live in) of any of the candidates. I'd be fine with Yannitsos winning as well; none of the others really impressed me at all.

[jbot]

whoa, I never said that Yannitos was bad because he was greek. In fact I never even said that this Lacaille guy 'owned' him. All I said was that it was a funding from the same guy as bronconnier. Usually you donate to someones platform who you like, so to me that implied that Yannitos would have a similar platform to bronconnier. I think thats reasonable. I do apologize for using the word funding, that was misused and thank you for correcting me there.
To imply that I am racist is really overboard. I supported Royer who in fact set up the islam chair at the UofL, so race or connection to race is no issue. In fact I am actually from a mixed background myself (one quarter east indian).
I do like that you contacted the candidates though and I hope that you did that with all of them.
I do not intend to start a flamewar or anything but I hope i did misconstrue your post as to me it came off as a personal attack.

[mandm]

I'm not calling you a racist so sorry if it came out that way. However, how do you KNOW the same funders are backing any candidates? Your assumption that the owner of LaCaille is also funding Yannitsos seems to be based on the fact that they share the same ethnicity. I've checked for donors lists from the aldermanic candidates in ward 6 and NONE have posted them as far as I can see, so for you to claim to know means either you have inside information OR are making stuff up just to boost your candidate with whom you may have a personal relationship you're not fully disclosing. I don't know this, so I won't assume, but you stated the donor relationship as a fact when I can't find any proof of it - therefore you must be assuming. And what else would you base your assumption on when there's nothing in the public domain about any candidates' funding?

I'm not saying definitively that LaCaille hasn't donated to Yannitsos or any other aldermanic candidate because there's nothing out there to say yes or no. But as he seems to be a pretty smart businessman, I'd bet he'd be supporting any number of candidates to hedge his bets. My issue is with you stating it as fact and alluding to the fact that it's because they're both Greek. At least that's what I took from it.

I'm not interested in a flame war either. I came here because I enjoyed the posts and thought it would be interesting discussion since the other political boards seem to stop with one or two comments. I don't like Royer's policies on the things that are most important to ME, but I can appreciate that other people feel differently. Have an opinion sure - state something as fact when there's no evidence for it, that I have an issue with regardless of which candidate is being attacked.

The only candidate I can find who has gone on record so far about their donations is Tom M. who stated at the civicamp debate that he is self-funding his campaign. The rest of them - who knows where they're getting their funding from?

[Ducay]

I think Sir Yani-Souvlaki will be winning my vote this evening. As long as he or Milk-man wins, i'll be fine.

[Kjesse]

Pootmans takes this in a surprisingly strong fashion. He had good policies, I just didn't like that he doesn't live in the ward.

Rogers had an early and surprising surge but fell back down to the rest of the pack with Yannitsos, Mielke, Royer and Malyszko.

[Dion]

wrong thread

[mandm]

I was quite happy that Rogers did so well! Diappointed Pootmans won because he doesn't live here and is a little too slick for my liking. Too bad Yannitsos or Mielke didn't win. We'll see whether Pootmans actually does anything for us or if this is just a stepping stone for him.

[Misterpants]

How did Hard Poo man walk away with this thing? Apart from signs, I barely saw anything out of this walking Mark's Work Warehouse ad.

[Ducay]

Ya, I was pretty amazed he took it with more than double his next opponents (which all hovered above 3k).

I think it was a case of him getting his name out the best. He did a lot of door knocking, stood on Bow trail a few days, and lets be honest, the whole "Hard Poo Man" probably sealed the deal for him, his name recognition exploded over that.

[Misterpants]

Ewww, all I saw was Hard Poo man and exploded.

Well if Milk man comes back to the forum, you had my vote man! Chin up, three more years to plan your campaign.

[Cheerio]

I think the "Hard Poo Man" signs could have won the election for Pootmans.

[yads]

Pootmans had been campaigning since the beginning. I voted for Yannitsos, but after I voted he really turned his campaign from issues to the fact that Pootmans doesn't live here. It was so vitriolic that I immediately regretted voting for him. Don't mind Pootmans getting in though.

[Brent.Mielke]

Thank you for all of your comments. Obviously, it wasn't the result I hoped for, but I certainly respect the result, and Richard earned the win with an honourable campaign.

I did follow back on this thread along the way, and really respect the amount of effort you all went to for learning more about the candidates. It's a brutal challenge is a 10-horse race, and I was truly impressed with the sincerity of the dialogue, and your interest in making sure that the right candidate won.

I hope that this will be a launching point of future enthusiasm for politics in Calgary.

Cheers,

Brent.


p.s. Anyone out there in need of 1200 'Run with Brent' signs?

[mandm]

i understand why yannitsos was so annoyed with pootmans running and not living here. i was too. if any of the other 7 had taken it, it's be a happy day between that and nenshi. brent, you were a gentleman. ken rogers - didn't expect it, but well done. congratulations to all the resident candidates for the hard work they've done up to this point in our community with no pay or glory, for putting their names forward and for hopefully keeping hard poo man honest and focused on our needs vs his ambitions. you're too generous brent - i wouldn't say it was an honourable campaign. too much "our" ward in the literature for my liking. but the rest of you - truly fine examples and proud to have you all in my ward.

[Ducay]

I as mentioned elsewhere, I believe Pootmans honestly won due to the whole 'Hard Poo Man' thing. I haven't met one ward 6 resident who hasn't discussed it, even briefly.