"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Monday 3 December 2012

Wait For The Reaction !!!

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "I LIke Things To Be Real":
Unfortunately during the term of the previous council, while there was no matching of skills to create a team, a team was nevertheless created, 6 members.

This was as unskilled a group as one could create, only in a nightmare.
And it was upon you personally that this team directed its bile, and you well know the consequences, still awaiting a judicial outcome.
Those who seek the people's trust must show a strength of character by deed, not by promise or the spoken word.
Strength of character is something we earn, from experience, from the ability to establish meaningful and positive relationships with our fellows.
Ford's character appears to be brass knuckles, bare bones and a pile driver. This will never succeed.
McCallion has held office for 34 years, and apart from a hiccup or two, she has led her community well. If she employs brass knuckles, bare bones and a pile driver she does so discreetly so that her electors never realize what she is doing. Possibly this is the reason for her success
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Aurora's previous Council was not a team in any sense of the word. 
It was a gang with all the characteristics embodied in that term 
A couple of  ruthless musclemen  and a bunch of followers.  
Initially it was a  slate of candidates with a majority of one.  
Along with Denial of Charter Rights and Defamation of Character, they are charged with Abuse of Authority and Abuse of Public Resources. 
The last  fits the terms of a Breach of Public Trust.
They are being defended with public resources.
In the last campaign, students at  St Maximillian Kolbe High School  held a mock election as part of their studies. 
A student sought an outline of my campaign platform. 
I explained that basically I ask for  people's trust. 
Individual candidates  cannot  keep  promises, I said.
Whatever is achieved ...or not...is the work of the entire Council.
I  outlined what I thought were  priorities .
Several e-mail exchangeand a phone  call  followed while  the student  tried to comprehend  what I stood for.
She needed something from me to encourage votes on my behalf.
Nothing I said sounded relevant.
I didn't hear how I fared in the election. 
I didn't bother to ask. No doubt the student felt she had been dealt a losing hand.  
The fact is  a campaign is not fought in a vacuum. The familiar question is  heard on most doorsteps. 
What will you do for me, if I vote for you
A promise to care, To vote always in the best interest of the community  as a whole.  An outline of experience and reliability is  hazy at best
Candidates alone cannot be blamed for  trying to come up with the  most persuasive answer
For promising what they read in the voters comments.
How many times have I heard from a voter," I am waiting to receive all the pamphlets, then I will sit down ,read them all and make my decision."   like because  the word  is written, it must be believed.
I'm not sure there is  more substance to it than there is in a candidate's promises.  It's a dance. We all know the steps.
It means  a campaign is a two-way street. 
Anyone who writes off the deliberate role of the voter hugely underestimates the power and the authority that goes with it.
All they have to do is disrespect it.
The last Council discovered that to their cost. 
As I believe  has been done with Rob Ford to discover the extent of that  mistake. 
             .

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your lawsuit raises all kinds of questions that you probably cannot answer. I will risk one. There seems to be no way that the funding for the gang can be terminated by the town. But can't something be done about the glacial speed of the process? You must be sick & tired of the delays.