To the Editor:
Lorne Eckersley is being disingenuous when he suggests that Joe Snopek “maybe ... didn’t really want the mayor’s job.” Easy to prognosticate after the fact (where were Lorne’s opinions before the election?) but it is stretching credibility to suggest that someone who has served as mayor in addition to several years as councillor (12 years in all), paid his deposit, and mounted a campaign, would throw his hat in the ring without serious intention.
He then goes on to say that Toyota “campaigned as though he was supporting someone else.” Did he not want to win either? What is this supposed to mean? That he who did not want to win the most would win?
Lorne suggests that Joe should not have said that he did not belong to a service club and then twists this into a suggestion of non-participation, which in Joe’s case, is a non-issue. In case Lorne didn’t get it, Joe was indicating that he represented all of the people, not just those who belonged to exclusive “vested interest” service clubs. Eckersley’s following notations about the many mayors who belonged to these clubs indicate exactly that Creston municipal politics has been locked in the grip of the business elite, and there are few councillors who are not aligned to a self-serving agenda. Pure altruism, I don’t realistically think.
I know of journalists who do not vote because they feel it would taint their objectivity, and I know of others who trumpet their preferences before an election. Mr. Eckersley appears to be content with expressing his approbation of the status quo after the fact, a rather lame academic exercise.
Yes, Joe’s profile was not as eye-catching as the six-foot signs of the opposition, but could this have something to do with resources rather than lack of civic interest?
And has anyone besides me wondered why municipal politics seem to be exempt from guidelines applied to provincial and federal politics, guidelines such as clear cut and published campaign expenses and sources, transparent conflict of interest guidelines that prevent elected officials from being in a position to benefit from municipal decisions, guidelines preventing councillors from engaging in commerce with developments within city limits?
A following column by Peter Hepher “Voters, leaders must support change”, Nov. 24 Advance) explained this far more eloquently that I can, or for that matter, Lorne Eckersley. Joe did not lose the election because of lack of civic interest. He, like anyone in the forums who expressed a broad based community concern not conforming to establishment views, had little chance of winning.
They, like “your ordinary Joe” were members of the 99 per cent, and, predictably, the one per cent won.
Larry A. Ewashen
Creston