...and more candidates emerge!
First of all as of last week, there were two more mayoral candidates from when I last did some commentary on the mayor's race. Glenn Hamilton, a downtown resident, threw his hat a few weeks ago and just recently a gentleman by the name of Edward Graydon has also emerged as a candidate. The city has yet to post his information. I will be cautious on this one, learning from a mistake I made with Ward 10 candidate Bernard Josipovic. Hopefully we'll get some more detail on Mr. Graydon and his platform.
At this point, the only challenging candidate that's making noise on the 'net these days is Mahesh Butani. The man has made some of his views known and they weren't without some controversy, but that's what this guy does best. He at least gets you talking and that's the one thing none of the challengers have done up to now. I just hope that can bring it to the mainstream media, otherwise his chances will diminish. He is the only challenger with a known website and he's not afraid to use it! One question that remains is who other than Mr. Butani will step up and at least try to stand out in this crowd, especially one that is growing to 7 candidates.
Especially when that seventh entry is none other than previous mayor Larry DiIanni. While he has his excess baggage lingering from the funding for his successful mayoral campaign in 2003, Fred's baggage is not from his campaign, but from his job record, which has not been very good. I previously said to Cal DiFalco that DiIanni was damaged goods and that he'd make a better kingmaker than a king. In 2006, justice was done. Larry DiIanni paid for his indiscretions through an electoral defeat. The reason why I said what I said was because for a previous mayor to come back and run for the job again is not exactly heard of. I can't recall a civic election in which a predecessor ran against an incumbent so this could make some interesting news in the months to come. And I will make an entry discussing how DiIanni got himself in trouble in the first place sometime in the next month.
But could this be the scenario that Mahesh Butani was looking for? We don't know. I did muse about a scenario in which two of the strongest candidates are so busy duking it out that a third guy comes in and takes it from under their noses. But for that to happen, Mahesh needs to step up and shift gears in his campaign while keeping a firm hand on that little idea valve of his. He has so many ideas that to roll them all out would overwhelm the voters. So I think he needs to fine tune his campaign to get his message out on a larger volume. And I hate to say this again, but he needs the media to help him. He needs to get on the radio or get on CHCH or Cable 14.
Eventually people will narrow this race down to two or three people. Eisenberger is already there and now DiIanni is there as well. Butani has an opportunity to get himself in that pack and unless he can position himself among the two or at least above Baldassaro, he has no chance of winning this.
DISCLAIMER
While I do make opinions about the election campaigns and their strengths, I am not endorsing any candidates at this time. It is too soon to determine the best candidates for the job. This blog's intention is to be a catalyst for needed change in our city, be it from an incumbent or a challenger. One thing is for sure. This city cannot operate under the current conditions.
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