DesRosiers For Mayor

I was at the doctor's office the other day. My doctor's bookcase has almost as varied a list of magazines in it that the public library does so it is a nice place to sit to pass the time and read.

One of the magazines I read was BizX, the one in which Councillor Halberstadt does a column. The title of his piece in January was: Hypothetical Mayor's Race Pits DesRosiers Vs. Francis.

Now I found it interesting that Alan felt obliged to write that piece. Hadn't Dennis been totally discredited. After all, he was a friend of Mike Hurst wasn't he. He wanted trucks on E C Row. What more needed to be said!

I am sure that you must remember that Alan was the first (and only) Councillor to endorse Eddie Francis publicly for Mayor last time around. I think he is still an Eddie backer although I have not asked him the question directly recently and there have been some "testy" exchanges between the two of them lately.

If you remember, I wrote previously that one of the tactics of the E-machine (Eddie's electoral juggernaut) is to "scare away opponents in advance." So was someone concerned that Dennis DesRosiers might actually run for mayor here?

If you read the column it had a novel slant to it. Alan actually challenged Dennis to run for mayor to stop Windsor's downward spiral! What Alan does is set up DesRosiers arguments and then shoots them down. But it's how he destroys them down that interested me.

1) On E C Row, well Alan does a great attack on that position without even mentioning Mike Hurst's name since we all know which ex-Windsor Mayor was supportive of trucks on that road.

2) On tax loads being so high, Alan says that policies are being reviewed "perpetuated by your old friend (former Mayor) Mike Hurst such as the high industrial tax rate"

3) On pledging $25 million to the University and St. Clair College so they can become innovatation centres, Alan says "City Council is already making painful decisions to drive down an unsustainable tax load built up during the 12 year regime of Mike Hurst."

There are other issues and rebuttals that do not involve Hurst but the fact that the ghost of the ex-Mayor was dredged up by Alan fascinated me.

The approach was similar to another I recalled. I remembered that Alan's friend, Gord Henderson, in a column wrote that "This regime is saddled with inherited disasters... Fixing the mess from years of mismanagement. Thank God someone's tackling this thankless chore."

So Dennis, if you do decide to run, understand that YOU will not be attacked. You will be the stand-in for Mike Hurst. The campaign will be the Eddie/Mike championship fight that never happened because Bill Marra and Eddie were such nice guys last time around that they never really attacked each other.

Wait a minute. I just figured something out. The E-machine knows that Dennis is not going to run. Why does he need the heartache? He has a successful business. Why does he need a reduction in income?

Nope, this is directed at those who might dare challenge the Mayor. It is telling them what they are up against. It is telling Bill Marra NOT to run!