"Empty Words, Broken Promises"
You’ll hear that phrase a lot over the next month and a half as Dr. David Wonham challenges the Mayor for the top job in Windsor politics.
Youthful enthusiasm is an experiment that failed! So said the man who is running to be the next Mayor of Windsor. But he did not say it unkindly, and not in a negative way. He praised Eddie for trying his best. Wonham just lead us to draw our own conclusion that Eddie just could not do the job!
I attended David Wonham’s press conference today just after he announced he was running for Mayor. I wanted to see what he was like, to hear what his issues were and to see how well he stood up against the media questioning.
He did an excellent job, but why not since he has chaired various groups and dealt with the media for years. As an example, he negotiated the agreement “to get around long hospital waiting lists for heart patients by sending patients to a hospital in Detroit.” He even got some of the news people to laugh at his jokes too.
There was no phoniness or staged applause. There was no hoopla, no throngs calling out his name, no signs or confetti being thrown. Just a tall, distinguished semi-retired surgeon who has had enough of what he has experienced here over the last three years and decide to run. He saw what is wrong with Windsor’s body politic and will use his surgeon’s scalpel to cut it away.
He had no backers to whom he owed something and was just putting together his campaign team he said. He was not a one-issue candidate concerned about an arena with a museum attached. He hoped that the support would come since he had some innovative ideas to put his message across, not just the traditional lawn signs approach. He welcomed debating with Eddie and was not afraid to face the Great Communicator.
And he has a wicked sense of humour to boot. When commenting on Rails for Trails, he wondered why that meeting had to be held tonight as a Special Council meeting rather than the one for the arena that is obviously more important. Then he figured it out---he said we needed better trails for all of the people moving out of Windsor to find a job in Alberta!
His first three priorities were jobs, jobs, jobs. He did not understand, respecting the border why the Mayor had refused to talk with both DRTP and the Ambassador Bridge Co. He already met with them both! He pointed out that the Bridge Co.’s proposal would inject a billion dollars into the region that would produce many new jobs.
I’ll let the media present comments on the specifics of what he said. But he knew the issues. What interested me is that the E-machine has a problem. The good doctor is NOT afraid to say that the Mayor is wearing no clothes and has not done so for 3 years. Instead of a coronation, we are going to have a tough fight and Windsorites will finally hear what we have not heard in 3 years: Windsor has major problems.
Let me give an example of what some politicos might consider “courage” in Windsor. Dr. Wonham dealt with the Windsor Star right upfront in a very fair and quiet manner. Frankly, to me it showed that he was not a man who was afraid of dealing straight on with an issue that has been an undercurrent for months with many people proposing to run for office. I believe it was the second point of his initial remarks. He pointed out what BLOG readers know that Eddie’s Chief of Staff, Norma Coleman, is married to John Coleman, Editorial Page Editor of the Star. He said that he knew John and that John was a man of integrity and that he knew he would get fair coverage in the Star. That was it, no fuss or muss, issue solved.
You’ll hear that phrase a lot over the next month and a half as Dr. David Wonham challenges the Mayor for the top job in Windsor politics.
Youthful enthusiasm is an experiment that failed! So said the man who is running to be the next Mayor of Windsor. But he did not say it unkindly, and not in a negative way. He praised Eddie for trying his best. Wonham just lead us to draw our own conclusion that Eddie just could not do the job!
I attended David Wonham’s press conference today just after he announced he was running for Mayor. I wanted to see what he was like, to hear what his issues were and to see how well he stood up against the media questioning.
He did an excellent job, but why not since he has chaired various groups and dealt with the media for years. As an example, he negotiated the agreement “to get around long hospital waiting lists for heart patients by sending patients to a hospital in Detroit.” He even got some of the news people to laugh at his jokes too.
There was no phoniness or staged applause. There was no hoopla, no throngs calling out his name, no signs or confetti being thrown. Just a tall, distinguished semi-retired surgeon who has had enough of what he has experienced here over the last three years and decide to run. He saw what is wrong with Windsor’s body politic and will use his surgeon’s scalpel to cut it away.
He had no backers to whom he owed something and was just putting together his campaign team he said. He was not a one-issue candidate concerned about an arena with a museum attached. He hoped that the support would come since he had some innovative ideas to put his message across, not just the traditional lawn signs approach. He welcomed debating with Eddie and was not afraid to face the Great Communicator.
And he has a wicked sense of humour to boot. When commenting on Rails for Trails, he wondered why that meeting had to be held tonight as a Special Council meeting rather than the one for the arena that is obviously more important. Then he figured it out---he said we needed better trails for all of the people moving out of Windsor to find a job in Alberta!
His first three priorities were jobs, jobs, jobs. He did not understand, respecting the border why the Mayor had refused to talk with both DRTP and the Ambassador Bridge Co. He already met with them both! He pointed out that the Bridge Co.’s proposal would inject a billion dollars into the region that would produce many new jobs.
I’ll let the media present comments on the specifics of what he said. But he knew the issues. What interested me is that the E-machine has a problem. The good doctor is NOT afraid to say that the Mayor is wearing no clothes and has not done so for 3 years. Instead of a coronation, we are going to have a tough fight and Windsorites will finally hear what we have not heard in 3 years: Windsor has major problems.
Let me give an example of what some politicos might consider “courage” in Windsor. Dr. Wonham dealt with the Windsor Star right upfront in a very fair and quiet manner. Frankly, to me it showed that he was not a man who was afraid of dealing straight on with an issue that has been an undercurrent for months with many people proposing to run for office. I believe it was the second point of his initial remarks. He pointed out what BLOG readers know that Eddie’s Chief of Staff, Norma Coleman, is married to John Coleman, Editorial Page Editor of the Star. He said that he knew John and that John was a man of integrity and that he knew he would get fair coverage in the Star. That was it, no fuss or muss, issue solved.
Probably the way Wonham would solve many of our many outstanding issues. Perhaps being grey-haired has a virtue or two.
Will Wonham win? To be direct, even he must know that his chances of being successful against Eddie are low. His chances of getting a significant number of votes, enough to win, depend obviously whether he can get his message out and whether people will believe that Eddie has done nothing for three years. Or as he put it: “Empty Words, Broken Promises.”
But what Wonham’s running will do is create a race. It will actually discuss issues. It should help galvanize what has become a non-event so far: the municipal election. It should boost the chances of the newcomers for Council against the incumbents. It has been so quiet so far, as if the incumbents made a pact not to stir up the populace so they would all win again.
Now that won’t happen. The incumbents will have to confront the electorate and try and explain away three years of failure on the border, the arena, City finances and so on and so on and so on.
Whether Dr. Wonham becomes Mayor or not is irrelevant frankly. He has already won. He will get Windsorites thinking about their City and what must be done. For that alone, he will get my vote!
1 comment:
A reader writes:
Bravo Dr! Someone who is not afraid to stand up to Eddie.
For that alone he gets my vote too.
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