Sutcliffe’s Electoral Future’s Grim: THE VOTER

It’s getting late to save Mayor Mark Sutcliffe in time for the next election.

We know that Sutcliffe is the “face” of a group that pulled him out relative obscurity to become their candidate for mayor. We don’t know to what extent he is beholden to this group of handlers but I think we can be confident they are not there just for the good of their health or solely based on their intense admiration for the mayor as a person. They will be expecting some results from Sutcliffe’s time in the mayor’s chair.

Should Sutcliffe’s lacklustre performance not please them, his time will be up in late 2025. That’s the point at which they will make the decision as to whether they will continue to support him or not. If they decide he is no longer their flavour of the week, they need time to find their new golden boy or golden girl in order to have that person ready to go by early 2026.

Sutcliffe will then announce that he “wants to spend more time with his family” and that he will not be contesting the next mayoralty race. Then, in January of 2027, after he’s had a short break, he will pop up at some corporation.

We know that he’s delivered on several files, but will that be enough? If he’s leading the city to financial rack-and-ruin, that will affect his backers as well as we common people. They won’t be pleased by that because of the effect it will have on both their business and their personal interests. If the City is broke, it won’t be able to continue the spending that fuels their commercial concerns. They will also feel the effects of the reduced services and higher property taxes that will result from the city’s fiscal woes.

They will be looking for a 2026 mayoral candidate who can do two things. First, of course, will be supporting their interests. Equally important, however, is that the person must be able to win the election. If they can’t do that, they can’t do the first part. They will be looking very carefully at whether or not Sutcliffe still has enough support across the city to win that election. If not, he’s done like dinner.

He has perhaps 15 months, no more, to change from underperforming to taking charge and making a difference at the city. The bye he’s gotten so far just for not being ex-mayor Jim Watson is wearing out. He’s been there long enough to make his own mark and hasn’t even delivered on one of his biggest election promises, fix the LRT.

Listen carefully, Your Worship – that faint ticking you hear is going to get louder and louder. It’s the sound of your time running out.

The Voter is a respected community activist and long-time Bulldog commenter who prefers to keep her identity private.

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