The Cold Reality Of Running For Mayor: QUOTABLE

“I’m exploring with a very small team right now about what that candidacy might look like, but nothing is certain until you put your name on a ballot.”

Kitchissippi Councillor Jeff Leiper on pondering a run for mayor

Finally, something on which Leiper and your agent we can agree.

Once there was a former councillor who each election would declare interest in running for mayor. Never did put their name on a ballot.

Running for mayor is easy to talk about but extremely difficult to do. That is, if you’re serious about winning. Importantly, you abandon your council seat and lose it permanently if your run for mayor is unsuccessful. For most members, being a councillor is the best job they will ever have. Who wants to lose that?

Now Leiper has been heard to say he’s not running again in Kitchissippi so the loss of his seat would not matter … if that’s true. That puts him in a better spot to run for mayor than his compatriot Shawn Menard, who would likely be a better mayor than Leiper. Tough to give up that council seat, however.

Former Capital councillor Clive Doucet wasn’t on council last time he ran for mayor so he had nothing to lose except a lot of money on his campaign. Doucet might well have been a good mayor along the lines of Marion Dewar and he most certainly would have put the LRT down Carling Avenue where it would have been much more functional. He would have gone with Siemens as the builder of the line, which with the company’s good experience in the field, would have likely have meant that the train would have worked … an important part of light rail.

That said, Leiper would probably have the support of the NDP people in the city who are very good at raising money one person at a time rather than a number of employees from one company at a time.

The problem for Leiper is that he will split the opposition vote to Mayor Mark Sutcliffe whose period as mayor has been uninspired. Why? Is the rail fixed? Nope.

Ottawa requires a new mayor but with name recognition and lots of private money, Sutcliffe will be hard to beat. The successful candidate could run by letting the public know at every opportunity the mistakes of the current council and mayor. But it will be an uphill fight and if Sutcliffe gets two credible opponents, the mayor wins with the opposition split. He might win anyway.

Name recognition generally triumphs over performance in any municipal election campaign. That’s because nobody knows who the opponent is on the ballot on the few occasions they enter a city polling station.

Odd that the government that has the most sway over residents is the least popular and the issues lack resonance with those few voters.

Anyway, running for mayor is a daunting task … easy to talk about but the cold reality is it is difficult to do.

Leiper could run but he might not like the results.

Ken Gray

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