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By G.D. Maxwell
Well, it’s crunch time in the campaign for Whistler’s next mayor.
Before plunging into the murky depths, I’d like to thank all seven candidates for running. Being mayor the next three years isn’t going to be a cakewalk. The only certainties that come with the job this time around are bad pay, a sizable proportion of the local population that’ll be pissed off at you no matter which side of a tough decision you come down on and the very real possibility of getting flattened – repeatedly – by the Olympic™ steamroller.
But someone’s going to win and six people are going to lose. I’m pretty certain three of them are the guys with no previous political experience. While it doesn’t outwardly resemble the military, it seems most of the voters around here view local politics as a coming-up-through-the-ranks kind of experience. Maybe some day they’ll realize the best ideas often come from outside the tightly wound confines of council. Regardless, you guys are the future. Do good deeds and volunteer for everything you have time for during the next three years and then take another kick at the can.
Popular wisdom seems to have the remaining four clustered in two distinct groupings: the two dukin’ it out for gold and the two goin’ for bronze. Who am I to counter popular wisdom? There are those who have asked me who I am to offer up an opinion at all. The answer is one guy; I’m one guy in a town of many. I get paid to fill a page of Pique every week, to entertain, to provoke, to enlighten, to mystify. I can’t imagine a columnist with a heartbeat and even a passing interest in politics not offering up an opinion and still being able to say he or she is doing the job.
So yeah, I believe Nick and Kristi are running back in the pack. Their chances seem slim but dark horses have charged up the middle ground before and there’s lots of middle ground in this race. If they don’t have the wind to make that final push, I’m sure they’ll both be around and neither will shrink from weighing in, as civilians, on the tough choices ahead.
But in the insular world of people I bump into, speak with and the couple of hundred folks who’ve taken the time to come out to one of the all-candidates events, this race is between Ted and Ken.
In an ideal world, I’d support Ked. Not the runs faster, jumps higher Ked; those are US Keds. I’d support the Ked who had Ted’s single-mindedness to get things done and Ken’s understanding of how they should be done correctly.
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