Memorandum
To: Bob Barnett
From: Max
RE: Returning to cute dog and cat stories
Hey Boss. Boy were you ever right. I mean, when you’re right, you’re right. Guess that’s why you’re the Voice of Reason.
Wise beyond your age, that’s you. All those years ago, all those elections ago when I beat you up – verbally – for even wondering whether it was a good idea to endorse candidates for local office, when I said it was the duty and obligation of a paper with as much moxie as Pique to speak out… if you’da been as aggressive as you are smart you’da smacked me upside the head with a baseball bat.
Even though you didn’t, my head feels like you did.
I think this election’s got me beat, at least as far as council candidates are concerned. This field embraces everything from the lunatic fringe to thoughtful, experienced candidates. We’ve got brash youth, semi-retired longtimers, social activists, relative unknowns, and enough eager beavers to dam every creek in the valley.
What’s a crank columnist to do?
Maybe I’ll take this week off, let you slip in a rerun. Think anyone will notice? Me either.
I don’t even know where to start.
Of the field, there are really only two people I think are must-haves regardless of who becomes mayor. Nancy’s a keeper. Not just because she’s my hero but because she’s smart, a tireless worker, has a well-defined sense of community and is beholden to nobody. If Ted wins, Nancy can’t be intimidated. If Ken wins, she’ll help keep things moving along and maybe sing harmony. If Kristi pulls a rabbit out of her hat, we’ll be closer to a world where women run things and that can’t be all bad, better if Nancy were mayor but wishes ain’t ponies, so to speak.
Tim’s the only other guy I have no doubts about. What was the number one challenge facing the last council and the number one challenge facing the next council. IT’S THE HOUSING, STUPID! Sorry, Bob; I don’t mean you’re stupid, it’s just a saying.
No one understands this challenge better than Tim. No one’s lived it and been frustrated by the political inertia that’s kept housing from becoming a reality more than Tim. No one’s quit a well-paying job to apply for a crappy-paying job just because he thought it was the only way to finally get things moving on the housing front except Tim. Having said that, you know I consider Tim a friend. I don’t know how much that colours my judgment but if it does, it’s only one of a whole rainbow of colours and like you always say, "You call that judgment?"
After those two, I’m swimming in rapids. I don’t know what to think about the two incumbents. Their experience in the job may be more baggage than buoyancy. On the one hand, I feel the same frustration with the whole of the last council everyone else in town seems to feel – if their political futures are swirlin’ the bowl it’s only because they pulled the handle themselves; let ’em flush.
On the other hand, Marianne and Gord sat on a dysfunctional council. True, they were part of the dysfunction but they were also both agitators for reform. They tried to find ways around the Black Hole of Inaction that was the Hugh and Jim Show and were fundamental in clearing the decks for a new administrator. I don’t think you need to look much further than Hugh’s endorsements to understand the two of them were right at the top of the Enemies of Hugh list. I’m inclined to give them another chance but I don’t feel so strongly about it to really care if the new council is made up entirely of new faces.
And that, my erudite editor, is where the whole exercise breaks down into a Rubik’s Cube world of endless combinations and permutations.
Taking the Hegelian approach, is there anybody I feel confident eliminating? Sorry, Shane. Wait a minute. Why am I apologizing? Shane’s impugned the motives, integrity and intelligence of everyone running, everyone commenting and everyone who’s ever served this community in any way. I’m glad guys like Shane are around. They keep democracies healthy in the same way Klansmen keep the civil rights movement healthy – by showing the ugly face of excess. Shane, get help.
Ken, McCaul, Doug, Steven and Jamie are the kind of guys who make this town a lot of fun to live in. They’re who we used to be and we’re who they’re becoming… and if that isn’t enough to scare the living daylights out of them, I hope they’ll channel their enthusiasm into raising their profiles during the next three years and running again. Frankly, I’d be delighted if any, preferably not all, of them won a seat this time around. They’d shine a ray of hope on the generation that put the pathetic in apathetic and any of them would help keep the next municipal council from becoming moribund.
Michael and Inge – no, I’m not trying to lump them into the Realtor ticket – have put in their time, honed their chops, understand the community reasonably well and done their good deeds. They’re not exciting but we need hard workers more than we need excitement.
Chris and Ralph are doing reruns. Both are indomitable spirits. Chris would represent the small business community – life and soul of Whistler – well and with luck, would occasionally show up to council meetings in drag before a Short Skirt performance. Ralph embodies exuberance though he may tilt that scale sometimes. He’s living the trying-to-raise-a-young-family-in-Whistler dream/nightmare and brings a bulldog sense of commitment to the table.
Bob’s a dedicated, hard-workin’ guy whose most endearing quality is the willingness to listen and think and whose neatest trick is a willingness to change his mind based on what he’s learned. I didn’t think politicians did that though it’d be nicer if more of them did.
Eckhard’s either going to be a breath of fresh, dare I say green, air or a real pain. But he’s an environmentalist with a sound business understanding and he’s the only guy who’s been both steadfast and correct on the subject of where the sludge hockey arena should be built – Squamish.
And Sonya is the heart and soul of Whistler. If more hardnosed decisions were run through the Sonya Filter, better decisions would be made. When she said we wouldn’t have the problems we have with developers weaseling out of building affordable housing or community amenities if we made them build those first, it was a ‘duh’ moment. She’s right, of course.
That’s the best I can do, Boss. It’s like ordering off a good menu; I’m so confused I’ll just wait until the waiter puts me on the spot.
