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The underdogs: Levy


Here are four of the many hopefuls trying to do the near-impossible, beat an incumbent

By SUE-ANN LEVY, Toronto Sun

Last Updated: October 13, 2010 10:08pm

 She’s the candidate who decided to take up seven-year incumbent councillor Paula Fletcher’s invitation to “c’mon down baby” and run against her.

Celebrity TV reporter Liz West may not have been in council the March night Fletcher lost her cool and lashed out at Torontonian John Smith over the city’s operating budget.

Nevertheless, the married mother of two and first-time candidate decided to throw her hat into the race in mid-August after a couple of residents — desiring change at City Hall and knowing her passion for the community — approached her to consider it.

West, John Campbell in Ward 4, Robert Walker in Ward 31 and Shimmy Posen in Ward 21 are four brave souls who decided to take their chances against long-standing incumbents in the Oct. 25 election race.

Whether the four win or lose, they are some of the many unsung heroes who should be commended for doing their part for democracy despite nearly impossible odds.

West said she knew full well it would be tough to go up against an incumbent who can not only take advantage of name recognition and a $50,000 office budget — but in Fletcher’s case has the full muscle of the labour unions behind her.

Fletcher, the former head of the Manitoba Communist Party, is married to John Cartwright, the president of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council.

“Good or bad, I don’t consider how difficult things are going to be ... I just set my sights on what I want and put my head down and go for it,” said West.

She calls herself fiscally responsible and supports getting rid of the personal vehicle tax. West also feels it is important to “respect” her constituents and engage in two-way dialogue — not to dictate decisions that impact on them.

Asked whether she was surprised with a recent poll from the Rob Ford camp that showed her at 32% of voter support, just eight points behind Fletcher at 40%, she said, “No.”
“There is a real desire for change in the ward,” she said.

Twenty-six-year-old recently married Shimmy Posen agrees name recognition is the “biggest battle” in his bid to win against 18-year council veteran Joe Mihevc, who recently endorsed George Smitherman (no doubt in a bid to secure the chairmanship of his coveted TTC).

Posen, an entrepreneur and first-time candidate like West, also knows Mihevc has the “clear support” of the unions, which help him out on a constant basis.

He said he jumped into the race because he wants to make sure any transit line on Eglinton — whether LRV or subway — is not a repeat of the St. Clair boondoggle, a project his opponent championed.

He said he feels it is clearly a “change election” — that City Hall is broken and he’s trying to help get it back on track.

“Joe is part of what’s broken ... he needs to retire because we need to bring fresh ideas to City Hall,” he said.
Posen, who placed within six percentage points of Mihevc in recent polling from the Rob Ford camp, said it’s voter apathy not his opponent that he’s really fighting in the countdown to election day.
Sales agent John Campbell says he’s battling a 25-year “institution” in Ward 4 ­— Gloria Lindsay Luby, a political chameleon who cozied up to Mayor David Miller in order to get herself a key position in his inner circle.

Campbell, who was known for his fiscal conservatism when he served as chairman of the Toronto school board in 2008 and 2009, says it’s a “tall order” to go up against a 25-year incumbent who has a ready team of people to post her signs and a hefty office budget to issue newsletters extolling her virtues as a councillor.

“I don’t think that she has shown leadership at City Hall ... you don’t show leadership if you’re willing to just say something because you think the majority wants to hear it,” he said.

First-timer Robert Walker, a technological project manager for a law office, has been working like heck since May — following hip replacement surgery — to try to get rid of seven-year councillor Janet Davis, the best friend of the CUPE unions and tenant activist groups.

I’ve been particularly impressed with his dedication and his use of social media to spread his message against Davis’ repeated flurry of taxpayer-funded newsletters and newspaper ads.

He knew it was a tremendous uphill battle but felt he needed to do it to fight the “attitude of arrogance” at City Hall.

“I hate the idea that I’m sending a lot of money to City Hall and when I phone up I get treated like an idiot,” said the 48-year-old divorced father of two.

“I thought, ‘put up or shut up,’ so I put up.”
He added he’s having a ball.

“If I don’t get elected I’m definitely going to run again,” he said.