Could Dwight And Sandra Lose

Has the energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulb gone on yet in the mind of Dwight Duncan's campaign manager? Have Sandra's people figured out yet that Dwight has put her at risk?

Can his campaign team be that stupid or that arrogant? Does Dwight think he is invincible and that he can never lose an election? Has he just made the Windsor Utilities Commission matter an election issue in the provincial campaign in his riding and perhaps also in the riding of his colleague, Sandra. Has he potentially cost both of them the election?

His absurd comment on CKLW smearing Chris Schnurr is ridiculous and has just made him Public Enemy #2 in the minds of many, right behind Junior!

• "News reader: Duncan meantime is backing an audit of the Windsor Utilities Commission by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. That despite a call by a local group for a full-scale inquiry by the Auditor General. Chris Schnurr and his Association of Concerned Taxpayers made the request on Monday, but Duncan questions his motives..
  
  Duncan: “Unlike Mr. Schnurr and his Conservative friends, we don’t believe the provincial government should just go in for the purposes of beating up municipalities."

It is a very telling comment to me that Dwight is standing up for the municipal government and not the municipal taxpayers. Don't worry we'll find out the reason for it right after the election.

If the Opposition parties and the media pick up on this issue, it could be a brutal few weeks for Sandra and Dwight. We know that Sandra and Dwight have spoken to the Minister of Municipal Affairs but we do NOT know what they talked about do we? What are they hiding? Are they protecting someone?

I guess that Dwight believes that using Ontario government money during the weeks leading up to the election by distributing lightbulbs will do him a lot of good as people struggle to pay their water and sewer charges. Didn't you know that switching to one energy efficient bulb could save a user $50 over 5 years? We'll need all of those savings as we stay up late at night trying to figure out the Enwin and WUC bills. And just wait until smart metering comes in. Will be saving money all the way to the poor house!

Beating up on municipalities! Has Dwight lost it? Can he be serious?

One would have thought that Dwight, at an election time, would embrace any pro-democratic movement in the City of Windsor given the harsh indictment by the Windsor taxpayers of the Mayor and Council. Instead he follows the lead of Junior and attacks the leader of W.ACT, Chris Schurr, who wants nothing else other than a full financial, business and operational audit of the Commission.

This reminds me of what the City/WUC tried to do: meeting with the public, white board presentation, exculpatory statements. Until it all blew up in their faces. The smear tactic could blow up in Duncan's face very quickly just as it did with Bill Marra during the first election campaign against Eddie Francis when his negative radio ad annoyed people.

Dwight and Sandra's campaign managers better understand that this is a small town. Things happen very quickly here such as the public reaction when city Council flip-flopped on DRTP North, when the public thought that Project Ice Track was moving to Tecumseh and the WUC matter.

They better remember that Eddie had almost 78% of the votes when he was elected Mayor in November. In less than a year, the public has expressed their negative view of his Administration by their demand for an outside Auditor General value for money investigation. In the Angus Reid poll, although it is unscientific, Eddie's approval rating is under 40%!

Will Sandra and Dwight lose? Not likely. However, if there is a swing away from the Liberals and if the issue is credibility and ethics, unless Dwight and Sandra put this issue to bed immediately by supporting the people of Windsor, the election could well be anyone's race. Perhaps the no-names have a chance after all notwithstanding Gord Henderson's column.

If the light bulb works, Dwight had better run not walk and apologize to Schnurr!

One final thought Windsorites had better pray that the Liberals win the election. With Eddie's close connections to the Liberal Party, after all he supported Sandra didn't he at her nomination meeting, if John Tory wins we are in serious trouble in Windsor.

I am sure that you are certain that Eddie is very smart politically and that he has made a calculated assessment and is positive that Dalton will win. Yup, he was also positive that Kwame would lose too.

PS. As I predicted, the Opposition is starting to pick up on this story. Check out the website of Lisa Lumley the Progressive Conservative candidate in Sandra Pupatello's riding of Windsor West. Check out the press release that was issued by her campaign team. http://www.lisalumley.ca/press/Sept_19_07.html

I liked this line in the press release that I thought was clever:

• "I want answers for Windsorites from the Auditor General and Sandra Pupatello is comfortable with an 86% tax hike."