Politics, Politics, Politics

Who the heck advises these people? Mistake after mistake. They need strategists to help them avoid putting their feet in their mouths. Don't they want to be elected?

The Eminence Greasie cannot do it all by advising everyone. Eddie himself takes up so much time!

DWIGHT DUNCAN

What the dickens is wrong with him? Is he thinking of running for the Conservatives federally now instead of the Liberals? Has Dalton decided to be nice to Stephen Harper because he thinks IGGY cannot do it?

Why would Dwight Duncan mouth off about the DRIC bridge, something of which the Provincial Government has NO jurisdictional authority and something about which the Feds told the Province earlier to buzz off?

If Dwight wanted to say something, he should have acted as a good Liberal. He supported IGGY didn't he. He should have attacked Harper for failing on the border as evidenced by the fact that he was snubbed by President Obama. He should have condemned Harper for failing as well in not being able to get the President to end protectionism against Provincial companies who are desperate for business.

If he really had big kahoonas, he should have demanded as our local MPP that the Feds and Province build the DRIC road to the Ambassador Bridge to prevent 20 years of litigation and tell the Feds to work on a resolution with the Bridge Company already! We need the jobs now.

As I Blogged before, he is an HONOURABLE man!

Poor Dwight, he looks like nothing more now than a tool for the Conservatives. What a glorious political opportunity lost. Nelson needs to remember this huge faux pas when Dwight comes a-knocking.

NELSON SANTOS

Speaking of Nelson, can I believe anything he says now?

I met him for coffee a few months ago and we had a very delightful conversation. I thought he would make a very credible candidate for a senior position. I thought at the time that he might be thinking of running for the Liberals provincially.

Now I am not so sure. It's sometimes the small things that count with me.

You remember what he promised me a week before his coronation (as someone in the County called it) errrr nomination:

• "I will have an i[n]vitation sent to you shortly re: nomination meeting--putting final touches on it this morning!"

A promise not kept.

Nothing came so I cannot BLOG about what happened, who was there and who was not there, who said what etc. I had to learn instead from the Echo who was scheduled to be there. I was not going to crash the party so to speak.

A small and unimportant matter really. Oh well, so much for ever expecting him to get answers to some big and important questions posed about the WEDC.

JEFF WATSON

I would never vote for him for a variety of reasons. Nelson should have been able to beat him hands down. Instead, in the first days of the next campaign, Nelson gives him election issues such as a broken promise and lack of answers to the WEDC concerns and the big issue:

• "Watson wants Santos to run as private citizen
  
  Called to step down as mayor, warden
  
  Essex MP Jeff Watson called for Liberal candidate Nelson Santos to immediately step down as Kingsville mayor, warden of Essex County and as editor of the Kingsville Reporter newspaper.
  
  Watson said Santos' new boss is Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and it is not in the town's best interest to have an election called and bring grant applications to a halt."

Not a word of response in the article by Nelson either. Does he think it is going to go away? The stupidity of it all: Nelson made it an issue in the first place in an earlier article hoping it would diffuse the situation I guess:

• "If an election is called, Santos said he will continue to serve as warden and Kingsville’s mayor as he campaigns, something former Kingsville mayor and county warden Pat O’Neil did when he ran provincially in 1999 and 2003. Santos said he could reduce his work as a real estate agent and as editor of the Kingsville Reporter. The next municipal election is in 2010."

It did not and instead, Nelson is on the defensive already.

MORE ON JEFF

I am sure that he is enjoying the heady days of getting Windsor Star support. Heck, Eddie did not even send Nelson a nice letter of support as he did for Sandra's nomination.

Jeff can sit back now and enjoy the summer. Who needs to campaign when a Star columnist can say such nice things about you:

• "Watson's credibility growing"

But Jeff should understand that this support can turn instantaneously if Eddie decides not to run for the Conservatives federally or the Feds stop sending Eddie goodies. After all, Jeff has his support as Anne Jarvis mentioned because:

• "Once dismissed as a hapless pipsqueak, lately he has delivered the goods...
  
  It all changed a few days before the election was called last year, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper flew to Windsor and, with Watson at his side, finally announced $80 million for the plant.
  
  The tap has been flowing ever since, with Watson announcing millions of dollars for this area, including Windsor, which isn't even his riding.
  
  With every announcement, his stock has risen:
  
  - $34 million to buy 94 acres in Brighton Beach for the new bridge
  
  - $45 million for infrastructure projects in Windsor..."
  
  Watson even met with Windsor's city council to make sure its applications for government grants met the criteria. The Conservatives, it appears, have become unlikely champions for a region that was a Conservative wasteland for decades."

See how taxpayer money can be used to ensure re-election.

Who said near-Depressions are bad!

FULVIO VALENTINIS

He has been hit with the don't look back pandemic as well.

• "Late ward tweak draws fire
  Valentinis accused of cherry picking
  
  Ward 3 Coun. Fulvio Valentinis "played politics" and resorted to "cherry picking" when he introduced last-minute boundary changes to a consultant's latest proposal for a new 10-ward electoral system for Windsor, says Ward 1 Coun. Drew Dilkens...
  
  Dilkens, who vows to appeal the new ward map to the Ontario Municipal Board once council approves the required bylaw later this month, accuses Valentinis of orchestrating the changes to improve his chances running in a new ward in next year's civic election...
  
  Valentinis denies he was playing politics, arguing his proposed changes followed boundary lines in one of the earlier suggestions by consultant Robert Williams. He said the latest plan introduced Monday by the consultant "makes no sense" because the proposed Ward 2 offered "no room for growth."

I think the "political" word that should have been used is not "cherry-picking" but rather "gerrymandering" which is defined as

• "a form of boundary delimitation (redistricting) in which electoral district or constituency boundaries are deliberately modified for electoral advantage."

Did Councillor Valentinis take offence? Not at all.

• "The community wants to move forward," said Valentinis."

EDDIE FRANCIS

How to be a lame-duck Mayor and not be a lame-duck Mayor. Don't let anyone know what you are going to do. Keep them guessing. After all, who would want to run against the E-Machine in a last second campaign.

Except by raising the issue when there was no need to do so, Eddie just told everyone he is running provided the Conservative nomination does not work out.

Listen to this as Eddie tells us that he has too many things to do---his election issues mind you---and wishes that opponents would not set up their campaign teams to try to oust him:

Stop with the rumours already. It's a disservice and selfish for Councillors to think about running against our Mayor when there is soooo much to be done to meet his re-election platform needs.

Why should they do what he did when he ran for Mayor! Heck, even if he runs for higher office, his former bestest buddy, Nelson, gave him the excuse why he should NOT resign as Mayor either.