Council mates will do battle
Sat, January 21, 2006
By JONATHAN SHER, FREE PRESS CITY HALL REPORTER
The court battle over London's new 14-ward map is weeks or months away from
resolution, but don't tell the candidates.
Less than three weeks after candidates could register for November's civic
election, 12 have filed to run in eight of the new wards, with multiple
candidates in three of them.
At least one new face is guaranteed because two incumbent councillors, Judy
Bryant and Sandy White, face off in the new downtown ward.
Two newcomers say the main reason they're running is the smaller wards.
"With the old wards, the cost of campaigning was too expensive to enter for a
first-timer. Incumbents had an advantage," said Chester Chwiecko, a retired
supervisor of London-area construction projects running in the new Ward 9, which
includes Byron and Lambeth.
"The ward change -- that was the decision-maker for me," said David Empey, the
union representative for 1,200 administrative and clerical workers at the
University of Western Ontario.
"It's difficult to look after a ward that's one-seventh of the city. The new
wards make the campaign much more manageable as well," said Empey, who is
running in Ward 4, which includes Huron Heights, where he grew up, and his
current neighbourhood, the Old East Village.
Empey has two rivals, Stephen Orser, a three-time veteran of council races, and
newcomer J. Daniel O'Neail.
But the first ward with multiple candidates was Ward 6, which stretches from Old
North, through UWO and across to Cherryhill. Facing off are two people who ran
strong but losing campaigns in 2003, Nancy Branscombe and Stephen Turner.
Branscombe served a term as a councillor in Peterborough before moving to London
in 2000. She married Londoner Ken Kalopsis, no stranger to politics himself.
Kalopsis was national chairperson of the old Reform party and co-president of
its short-lived successor, the Canadian Alliance.
Branscombe faces someone from the opposite side of the political aisle. Turner
is a lifelong Londoner who played a large role in Imagine London, the citizens'
group that pushed the new ward map.
Both serious campaigners, Branscombe has been going door-to-door in Old North,
where Kalopsis grew up, while Turner is preparing a detailed platform and
organizing fundraising.
For now, Branscombe is stressing consensus-building and is seeking input from
residents before staking out specific positions.
"I find (consensus-building) on council a bit lacking," she said.
Turner wants to shift taxes away from homeowners, who are now subsidizing
business.
"If you build a strong London people want to live in, that will bring companies
here, instead of the other way around," said Turner, an advanced care paramedic
with Thames EMS who sits on advisory committees to the city on the environment
and the Dearness Home.
The early competition adds energy to the campaign, Branscombe said.
"It makes you work that much harder."
WHO'S RUNNING WHERE
(Current council members marked 'i')
- Mayor: Anne Marie DeCicco (i)
- Board of control: Gord Hume (i), Russ Monteith (i), Miyln Hall
- Ward 2: Bill Armstrong (i)
- Ward 4: David Empey, J. Daniel O'Neail, Stephen Orser
- Ward 6: Nancy Branscombe, Stephen Turner
- Ward 8: Josh Morgan
- Ward 9: Chester Chwiecko
- Ward 11: Denise Brown
- Ward 12: Jesse Haidar
- Ward 13: Judy Bryant (i), Sandy White (i)