Making a decision on who to vote for shouldn’t be about who has the most signs, the biggest picture of themselves or the slickest costliest campaign. It’s about who is best suited for the role, it’s not a popularity contest. When you have such a small slate of candidates for mayor, the decision on who gets in sometimes becomes about qualifications.
With this election, when both local candidates (we are excluding David Shebib as a front runner) have both positive and negative perceptions it is imperative that the electorate do their homework.
Past performance and capability of representing Sooke in the broader world could be a deciding factor on who takes the mayor’s chair. The mayor represents Sooke and the residents wherever the mayor goes.
The job of mayor is a big one. The job is to lead. The mayor needs to know they have the rest of council on their side. This next council could be a divided one, if the mayor is not embraced fully by the councillors.
It should also be remembered that the mayor has just one vote, the same as any of the councillors. Loyalty and respect for the mayor is paramount to running a municipality and getting things done. The job does not entail micro-managing the staff at the municipal hall, that is the job of the CAO. Staff needs to be able to do the job assigned to them by council without too much interference from council. The mayor should represent all of the citizens of Sooke, not just their cohorts and supporters. That can be a tough job if expectations are there for the mayor to champion causes perhaps not followed by everyone.
So the decision, of course, is up to the voters and the voters need to put friendships and old loyalties aside and choose the absolute best person for the job. No whining if you don’t vote.