Penticton’s civic election turnout highest of any Valley community

Voter turnout in Saturday’s municipal election was up 22 per cent from last year.

Chief election officer Laurie Darcus said Monday that 10,883 people voted in the 2018 election compared with 8.424 in 2014.

A total of 5,195 voted in advance, including 3,034 on Thursday at the South Main Drop-In Centre.

The majority of votes were cast on Saturday at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre although things were also brisk at the second polling station at the South Main Drop-In Centre.

This was the first time municipal elections in B.C. were held in October instead of the third week of November. One of the factors could be the weather and many snowbirds haven’t left yet for a winter vacation.

The 2014 election was plagued with long lineups at the one and only polling station.

Penticton had the highest voter turnout (percentage wise) of any community in the Okanagan with 41 per cent — up eight per cent from 33 per cent in 2014. John Vassilaki was elected mayor beating six opponents. Elected to council were Jake Kimberley, Campbell Watt, Frank Regehr, Julius Bloomfield, Katie Robinson and Judy Sentes. Shelley Clarke, Tracy Van Raes, Barb Sheppard and James Palanio were all elected to the school board.

Election night in Penticton had its share of surprises. I knew John Vassilaki was going to be elected, but I thought it would be much closer. I didn’t expect Katie Robinson to win. I also thought Max Picton would hold on to his seat, before Judy Sentes. David also knocked off Goliath in a race for the school board. Now, let’s dissect the results. For city council, I called it when I said Jake Kimberley, Campbell Watt and Frank Regehr were locks. They went 1-2-3. Regehr, who wasn’t hugely well known when the writ was dropped, had an amazing campaign team behind him.

The others three spots on council, I felt were up for grabs between six or seven people.

Voters remembered Julius Bloomfield, who was out of the public spotlight for several years. He ran in 2011 for mayor against Dan Ashton and lost by less than 150 votes — clearly a vote split as Robinson was also on the ballot, placing third. Chances are, more people would have voted for Bloomfield than Ashton had Robinson not run for mayor.

Jesse Martin, a young school teacher who works with the Penticton Indian Band, finished seventh, only 190 votes out of sixth place. There’s a lot of people today, I’m sure, who would have voted for Martin had they known he was in the hunt.

There lies the problem. With 24 candidates, it’s hard for new people — younger ones, in particular — to garner a lot of attention. Of the 24, there were easily five who didn’t belong on the ballot because they had no clue of what’s involved with the process.

It will never happen, but it should be mandatory to have 100 nominating signatures. If candidates are serious about running for office, they will go to the extra effort. (It’s now 10 signatures for mayor and council, two for the school board.) I’d even go so far as a $500 deposit for all candidates — non-refundable if you don’t collect three per cent of the vote. It was even worse in Vancouver where 71 candidates ran for city council.

This isn’t hindering democracy, it’s making it a fair process for rookie candidates.

Spots five and six went to Robinson and Sentes. Both are veterans on city council.

Robinson is nearly invisible between elections, but she does have a “tell-it-like-it-is” reputation. At forums, she has a commanding presence. Sentes, who made some politically-incorrect moves only weeks and days before the election, remains popular because she attends events.

Other politicians would do well to follow The Judy Sentes Playbook. I’m the doorman most years at the Soundstage Productions musical. Judy comes every year, Saturday night, second row, with her two friends. She’s often the only one on council who attends. That makes a difference to people. Art shows, the market, cultural events, fundraisers ... she’s there, and some people appreciate that.

But it doesn’t make any sense that if Jakubeit and Picton lost their spots because of the Skaha Park waterslide scandal, why then didn’t Sentes?

Also worth mentioning is Vassilaki and the top four finishers in the city council race, advertised in The Herald. Robinson and Sentes also used print advertising (with another publication.) Herald readers vote. Everyone who thought the outcome of the election would be predicted by the loudmouths on Facebook were gravely mistaken. Those who read newspapers are often educated, in a higher income bracket and they’re engaged in the community. And yes, a lot of our readers are seniors. Which brings us to Picton. Max boasted at a public meeting that he “doesn’t read newspapers,” because they’re negative and he gets his news from alternative sources.

I found the comment arrogant. Obviously, so did the voters. After topping the polls in 2014, he was AWOL for most of the campaign and fell to 11th spot (only three votes ahead of the 12th-place finisher.) He collected 1,917 fewer votes this time in a year where voter turnout was up.

Comparatively, Doug Holmes in Summerland moved from sixth-place to topping the polls, scoring 1,218 more votes and with three other incumbents in the race. Now to Vassilaki. He ran for mayor in 2014 at a time when the public felt we needed younger people on council.

Well, we saw how that worked out. Other media outlets blame Skaha Lake Park as Jakubeit’s demise, but that was only one of the black marks on the present council.

Jason Cox, who finished second in the mayoral race, didn’t help his cause by speaking at the end of a public hearing in eye. I truly hope Justin Trudeau takes the high road here. Canadians need some good press right now, especially in light of our recent sub-par record on environmental issues. Gord McLaren Penticton support of the waterslide proposal. He also gave an interview to Global Okanagan. Had Cox been interested in running for mayor, he should have been a contrarian, or, at least, said nothing.

Vassilaki, for some, was a protest vote. Jakubeit has been on council and served as mayor for the past 10 years. City hall does have some cronyism. With Vassilaki, we’re likely to see some new people on committees, along with some non-bureaucratic ideas. The mood in North America right now is anti-establishment (look to Doug Ford in Ontario) and Vassilaki is seen as the voice of the people. He’s certainly not the establishment.

Not counting a byelection where Garry Litke won over two fringe candidates, you have to go back nearly 20 years to find a more decisive victory than Vassilaki. Jakubeit and Cox can say “vote splitting,” but Vassilaki still won with 48 per cent.

Vassilaki’s victory — combined with an older council (Watt is the youngest at 46) — shows that “Time for Change” has switched to “Older and Wiser.”

It’s too bad. The shorts-and-sandals group elected to council in 2014 blew it for younger guys like Jesse Martin, Isaac Gilbert, Duffy Baker, Christopher Millin and Christopher Evasin.

There were hints over the past few years that Jakubeit and others would be in trouble come election day. It first came during the provincial election when Coun. Tarik Sayeed (who did not seek re-election) collected only 28 per cent of the vote for the NDP. That was a critique of the city council, not necessary Sayeed himself. Then, Jakubeit was booed at the Young Stars tournament at the SOEC — and the hockey crowd helped get him elected.

Jakubeit could have redeemed himself by taking more of a leadership role in the flooding of 2017. Instead, city manager Peter Weeber was the one who appeared heroic. Had I been mayor, every member of council would have joined me at the lake, every night for two hours hauling sandbags or (for those with mobility issues), coordinating volunteers. A natural disaster worked for Naheed Nenshi in Calgary.

Jakubeit was in for an uphill climb anyway. Ashton was the first Penticton mayor since Kimberley in 1993 to win back-to-back and wildlife to name but two, and then to build a structure as big as the hotel along side a free-flowing river, a river that serves all the Riparian creatures and small critters and is a main fish bearing link to the lakes in our part of the Okanagan.

We in Oliver needed a hotel and nobody is disputing that, but the location is a forever mistake that even beats the waterslide debacle that Penticton council was hell bent on building in Skaha Park.

No doubt that over time losing the Oliver park in its original state will cost the community in its intrinsic value. How many towns do you know of where there is (was) a beautiful little tree-lined park that has a fantastic river running along side it. It was a jewel and it’s gone, all thanks to a shortsighted council .

These two councils are proof positive that four years is too long of term considering the damage that can collectively be achieved when decisions are made behind closed doors. Don Smithyman Oliver rural elections. Most mayors in Penticton don’t last for a second term.

I’m not sure what compelled Cox to run for mayor. The chamber of commerce brand isn’t what it used to be in the eyes of the Average Joe. Had it been, Tom Dyas would have had a stronger performance in Kelowna. (He was hammered by incumbent Colin Basran.)

Cox ran for council in 2011 and finished ninth. I’m not sure why he thought he was more popular this time. Was it because he appeared on “Dragon’s Den?” If being on a reality show is a prerequisite for the mayor of Penticton, I’d prefer to have Aidan Mayes. She was on “Canadian Idol” and landed inside the top 30. The moral to the story, as Bloomfield can tell you, run for council first. Over to the school board. Shelley Clarke, after finishing fourth in 2014, topped the polls. It’s not surprising, Although not at the same level of the muchloved Bruce Johnson, Shelley is indeed popular. What’s not to like about her? She’s also a worker. When she volunteers for a community event, she’s hustling and breaking into a sweat and not socializing in the VIP area. (I thought her husband, Daryl, would get Robinson or Sentes’ spot on council.)

Two school board incumbents lost — Julie Planiden in Summerland and Ginny Manning, the rural trustee. It’s too bad, Manning was one of the better ones. But, her decision to vote to close West Bench School came back to haunt her and that swung the pendulum in favour of newcomer Kathy Pierre from the Penticton Indian Band. It was the night’s biggest upset because even with Pierre winning the West Bench, Manning didn’t gain enough from Kaleden and Naramata to put her over the top. Pierre won by 14 votes. I expect she will be a breath of fresh air, as will Tracy Van Raes, Dave Stathers and James Palanio.

The election has come and gone. For me, it’s been 21 days in a row without a day off, but I do find the process fascinating. For candidates, their volunteers and those who do pay attention, it’s like organizing a large wedding. You spend months preparing and then it’s over in a day. You then say to yourself, “that’s it?” and move on for another four years.

Thanks to everyone who exercised democracy and ran for office.

James Miller is valley editor for Okanagan Newspaper Group. Contact; james.miller@uk.bc.ca. is of no consequence to anyone. Ontario’s Kathryn Wynne made such a statement old news years ago. Of substantial more importance is the fact that Mr. Wooldridge is the only new councillor and he made it on the first try. Now that’s news. This newspaper group decries all manner of profiling, be it racial, sexual, or any other type, and yet continues to publish 18th century banner headlines alluding to it. C’mon guys! Can’t you at least make it into the 20th century?

And by the way, a big congratulations to Mr. Wooldridge on his victory. I sincerely hope he can make a difference in his city. Ruth Duff Penticton

EDITOR’S NOTE: Part of Mr. Wooldridge’s platform was inclusiveness. His win is historic in that only a generation ago, this would seem implausible.