Second Flamborough councillor endorses Vito Sgro for mayor

A third incumbent Hamilton city councillor — and the second from Flamborough — has endorsed mayoral challenger Vito Sgro.

Ward 15 Coun. Judi Partridge announced her endorsement in a release Wednesday. “Vito Sgro understands Flamborough’s concerns and shares our priorities,” Partridge said in her thumbs-up release, adding she feels Waterdown issues have been “ignored for too long.”

Sgro called the recent Liberal provincial candidate a “strong and passionate voice” for her community and vowed to protect suburban area-rated taxes and finish the Waterdown bypass.

Outgoing Ward 14 Flamborough Coun. Rob Pasuta and west Mountain incumbent Terry Whitehead have also endorsed Sgro, the LRT-opposing mayoral candidate.

Incumbent Fred Eisenberger declined to comment on the endorsement, but his campaign noted he has “support all over the city.”

That includes his own endorsement list of suburban and rural supporters, including former Flamborough mayor and Liberal MPP Ted McMeekin, former Ancaster mayor Bob Wade, former Flamborough mayor Don Granger and former Hamilton mayor and Stoney Creek councillor Larry Di Ianni.

Partridge, Pasuta and Whitehead all oppose the lower city LRT and loudly criticized Eisenberger for not voting to appeal tribunal-imposed ward boundary changes that eliminated the city’s only fully rural ward — a deeply unpopular move with many residents in Flamborough.

All of those incumbent council members had the chance to vote for a 16-ward boundary configuration that would have preserved rural Ward 14.

But they voted instead to unsuccessfully pursue a tweaked status quo — which was quashed by the Ontario Municipal Board.