Better Niagara offers tips on running for office
Many Niagara residents are ready for change.
And many of them are ready to step up to make that change happen, said Sean Polden, president of a grassroots organization called A Better Niagara.
More than 145 people from throughout the region registered for a series of three workshops held in St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, and in Welland during the past two weeks.
“People are looking to make change in their communities and want to understand the path as to how they can do that,” Polden said, following the last of the workshops in Welland, Saturday.
“I think people are looking around and seeing the mismanagement, seeing the waste in government, seeing – as St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik called it – bun fights amongst councillors. “know that we deserve better,” he added.
While Polden and A Better Niagara member Gary King provided tips and information on running a campaign, the political hopefuls also heard from several veteran politicians at the meetings – including former regional chair Debbie Zimmerman, former regional Coun. Eleanor Lancaster, Niagara Falls couns. Carolynn Ioannoni and Kim Craitor, Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn and Port Colborne Ward 2 Coun. Angie Desmarais.
“We’ve had a number of great speakers that have come forward and provided their perspectives,” Polden said. “The feedback that we’ve received from people who attended was all very positive.”
Ioannoni said so many people showed up for the Niagara Falls meeting that additional chairs had to be set up to accommodate the audience.
“It was good to see the turnout,” she said in an interview. “It’s really good to see, especially with the climate in Niagara this past term, that people are interested in running as opposed to being turned off with all the reality TV-type politics that we’ve seen in this last term.”
And Ioannoni is looking forward to Oct. 22 when a new term of council will be elected, because “politics in Niagara cannot get worse.”
“It’s impossible to believe that it could get worse, so thankfully groups like A Better Niagara can only help improve it.”
Zimmerman said she was inspired by Lancaster, who joined her at the St. Catharines workshop.
“(Lancaster) was so practical and down to earth about the fact that it’s still about the people, it’s not about you. I thought that was such wise sage advice from a veteran councillor,” she said. “It’s true it’s not about furthering your own cause, it’s about what you can do to help people. … It isn’t about expense accounts, that’s for sure.”
Zimmerman said she wishes she had access to the information provided to workshop participants by A Better Niagara when she was beginning her political career.
“If you’re interested you can go to the Better Niagara website and pull it up, and take a really good look at what you need to think about before you run,” she said.
In Welland, Desmarais said being a city councillor is much more than a part time job.
Some councillors, however, only “show up for meetings and then leave” without having reviewed the agenda and staff reports that council would be voting on during the meetings, she added.
“I think that’s how we got to where we are today, so hopefully things will change in the future.”
Augustyn gave his audience in Welland tips on how he prepared for his first election campaign, discussing issues like preparing for debates and raising funds to pay for their campaigns and volunteers.
“A key role is the ... financial person. You do trust them with your life,” he said. “I had a retired banker who was helping me.”
With the initial three workshops behind them, Polden said the group is now planning to organize more of them.
“We’re talking about three more of these sessions in smaller municipalities, because they have gone well.”
In addition to sharing the information with people who missed out on the first three, Polden said the upcoming sessions may also be more indepth.
He said the meeting organizers are reviewing information from surveys that were distributed during the meetings “to bring in really experienced campaign organizers to speak to those.”
“When it comes to the nittygritty aspects of the campaign, we want to bring in professionals,” he said.
Dates and locations for upcoming workshops have yet to be determined. Meanwhile, the group is also considering putting information provided at the workshops online so it will be available for people who are interested in getting into politics.
In addition to A Better Niagara’s future meetings, other groups are stepping forward with similar plans.
Among them is a group called Niagara Women in Politics, led by former municipal politician Shirley Cordiner, which hopes to encourage more women to become involved in municipal politics.
Zimmerman, who is also a member of Niagara Women in Politics, said the organization has already held events in municipalities throughout Niagara, and plan additional events in the months to come.