Ex-columnist to run for Ward 3 seat in Essex
After four decades of covering politicians and lambasting their policies and pratfalls, former Windsor Star reporter and columnist Chris Vander Doelen is running for office. “After 40 years of talking the talk, it’s time to show that I have something to offer myself,” said Vander Doelen, who filed the paperwork Friday to run as a councillor for Ward 3 in Essex. “People approached me and asked me to run — they’ve been asking me for 15 years, for all three levels of government. But this is the one I know best. This is my neighbourhood. I’ve lived there for 19 years.”
Vander Doelen retired from The Windsor Star more than a year ago and has been spending his time gardening, golfing, woodworking and tinkering with automobiles. He’s taken on the brunt of the household cooking and is also an avid tree collector, with more than 45 species on his property.
“I got my year off and now I need to do something and this is my skill set,” said Vander Doelen, who spent decades covering governments of all levels and political stripes.
Essex Council is renowned for a simmering dispute between the mayor and a councillor, but Vander Doelen expects the fractiousness to subside because the mayor isn’t seeking re-election.
While he spit nails and took no prisoners as a columnist, Vander Doelen believes politics requires a more measured approach. Vander Doelen is married to Veronique Mandal, a former Windsor Star reporter who now runs the journalism and public relations program at St. Clair College. He hasn’t started campaigning but plans to knock on all 2,300 doors in the ward. Two candidates will be elected in Ward 3 and so far only Vander Doelen and Paul Innes have registered in that ward. Larry Snively won the ward in 2014 with 1,148 votes and Bill Caixeiro also earned a spot with 976 votes. Ron Rogers replaced Caixeiro when he won a byelection in October. Sherry Bondy is running in Ward 4; Kim Verbeek is running in Ward 2 and Tom Holland is running in Ward 1.
Snively is running for mayor.