Why does Don Koziak keep doing this to himself?
Don Koziak had a bright idea four years ago, as he was entering his eighth political campaign after seven straight losses. “In earlier elections, one of the issues people have complained about has been l awn signs,” he said. “So I did an experiment where I didn’t put up lawn signs.” It didn’t go as planned. Instead of putting up signs, Koziak sent flyers to the voters in his Edmonton ward. But he never got much traction, and the campaign ended, as campaigns have always ended for Koziak, with a loss. “Finished first runner-up,” he, said with a sigh. “Again. But I think that had I done lawn signs I would’ve had a much better shot." Koziak may be Canada’s preeminent expert in losing elections. Over the past 22 years, he’s lost campaigns of all kinds by a wide variety of margins.
He’s been in squeakers and blowouts and one- issue dogfights. He lost a bid for Edmonton city council in 2010 by f ewer than 600 votes. He ran for mayor in 2007 and was outspent by about 30 to one. He’s lost provincial campaigns and a provincial nomination battle.
What he’s never done is win, at any level. “In many respects, it’s soul crushing,” he said. But he just can’t seem to stop. “I’m a glutton for punishment, I guess.”
Barring a miracle, Koziak will lose again next Monday — for the 10th time — to incumbent Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson. Koziak registered for the race in September, on the last day.
“I had to wait until nomination day before my mother would finally sign my papers,” he said, explaining the delay.
“And I told her, if you don’t sign them, I’m not running.” At the last minute, she agreed. Koziak is 53 years old.
It’s important to point out here that Koziak is not your average no- hoper. He doesn’t toss his name on the ballot every four years on a lark. He has been, at various times, considered quite credible. The day after he entered the 2017 campaign, CBC ran a story headlined “Can Don Koziak Make It a Race for the Mayor’s Chair in Edmonton?”
Unfortunately, the answer, as even Koziak will admit, is almost certainly no. He isn’t actively raising money. He didn’t attend a recent mayoral forum. “I realize the unlikelihood of success in this one,” he said.
But that doesn’t mean he’s given up. He still thinks he might win, if not this campaign than some other campaign down the line.
Koziak comes from a political family. His father was a popular cabinet minister in the Alberta government in the 1970s and 1980s.
Koziak himself, who now manages his family’s hotel, first ran for city council in 1995. He came in eighth place. He lost a two- person race for a provincial seat in 1996. In 1998, he ran again for city council and l ost again, finishing third. He ran for council in 2004 ( he came in fourth) and mayor in 2007 ( a very distant second) then council again in 2010 ( second by about 500 votes). He ran provincially for the Wild Rose party in 2012, municipally again in 2013, then again provincially in 2015.
Koziak is remarkably candid about the chief reason he has racked up so many failures. “I’m a terrible campaigner,” he said. He’s uncomfortable on the stoop. His messaging is muddy. He also hasn’t improved much in 22 years. “I haven’t learned anything,” he said. So why does he keep doing this? “I just believe there is some place in politics for people who don’t win.”
Koziak has often used his campaigns to push issues that are close to his heart and, some would argue, to his wallet. In 1998, he campaigned, successfully, to keep video- lottery terminals in Edmonton bars; his family’s hotel had several VLTs. In 2010, he pushed, unsuccessfully, to keep Edmonton’s City Centre Airport, located near the hotel, open. This year, he’s calling — likely quixotically — for the city to repeal a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars. ( He also made headlines at an early mayoral forum when he said, according to the Edmonton Journal, “There will always be homeless people because there will always be people lining up for free homes.”)
Koziak can rattle off stats about his previous campaigns, about money spent and margins of defeat. He knows what he’d need to do to win: raise money. But he just can’t bring himself to do it. “I just have never wanted to play that game,” he said.
Koziak believes he’d make a great politician, if only he could get elected. “I don’t know,” he said. “I really should listen to my mother and wife and stuff, and my sister, and call it a day. But we’ll see what happens.”