Jim Chapman's Quotes and Philosophies

I was going through some opinion columns on 'Jim Chapman's Voice of London' website (wwww.thevoiceoflondon.ca) recently. This is something I do as a free public service. Here at the Sonny Drysdale Media Empire, in order to keep the electorate informed for the next municipal election, I (Sonny,) do the homework that you don't have time to do yourself. And then I tell you who - and more importantly, who NOT - to vote for this fall.

Anyway, I was digging through a piece by Jim titled 'Public $ervice' in his Publisher's Perogitive section and dated March 25th. I was trying to figure out if Jim was actually serious in his suggestion that all city politicians serve their term for no pay - or, as he claimed the next week that he was just joking. Apparently all you have to do these days when you say something incredibly stupid is to just toss it off as a joke.

He was talking about the proposal that had just been voted on at Board of Control that the wage cutback of five per-cent which council members had willingly taken a year ago as a goodwill gesture to a community hit by the recession, be rescinded and returned to its former pay. They weren't talking about a raise, just restoring their pay to its previous level.

And this is what Jim had to say about their vote - "Board of Control voted on Wednesday in favour of rescinding the cut, with only Bud Polhill protesting (the only real working stiff in the bunch by the way, what does that tell you?)"

Well, it tells me that Bud must have an inferiority complex. Geez man, unless a person is a total screw-up/waste of space, EVERYONE deserves a bump up in pay once is a while. And if not truly deserved, if only for reasons of keeping up with the cost of living. ... All of this is surprising to hear about from The Voice, because I always thought Jim was Bud's friend.

It also tells me that Jim apparently doesn't have a high regard for working class 'stiffs.'

For any out-of-staters reading this, I should point out that City Council's 'Board of Control,' consists of four city-wide elected members. Bud Polhill is a mechanic who runs his own auto shop. He got to where he is today by working with his hands and not being afraid to get them dirty. Good for him, I say.

The other three members of Board wear different-coloured collars than Bud. Gina Barber is a former college perfessor and high-level NDPer. Tom Gosnell is a consultant with strong ties to the development community. Gord Hume has a background as an executive with strong ties to the local business scene. All three have gotten where they are by using their brains.

Jim Chapman, it should be noted, also works as a consultant for the development and business communities and runs his own PR firm. He is also a local radio morning-show host. Silver-tongued Jim has always gotten where he is by using his mouth.

That's why I was surprised to read Jim's back-handed "working stiff - what's that tell you?" compliment about Bud. Because most of Jim's army of listeners are people who make Bud seem like a genius.

Think about it. This is an election year. It doesn't look good when politicians give themselves what the public incorrectly considers to be a raise. The optics aren't good. But two of his fellow controllers voted to do it even though they aren't running in the next election. They voted to restore the pay-rate to the old level because they feel the next council members will be underpaid and deserve it. The other controller, Gina Barber voted the same way knowing that her personal conviction on the subject will not sit well with voters when she starts knocking on doors.

Gina could have done the same as Bud and did a little 'grandstanding' by protesting the move to restore pay-levels.

But she didn't. And this is why Bud is such a genius, and not deserving of the slight of 'working stiff' made by Chapman.

Bud knows darn well that even though the economy is on the mend, that the recession is pretty well over, that it doesn't hurt to do a little grandstanding and show a little humility to the sheep who keep voting you in election after election. It's a page right out of the Paul Van Meerbergen campaign manual - although Paul hasn't yet mastered the 'humble' part.

What makes Bud so smart is that all this pre-election talk about rescinding or raising councillors wages is moot. The election is half a year away. Voters will have forgotten by then. He knows this from personal experience from far too many years in municipal government.

After any municipal election, the FIRST thing City Council does is give themselves a pay raise. There is always a predictable fuss from the public for a week or two. And then three or four years later, they get re-elected again.

Good for you, Bud. Hands of steel - and brains too.

UPDATE - all of that said, it should be noted that Bud still hasn't declared what Ward he will be running in when he runs for Council and until that is done, he still isn't ruling out the possiblity of running for Mayor. But he doubts it. ... Way to make a decision, Genius.