Who I WON'T be Voting for Mayor

It must have been a major disappointment for Jim Chapman's Army when the self-proclaimed Voice of the Silent Majority decided to keep quiet on who he thinks is best qualified for the job of Mayor.

He's had no problems suggesting who of those running for City Council should get your vote in today's election. But in the October 22nd edition of Jim Chapman's The Voice of London, in a column titled, 'A Personal Take on Anne Marie and Joe,' Jim reveals that after much soul-searching, he decided that he just couldn't do that with the Mayor's race because both leading candidates were such close personal friends of his. Have you noticed how in these Facebook days, just how cheapened that word 'friend' has become?

On the basis of their friendships, Jim wouldn't want to offend either incumbent Mayor Anne Marie or challenger Joe Fontana by endorsing the other candidate. Well, let's get this straight - as a media personality, Jim's relationship with any politician is that of a "paid friend." And vice-versa.

After the election, I'm sure that whichever one of the top two mayoral candidates do not win, that person could care less if they ever see/hear from Jim Chapman again. If Jim was such close personal friends with either of these people, how come you never see them out bowling together? How can you say you're good friends with someone when you never go bowling with them? For that matter, when was the last time Jim went fishin' with either Joe or Anne Marie?

As others have pointed out, the real reason why Jim has decided not to publicly endorse one over the other is because he doesn't want to recommend his prefered choice and then possibly lose access to the other when she is re-elected. Simple as that.

When it comes to the biggest, most important race of this entire municipal election -to say that you won't name your top pick for the top job in town on the basis of friendship is delusional at best; lazy, misleading and self-serving at the least; and a totally gutless chicken-shit move at the worse.

If I was one of Jim's Silent Majority, I'd feel a might cheated. But if they know how to read between the lines, in that same column, in assessing each of the two mayoral candidates strengths and weaknesses, Jim makes it pretty apparent who he truly favours and does so without even having the balls to name him.

You can read between the lines yourself at www.thevoiceoflondon.ca - but to spare you the time, Jim likes Joe because he believes a zero-per-cent tax-freeze without reducing services for four years is do-able. His unspoken main problem with Anne Marie seems to be that she isn't Eddie Francis, the Mayor of Windsor.

... Here at the Sonny Drysdale Presents Media Empire, I would never presume to suggest how anyone should vote. However, I have no qualms about telling you who I DID NOT vote for this morning.

We have the safe - but uninspiring - choice of Mayor Anne Marie who is basically running on her record and her on-going theme of onwards and upwards.

And then we have Joe Fontana - long-time former Liberal member of Parliament whose campaign strategy is to promise anything and everything it takes to get elected.

Here are a few of Joe's best - no increase in property taxes during his four-year term - without any cuts in services. Good luck with that one in the real world of unions and city contracts. And that's just one part of how it's not even close to being possible.

Joe will bring 10,000 new jobs to London during his term as Mayor. Well, why stop there Joe? When talking about things you have next to no control over, why not promise 50,000 new jobs? Or maybe a million-kajillion new jobs?

When there was revealed a couple of weeks ago that London was one of the worst offenders for pumping raw sewage into the Thames River because of our ancient sewer system which can't handle heavy rainfall, Joe said he'd do a complete overhaul on our sewers. All without an increase in property taxes of course.

These are all examples of why people are so cynical of politicians these days. These are perfect examples of why you have to be suspicious of anything that comes out of their mouths. These are examples of a seasoned politician who will promise people anything they want to hear because many of them are dumb enough to actually believe it.

While he was promising the moon, his promises became increasingly unrealistic in the last days of the campaign. In fact, I half expected to hear him promise to eliminate both the HST and GST sales tax; to bring home all our troops from Afghanistan before Christmas; no more referendums on Quebec separation - and to reunite the Beatles for a concert at Treasure Island Gardens out past the 401.

But the main reason I didn't vote for Joe? He don't even live here! He lives outside of town in Arva. Why would I think Joe gives a shit about my property taxes when he doesn't pay them to the same municipality himself?

I tell you, if Londoners are actually gullible enough to believe this guy's guff and make him Mayor - I'm leaving the country.