(no subject)

[waterspyder]

I hate the media sometimes. I really do.

We're coming up to an election in Ottawa, and you'd think we only had 3 candidates.

And if by 3, you meant 7, then you'd be right. But you wouldn't know that because newspapers have no obligation to present an accurate representation of the facts.

Just because I like people to make informed decisions, here are your mayoral candidates in alphabetical order.

Piotr ANWEILER - http://www.anweiler.ca/
Bob CHIARELLI - http://bobchiarelli.com/
Robert LARTER - erm, he moved and left no forwarding address and no website...
Alex MUNTER - http://www.alexmunter.ca/
Larry O'BRIEN - http://larryformayor.ca
Barkley POLLOCK - http://www.myspace.com/barkleypollockformayor
Jane SCHARF - http://www.takebackcityhall.info/ 

Comments

[harald387.livejournal.com]

Any mayoral candidate who can't come up with something better than fucking MYSPACE to host his website doesn't deserve a vote.

Barkley Pollock, you get a WAG of the FINGER.

-K

[jagash.livejournal.com]

I was under the impression (via CBC) that some of the other candates were relatively new. *shrug*

Thanks for the linkage.

[(Anonymous)]

Agreed. Also, anyone who isn't fairly easy to find if you know their full name and riding – gone!

That reduces the list by two in total.

[nocnitsa.livejournal.com]

dah! me!

[ms-danson.livejournal.com]

I do not know when the election is. Nor do I know where to go to vote nor how to find out this information. I was informed today by a coworker that the city will not mail out this information in any form. *frown*

[ms-danson.livejournal.com]

... nor if I'm on the voter's list ... nor if I have to bring any particular proof of residency.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

http://www.ottawa.ca/city_hall/elections/elections_2006/index_en.html

is the website, and you can search for your voting location... and you can register on here to be on the list... I have no idea if I'm on the list either.

[kali-kali.livejournal.com]

Seconded, and I'd also have a similar thing go for Jane Scharf - that website name makes her sound like a whinerbaby, and definitely NOT someone I'd like in City Hall.

[ms-danson.livejournal.com]

Thanks. You have just done more for me than the city.

That is sad.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

Well, she has a history of homeless activism and is sort of a one-trick pony.

I'm not saying the other candidates are good candidates, just that they are running.

[kali-kali.livejournal.com]

I have seen the media mention them all, but not frequently.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

That is very sad indeed.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Now, the *important* part of the exercise is to go back and count how many *real* candidates there are.

(For those playing along at home, ".info", "myspace.com", and "cannot be located" are hints. As are the inability to speak clear English or French, and the use of dozens of blogspot.com accounts to provide your "platform".)

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

I think the blogspot guy is being considered a real candidate...

[corradus.livejournal.com]

*coughs, sighs and looks at the heavens in incredulity at what he is about to do*

A couple of things in defense of the media (oh I hate that)

1) Space/Time/Participant Attention - in media there is only so much of it, so you give it to whomever looks like it matters most. Fact of the matter is that Chiarelli is the encumbent so you always wanna know what hizzass is doing. Munter is the fair-haired credible challenger (who according to the last poll is ahead) who has been on council before and so he might actually win, so he gets precious time and ink. Larry O'Brien is the conservative candidate that replaced Terry Kilrea among the loose dentured 'city shouldn't spend none-a-my-money-on-nuthin-EVER' crowd (also known as the 'goddammit if property taxes keep going up I will lose my home' crowd). Of all the three candidates the latter is the only true dark horse with any traction - and he has some cash so that helps.

The other candidates have been noted, but they are not being watched carefully because they have either not made enough noise to be noticed or there isn't enough room to notice them. Shitty but there it is.

2) It is not the private media's job to act as free advertising for candidates. The web site at city hall Ms. Danson referred to should be THE definitive source of info for Mayoral or Council candidates and what they are doing IMO, because it is funded by tax-payers much as the whole municipal apparatus is. The Media should refer to that website often, and it should be up to date, but apart from the CBC (who doesn't give a shit about anything that doesn't happen in Toronto anyways) no media in this country has any obligation to follow someone who looks barely alive - they are after all about stories. A fight between Alex Munter and Mayor Bespectacled is a story. A possible come-from-behind victory by Larry O'Brien is a story.

So in short, I bounce the ball back to the mayoral candidate's court. They wanna get covered by the media? Do something that gets attention, gets them taken seriously.

[kali-kali.livejournal.com]

Well, outside of the big three, Blogspot dude is the one who looks most credible. Though he does have quite a few pipe dreams.

[zenten.livejournal.com]

I thought blogspot guy was one of the big three.

[kali-kali.livejournal.com]

The big three are Chiarelli, Munter and O'Brien. Anweiler (the Blogspot dude) is the most acceptable of the non-big-three.

[zenten.livejournal.com]

Technicaly neither of them are using blogspot as their main platform page, but at least Anweiler is using a (if badly designed) real webpage, O'Brien is using the blog that's full of typos.

[kali-kali.livejournal.com]

I see one typo.

This blog-style thing is new, though, so he's still probably working out the kinks.

[zenten.livejournal.com]

Well, he also has numerous editing marks left in his bio, not to mention that he never actualy writes out his platform in one place.