Different strategies worked for different council candidates

An election that was supposed to be about issues wasn’t about issues at all — and the results show it.

Ken Christian came out in favour of the parkade, and he topped the election for councilors. John DeCicco came out in favour of the parkade, and he placed 11^th, losing his seat after 12 years of service.

DeCicco came out in favour of the Ajax mine, Donovan Cavers came out against it, most of the rest waffled. Cavers won. There are no clues in this new council as to which way they’ll lean.

If it wasn’t about issues, what was it about? Name recognition and how they got it.

Christian has been on the school board since Hector was a pup. People already know his name. That was his key.

Nelly Dever made up for lack of name recognition with an expensive multi-faceted and multi-media campaign. She used the gamut of signs, advertising and Internet, emphasizing her business experience and ability to work with groups.

I’m still puzzled over the ear-lobe thing and I’m not sure what cutting her own hair has to do with her ability to be a good politician — too much sharing — but maybe voters were interested.

Arjun Singh used a well-orchestrated campaign to overcome the reputation he gained during a former term in office as an inarticulate bumbler.

Singh did a very smart thing — he not only stayed away from the issues, but he ignored what pretty much everyone else was doing, which was to speak in generalities about the wonders they would accomplish if elected.

Instead, he focused on his own style, which amounts to good ol’ everyday Arjun, there to listen, to be inclusive, to work for the people of Kamloops.

It was a more sophisticated version of the “I’m listening” campaign he ran six years ago, and it worked.

Cavers started out with a name that was somewhat known from his previous Green party candidacies.

Under-funded, he worked with what he had, starting with those bus wraps and then flooding media with daily updates on his campaign. So much so that we received a complaint from the wife of a candidate that we were giving Cavers too much ink. Mind you, that candidate never gave us a single advisory on his activities, and Cavers was so persistent we starting ignoring much of what he gave us.

If one were to analyze what worked the best for candidates, you’d have to say it was different things for different people.

Those who didn’t, missed out. Andy Philpot, for example, failed to capitalize on his reputation as a great community volunteer. He needed glitz.

As for issues, in the end there was only one issue, and his name is Mayor Crankypants. As he writes out his thank-you cards to Gordon Chow and Brian Alexander, who split the anti-Milobar vote and saved him, he’ll have to think about how he can change.

It won’t be easy. He lives in a box that limits his ability to engage the public. “I don’t have any problem with doing things differently,” he says, and sounds not the least bit enthusiastic about it.

Thinking outside the box will be a challenge.