Editorial — Vote 50’s job got a little tougher this week

FRIDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — The Kamloops Vote 50 committee has had a good week and a not-so-good week. The not-so-good part has nothing to do with anything this very community minded group did; rather it was the dynamics of the 2014 Kamloops civic election campaign that at least slightly dimmed hopes of a 50-per-cent voter turnout.

That might sound like an odd thing to say, since Vote 50 announced its schedule of events on Thursday, and the group is doing a phenomenal job of trying to build interest in the election.

But what happened was, three candidates who would have brought energy to the campaign dropped out.

Mr. Open Pitbelly, played by Elaine Sedgman, left the election campaign a day after staging another press conference spoofing the Ajax project. Those who saw no humour in this candidacy will be thankful, but you have to admit the Pitbelly for Mayor campaign brought a degree of interest to the process.

Another dropout — before he was even in — is Denis Walsh, who wrestled for weeks with whether he should run for mayor. Again, whether you’re a Walsh supporter or not, his candidacy would have stimulated a genuine competition for the mayor’s position and, thereby, heightened the likelihood of a good turnout.

Finally, there was Daljit Sadhra, who announced his candidacy back in April. Sadhra vacated the election due to family reasons. He doesn’t have high name recognition but if you know him, you know he has a great sense of humour and is a very funny story teller — his candidacy would have added a definite dash of wit and energy to the campaign.

The loss of those three candidates, or potential candidates, decreases the interest factor a little. There are still plenty of good candidates in the Kamloops election, but Vote 50’s job has been made a trifle tougher. It will have to work that much harder to convince voters to exercise their right to choose who represents them.

— Mel Rothenburger