ROTHENBURGER – Prof. Rothenburger’s intro to By-Elections 101, a pre-requisite
Hypothetical council.
(With apologies to The Paper Chase)
GOOD MORNING, class. Welcome to By-Elections 101. You come here with a skull full of mush; you leave thinking like a politician or, at least, a City Hall procedures wonk.
Today, we’ll talk about the arithmetic of by-elections. Let’s take a hypothetical example.
A mayor decides to move on. Instead of leaving right away, he waits a couple of weeks to “clear up some administrative details.” His leave will start June 1, but he doesn’t say when it will end.
Meanwhile, on May 16, a veteran council member announces she will resign, due to medical reasons, as of Friday, June 30.
Mel Rothenburger is the former editor of The Kamloops Daily News and a former mayor of Kamloops.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Dear Professor Mel,
I think you just gave a life lesson on the difference between selfless and selfish.
Thank you for that insight.
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-Dear Prof.: i read your entire piece on introductory By-Elections 101 on ‘the other side’ -as I like to call it- and I find that it sounds more like indoctrination than it does anyway to treat the local taxpayers…whom would rather just get on with things.
So basically you’re saying:
It’s like an accordion state of affairs, whereby, in order to get to the end, one must pull out all the stops and plan quite a bit in advance and then push on to finish line -with the outcome being someone new being elected.
The exception in this case, to date, being we have a a big ol’ bull holding the door open and letting all the flies in: Messin’ up the kitchen for the next party.
So, Prof. Roth, is this analysis any good for the mid-term paper coming up…?
Er… one might say: ‘Sooner than later?’
[Note: The entire class is in prayers -sincerely- for the truly wonderful Marg Spina -expressing the desires for a positive outcome in her life and health.]
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