ROTHENBURGER – Reflections on the state of slate politics in River City

A FEW ODDS ‘N’ ENDS to clear up about slates — which have become the latest topic of discussion in regard to this year’s civic election….

WHEN IS A SLATE NOT A SLATE?

Former councillor Dieter Dudy, who was defeated in his bid for the mayoralty in 2022, has been busy defending his assertion that slates are a bad thing in civic politics.

As Nelly Dever was preparing to make Thursday’s announcement of her slate, Dudy posted an assurance that he was not, contrary to rumours, part of it. And, in fact, he disapproves of slates in municipal elections.

“… I have never been approached and likely would have declined in any case as I don’t believe slates work in Kamloops. Suffice it to say that I will not be running as part of a slate so disregard any mention to the contrary,” he wrote.

Then a couple of people noted that, in 2014, he ran as part of Vision Kamloops along with Denis Walsh, Brad Harrison, Daphane Nelson and Jenny Green. Dudy and Walsh were elected.

Yes, said Dudy, but he used his own campaign signs.

Sure, said Randy Sunderman, “but I remember spending all that planning time at your house collectively putting the platform together. Felt it was a pretty connected group during the campaign and all that shared marketing spending that was undertaken.” The shared marketing included brochures featuring all five of them “Working for YOU, together!” as the Vision Kamloops Alliance.

Sunderman also pointed out that Vision Kamloops came about through the board of the Kamloops Voters Society.

So Dudy offered his own definition of a slate. “A slate is when you effectively run a group to fill all the seats on council.”

No, Dieter, a slate is a group of people running for public office on a common platform. Nobody ever said any sort of quorum was required. One dictionary definition even puts it more simply: a “list” of candidates running together.

Meanwhile, Dudy continues to be coy about whether he’ll run at all, either for mayor or councillor.

Incidentally, in my summary of past slates a few days ago, I neglected to mention Vision Kamloops. An unintentional omission.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

The Dever slate is officially Pivot Kamloops, as announced Thursday. Dever pointed out to me that I was incorrect in calling it Team Kamloops.

My bad. I called it that because that’s what it was called in her original notice about her upcoming announcement. “Nelly Dever and ‘Team Kamloops’ to unveil major vision for the City’s Future,” it said.

Nothing about Pivot Kamloops. Others also assumed the name was going to be Team Kamloops, so at least I wasn’t alone.

HOW NEW IS IT?

Although Pivot Kamloops promises “a new level of accountability and action to Kamloops City Hall,” it doesn’t offer up new faces. All four of its candidates have been around the local political scene for quite some time.

Dever herself is a former City councillor who served one term before being defeated in 2014 when she finished in 10^thplace. Giesbrecht ran for council in 2022 but more recently contested the provincial election for the BC Conservatives in Vernon. Sunderman has also run at both levels, including as a Green Party candidate in the provincial election a couple of years ago.

Kathrine Blair Wunderlich headed up Kamloops Citizens United — a group that has focused on civic politics and has  frequently been critical of City council — until joining Pivot Kamloops.

It will be interesting to see how this somewhat disparate group becomes a united and fresh voice.

A ‘GOTCHA’ MOMENT ON THE PAC?

Dever had a tough time answering a question about the performing arts centre during a media scrum following the announcement. CFJC’s Michael Reeve asked her for a position on it should Pivot Kamloops be successful.

Dever, of course, led the PAC Not Now campaign against the project in the 2015 referendum, based on costs. She later spoke in favour of an update proposal in the lead-up to the second referendum that was shelved due to Covid. I was standing beside Reeve when he brought it up yesterday and it seemed like an easy question, but Dever mangled her answer.

Here’s how Reeve reported the exchange in the story he filed:

“Just in black and white, the performing arts centre will be opened if you are elected mayor?” Dever was asked by CFJC News.

“That is a double-edged sword question – ‘will be open’. I can’t predict what will happen next week,” responded Dever.

“Will construction continue on the project as currently designed if you are elected?” pressed CFJC News.

“I would like to give a thorough look at the entire project from beginning to end, including capital and operating,” answered Dever.

Dever avoided a clean response on the issue after future (sic) questioning.

“So it is possible that after review that the project may not proceed,” again asked CFJC News. “That is what I’m hearing here – and if I’m mistaken, please correct me, because it sounds like you want to review it and you can’t tell me if it will go ahead or stop until you review it. So it’s very much possible, it’s one of the two options after you review it, the project is either halted, it’s reduced in some fashion. That is a possibility if you become mayor?”

“I can’t foresee it being,” responded Dever before Sunderman stepped in.

That wasn’t the entire conversation but it’s a pretty good summary. Sunderman then tried to bail her out with, “If I may, I think the way to look at it is there’s elements that we’ve heard in the community that people would like to see in the performing arts so those are conversations we’d like to see incorporated as the project goes forward.

“Pretty clearly there’s a hole in the ground, there’s an investment made, the walls are coming up, a lot of that’s going to be built between now and October, but what we envision is an opportunity for a conversation with the community that may allow us to incorporate some other perspectives as we go ahead.

“I think that’s really what we’re trying to say here, and I know it’s important for the media to kind of get that, you know, gotcha moment but the reality is we’re looking at one of the things that’s collected us together is we’re looking at things from a community perspective, so we want budget decisions made with community input, we want projects to go ahead reflecting community desires and needs when we build them, so I think that’s the context of, I think you should take when you start asking is the project a done deal.”

Dever then offered the assurance that the team is “pro-arts” at “the best cost.”

Does that clear it up for you?

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, writes for the Kamloops Chronicle and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and was a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.