By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: November 04
Ho-hum has been a good way to describe Vernon's mayoralty race to date, but the gloves finally came off Monday. In front of more than 300 people at the Schubert Centre, Juliette Cunningham strived to distance herself from Wayne Lippert's administration, of which she has served as a first-term councillor. "It's the mayor's role to create a team," she said, openly questioning why Barry Beardsell, a veteran councillor and chartered accountant, was not appointed to the city's finance committee. And while she didn't mention Lippert directly by name, Cunningham suggested that co-operation and teamwork may only go so far at city hall. "I would ensure that councillors receive the same information at the same time," she said. Cunningham also claimed that Lippert wanted to disband the affordable housing committee once it had presented a report to council, but she fought to keep the group together, saying that the real hard work in tackling the issue was just beginning.
With just over a week before Vernonites head to the polls, it was critical that Cunningham set herself apart from the other five mayoralty candidates, and particularly Lippert, if her goal of winning is to be achieved. Obviously the onus has been completely on Cunningham to show why her leadership skills and views are different than the incumbent mayor, because she has largely been seen as a critical part of Lippert's team since 2005. They frequently vote the same at public meetings and often their comments reflect what the other is also saying. At least in public there have been no noticeable disagreements, but, of course, no one knows what goes on behind closed doors.
And behind those closed doors, there appears to be some frustration with Lippert and how he's running his campaign. Primarily, I have heard from some at city hall who are not impressed with the accomplishments Lippert is attributing to himself. Among them, according to his website, are making the office of mayor open and accessible to all citizens, building strong relationships with other levels of government, working with the RCMP to make downtown safer, supporting free parking for veterans, establishing the affordable housing committee and negotiated sponsorship of Wesbild Centre. Certainly some of Lippert's claims hold water, especially when it comes to making the office of the mayor more accessible to residents. But after the Sean Harvey era, anything would have been considered more open.
Yes Lippert has taken an active role in establishing relationships with other levels of government, but so have other members of council on specific issues whether it is Buffy Baumbrough on meat processing or Cunningham on affordable housing. Lippert did work with the RCMP to make downtown safer, but he wasn't alone. Extremely vocal on this matter were Pat Cochrane, Jack Gilroy and Patrick Nicol. And as for free parking for veterans, while Lippert supported extension of the initiative in 2006, the program was actually launched by Harvey in 2005. It may be a fine line, but Lippert some how must find a way to show voters that he is a can-do kind of guy while not alienating his council colleagues who have sat at the same table and whose majority votes have ensured many of these accomplishments proceeded. After all, the mayor is just one vote out of seven.
Election day is Nov. 15 and between now and then, expect to see more jockeying among all of the six candidates and I wouldn't be surprised that the relationship between Lippert and Cunningham becomes a little more strained.
