Comment 1062

By Joe (registered) | Posted September 24, 2006 at 12:29:18

Hi Ryan--

Good points, I clearly haven't been following Hamilton's politics as closely as some (I actually haven't lived in Hamilton in 5 years). Though I agree with your points about not trusting someone with a bad track record, especially considering the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour, I don't think these campaign infractions generalize to balancing the city's books. In the latter scenario, I'm sure there are people whose job is to oversee appropriate use of tax dollars. I would have serious problems with someone who misused tax money, but Di Ianni misused money donated specifically for his campaign. I actually have no idea how things work in City Hall, so I may be way off on this.

Whether Di Ianni is directly related to the positive changes in this city or not, there appears to be a political climate where positive changes can happen. I guess the important questions to be asked is: (1) if a better climate can be established--definitely; and (2) if another mayor is capable of doing similar or better things--again, definitely. But in the world of politics, taking a chance on someone else is risky business, especially if the person being replaced has at the very least not impeded the city's growth. Our difference in opinion is in this last point.

I truly believe that Hamilton requires a Mayor with good business sense, and it's this good business sense that is working to transform the tourism industry (for the first time in Hamilton's history we're trying to show of our many waterfalls), education (McMaster's research park), and arts (renovations to Art Gallery of Hamilton).

Is Di Ianni directly related to these improvements? Who knows, maybe indirectly. But these things have happened while he was in charge, and very little growth (and a lot of problems) occured under another mayor's watch.

I think my major concern is that Di Ianni seems to be the best alternative, though I fully acknowledge that I don't know very much about the other candidates. I'm not being facetious here, but anyone from RTH consider running for mayor (Ryan, Jason)? I have always been a fan of electing someone whose interest is the improvement of Hamilton's future. The discussions and articles by RTH staff have clearly demonstrated this characteristic.

So I guess I'll throw a question out there--of those candidates who expressed interest in running, can someone describe who they think should be mayor and why? I think it would be helpful for RTH readers if our discussion moved in this direction.

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