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p 4 the tribune tuesday september 2 1997 tuesday september 2 1997 vol 109 no 53i the tribune comment sl opinions st send your letters to the editor to the address below editorial food banks need help right now its sad that families in one of the best countries in the world to live have to depend on food banks sadder still that the shelves are nearly bare in some of the wealthiest communities in cana da food banks in markham and stouffville have nearly run out of food while the uxbridge food bank could also do with more donations the situation is so severe that some food banks literally can not wait until the traditional thanksgiving food drive they need food supplies right now to serve the hundreds of families who depend on the extra groceries to make it through another month many community activists dont believe in food banks and fear they make lowincome families dependent on food handouts but philosophic concerns aside its heartbreaking for adults and especially children to be hungry and desperate enough to turn to food banks to find that their local food bank might not even have enough to give them is deplorable please dont wait until the season of thanksgiving and sharing share a few bags of nonperishable grocery items now with your lessfortunate fellow citizens as sure as cold winter follows summer a few more of your neighbours might fall on hard times before thanksgiving you might never learn who they are but theyll be thankful you shared reporter left in the cold at politician school i know i expected at least one smoke- filled room sour pollsters with clip boards and maybe bankers in suits flicking cigars it was a school for politicians one day for some of your ambitious and likeable neighbours to meet the experts who know how to turn ambition and likeabil- ity into a winning campaign this fall not that politicians need much school ing mel lastman and john snobelen both dropped out and no one laughs at them if anything it made them better viewpoint mike adler communicators with the public this school was arranged by the ontario tories at a markham hotel aug 23 but i didnt have an invite its an intimate gathering explained a conser vative party rep named doug brewer the afternoon before we want to enable frank discussion most of that frank discussion i later understood was about you the munici pal voter and some of it this is flatter ing actually was about me the newspa per reporter they didnt let me in last saturday morning but i know these things because i flipped through one of the big white conference binders in the hallway at the hotel there were 95 or so politi cians and campaign managers attending fearless crew takes on lake ontario to my long list of non-accomplish- ments i can now add sailing whenever the s word came up on previous occasions i ran rapidly through the repertoire of reasons i would rather not be sailing last week however my luck ran out when an edict arrived from a friend of mr wallet- heads inviting us to join him and his partner on her yacht for an evening cruise on lake ontario although i would normally have declined inherent snobbery overcame wellfounded doubts visavis my seapersonship when i learned that the conveyance in question was moored at the royal canadian yacht club or the rcyc as we insiders call it with the delivery of the tidings that there was a dress code in effect however i knew i was in trouble the code went beyond mere cover age of the obvious to outlaw any sug gestion of denim collarless shirts or early woolco grunge thus effectively narrowing my choices down to two the frock i wore for my descent into dotage party or a recently purchased pair of palazzo pants with matching crochet top the pants won since they looked marginally less jgeky than the kates corner kate gilderdale frock when paired with the requisite footwear this latter sartorial require ment was the second piece of bad news because even though mr wallethead assured me running shoes would be fine i dont possess running shoes what on earth would i need them for in the end i was obliged to splurge 399 plus gst at the biway for a pristine pair of snow white canvas shoes with laces which put me depressingly in mind of the gymnastic gear i was obliged to wear at st marys convent grammar school i was tempted by a pair of slipons but the profligate outlay involved 599 forced me to revert to my nerd of the north mode when we got to the dock we were surrounded by posh people effortless ly attired in amusing little outfits by armani or colourcoordinated sports wear from eddie bauers autumn col lection somehow i made it past the clothing police and onto the launch which conveyed our party across the water to the exclusive environs of the athletically and financially gifted my significant other bravely offered to help sail the yacht i wisely adopted the role of the little woman passing the cheese plate around without dropping it while studiously avoiding ropes sails and other nautical elements this turned out to be a good plan since our captain did not stand for any nonsense and expected her crew to be as fear- somely competent as she was fortunately she did not seem to object to this guest whose idea of a nice sail on the lake consisted of drap ing myself over the front bow and languidly ingesting grapes in both solid and liquid form whilst admiring a splendid view of the skyline by the time we hove in sight of our mooring we were the best of friends and plan ning to meet for movies at the carlton when the sailing season was over and prior to the start of the skiing season not that it makes any difference to your correspondent of course but on the other hand ill bet i could give my captain a run for her money when it comes to the slow bicycle racej j the event id be surprised if there were more than a handful of people here who didnt vote conservative said ontario party president peter van loan satisfied the group of wouldbe mayors council lors and school trustees was the largest ever i on the other hand was stuck there on the wrong side of the doors early on that saturday morning and i wasnt getting a drop of the hotels gorgeous coffee heres how to win an election pick a message something people care about make sure no one can steal your mes sage make sure you look good saying it say it a lot ask yourself will this mes sage appeal to the groups i need to form my winning coalition dont know whod vote for you make a targeting plan the lecture outline suggested if your main opponent is an executive whose company was success fully sued for not having a sexual harass ment policy said the outline then target women voters if your candidate is chi nese target chinese voters and dont forget the media develop a relationship with journalists the guide said seek headlines that can be used in your paid advertising this provides validity for your paid message it added helpfully underlining for emphasis name recognition is basically what its about explained blair mccreadie the campaign school organizer and an expert politician at the age of 22 a spokesperson said the ontario lib erals dont have anything quite so formal for their friendly municipal candidates although last time those in the metro area got together just to sort of coordinate their campaigns manuals are available added a senior party manager who didnt want names mentioned im shy he said so am i its natural around some politicians tikkii stouffville tribune a metroland community newspaper patricia pappas publisher andrew mair editorinchief julie caspersen editor debra weller director of advertising mike rogerson retail advertising manager stacey allen classified manager barry goodyear director of distribution vivian oneil business manager pamela nichols operations manager about us news 905 6402100 retail sales 9056402100 classifieds 9056402874 distribution 9056402160 fax 905 6405477 email thetribistarca 6244 main st j stouffville ont l4a1e2 the stouffville- tribune pub- lisbed 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