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stouffville suntribune thursday feb 16 2006 15 drive for top dog status takes time prof by lisa queen staff writer big mistake thats what aurora may oral candidate nigel kean called his brash 1994 bid for mayor without any political experience under his belt one of the dumbest things i ever did chuckled mr kean who is now taking on mayor tim jones for the towns top job after serving as a councillor for the past six years i think ive learned my lesson ive sat back and lis tened youve got to serve yourtime mr kean may have seen the light but other york region political neophytes are determined to skip climbing the ranks in favour of instant top dog status martha hau findlay for mer federal newmarket- aurora candidate is the first declared leadership con tender for the federal liberal party even though she has never spent time as an me not even a backbencher let alone a cabinet minister we have such an oppor tunity right now i think a lot of people are saying we need new faces she said martha hall rndlay former newmarketaurora liberal candi date taking run at party leader ship meanwhile vaughans gino ruffolo has declared hell try to unseat mayor michael di biase in novem bers municipal elections kleinburg resident robert craig and georgina resident peter juras are mulling over similar bids such leadership wannabes face an uphill bat tle york university political science professor robert drummond said they have less of a chance of success unless theres something that marks them off as a particularly accomplished person in some other realm said mr drummond the universitys dean of arts even pierre trudeau became leader fairly quickly but he did put in time as an me its not impossible to win the leadership of a federal party without winning an election but mr drum mond has his doubts it would be naive to pre sume never having served in any political office you could serve as leader not impossi ble but naive he said im trying to think are there any people who have come full blown out on to the public stage without anybody knowing about them i have a hard time thinking of any but ms hall findlay dis misses mr drummonds concerns while never elected she pointed out she ran for office narrowly losing to thenconservative candi date belinda stronach in the 2004 election when ms stronach later crossed the floor ms hall findlay stepped aside as the newmarketauroras liberal candidate to allow ms stronach to assume the can didacy that aside ms hall find lay believes it may be to her benefit not to be shackled with the baggage of being a career politician there are some people who have been politicians since their teenage years i think you see a lot of politics breeds politics as warring liberals try to untangle themselves from a decade of jean loy alists versus paul martin supporters ms hall findlay said if s time for the party to choose a leader not associat ed with either camp what the party really needs is to put that behind them and move forward in the municipal world mr drummond said its often one burning local issue that attracts a mayoral can didate with no experience you cant sustain a career on a single issue he added but while a narrow range of concerns or lack of respect for the incumbent may ini tially draw them to politics neophyte mayoral candi dates insist they- quickly become interested in a wide breadth of community top ics i think if im doing it this time my motivation this time is less antidi biase than wanting to do it last time was more of a protest vote said mr craig who captured almost 40 per cent of the vote in 2003 despite mounting a lastminute campaign i think he mr di biase has dealt with some of the problems at city hall but i would still like to see change up there mr ruffolo dismissed suggestions he is disgruntled because his wife is suing tile city for wrongful dismissal instead he is focused on bringing more transparency and accountability to coun cil promising to launch an inquiry or forensic audit into past city practises if elected upset property owners face higher taxes and user fees annually while politi cians boost their own salaries but mr ruffolo said he would buckthat trend and take an immediate 20- percent pay cut he also wants to step up the citys campaign to secure a vaughan hospital meanwhile while mr juras said most residents associate his name with a controversial 3million recreation project proposed by georgina council he said his interests range from development and the envi ronment to taxes and town services at the same time he acknowledges he has his work cut out for him cam paigning for mayor i do need to get out earli er than most people because i am an unknown pynflnyic publishing inserts for thurs feb 16 2006 canadian tire tax wise sobeys mattress haven lemonville united church tsuk9ji sushi village iga longos sears shoppers drug mart dominion ap zellers the bay wheels home depot future shop staples- business depot food basics sport mart leons mdg computers 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