Thursday, May 28, 2009

Here's The Skinny On Rob Lantz for Mayor...

I threw it out there yesterday on Twitter..."I'm going to tell you why Rob Lantz will be running for the Mayor's job and why he'll be good at it"... well there is a little more to it than that.... first of all I don't know anything more than the next guy about what Councillor Rob Lantz has in mind for his future but I can tell you as a long time political junkie and organizer that if he wants the Mayor's job it's his... and why do I say that... well first of all he's "out there" and what I mean by that is... he's on the bus... he's on committee's... he's returning calls... he's not afraid to speak out... he’s prepared for change... and he's tuned in to the "social network" (I don't mean parties... I'm talking about the next generation of doers and carers that are hooked up through the electronic media).... but most importantly he has the old fashion skill of getting things done when his constituents call him... now throw in the fact that he's a hard working family guy who's got a good head on his shoulders and he's young and appealing to the public... then why won't he make it as the Mayor... well the age old problem is he's got a family to feed and to do that he needs a full time job as the Mayor's position doesn't pay enough.... I as a business owner appreciate that his current employer Deltaware probably look the other way as he grinds out his current duties as a City Councillor and we should all recognize Deltaware for their gracious contribution as I'm sure at time they need him when he may be tied up on City business... but the Mayor's position is a full time job if we want a vibrant City and so we can't expect his employer to "look the other way" to that degree... and this is the dilemma we have with finding good people as candidates... the current Mayor doesn't have this problem as he worked for the Provincial Government... so when the Tories got in and they wanted a mouthpiece they looked the other way while he did his Mayoralty job and if you don't believe me then think about this... as soon as the Liberals got in he was all of a sudden working for ACAO currently controlled by the Federal Tories and they still have a mouthpiece they can control... (and the liberals have been known to do this)... so how do we get good people with leadership skill sets like Rob Lantz to come forward with some progress changes, fresh ideas and a positive attitude something that's clearly lacking now... it's easy to say well let's "bump" the Mayor's salary up but that might not be as appealing to the taxpayers.... we could call on Government to "give" the successful candidate a position that would allow them to do both but then the taxpayer might get the message that the Mayor is working for the Government and signing their tunes... so there has to be a solution as we need people like Rob to be able to take a run at it without the financial consequence. So I'm taking this "dilemma" to our Chamber of Commerce and I'm going to ask them how do we develop a plan to get "people interested in civic politics" and just how do we get them to come forward... I'm going to use Rob as our test case and I don't want people to think "well he'll be the Chamber's man" should he get elected and that is why I'm going to use him as the example case as I think Rob is a good leader and he's "nobodies man" and that is why we need people like him and we need to find ways to get them to come forward... and my guess is that if "you" encourage him and "offer to support him" then he will come forward as he has a great sense of civic pride.... something our City needs...

5 comments:

Joel Ives said...

Great observations Tim ! I agree with you about Rob and the dilemmas facing our politcal scene. Having a young family myself I have not been active in politics due to be somewhat cynical of the process and the drinking of party kool aid. I think that there are many like me out there. Guess I should take a stand and start asking more questions and supporting those who are willing to do the job more.
Think I will have to take Rob to lunch and ask him about his vision and encourage him to take the run.

Anonymous said...

Rob Lantz could replace Rob Ghiz or Shawn Murphy. Imagine how well that would work.

Rob Lantz said...

Tim... thanks for the kind words. There's just one thing I'd like to clarify. When I ran for council I made a firm commitment to my employer that company time is company time. I wouldn't want my boss to think I'm taking liberties, or my colleagues to get the impression I'm treated any differently. I am generally regarded as the councillor who is most difficult to schedule for meetings because I need to live up to that commitment I made. I can count on one hand the number of times that I've attended to city duties outside of my lunch hour, or before 4:30. I've occasionally used vacation time where necessary to avoid mixing company time with city time.
No comment on the rest of your post!
Thanks again,
Rob

Andrew said...

Running for city council is something I have had on my list of things to do since I was 12. I'm young, optimistic, energetic, and I understand the level of importance a city councilor plays.

Rob has been, in recent years, inspiration to myself because he has proven that young people can do the job and do it very well. Most importantly, Rob has shown that great work can be done by those under the typical age of an Island politician. I am sure Rob would make a great Mayor and I also think that he would help bring in a new generation of candidates and fresh ideas.

Anonymous said...

Rob has my vote. As a newcomer to PEI Rob was one of the first to answer my questions and point me to others to make connections.

You're 100% correct that low civic salaries do not encourage those of us "regular joes" who have families to feed and house payments to run for office. A thin line to walk -- raising civil services salaries. Very much a two-edged sword.

I'll be watching to see how this plays out. (Especially Rob running for mayor!)

PFA