Okay, I've dicked around with this long enough, and most of you have probably already figured out who I'm supporting to be the next mayor of Toronto.For months, I was willing to endorse and vote for any plausible candidate that wasn't Rob Ford or George Smitherman, which limited my choices to Rocco Rossi or Sarah Thomson. Truth be told, I was actually leaning toward Rossi for months, although I strongly questioned the wisdom of his plan to sell Toronto Hydro.
However, ever since Rossi retooled his campaign last month, his central strategy has been to become Rob Ford. Like Ford, he's running on a populist platform that will never be legislatively enacted and making promises that he can never hope to pay for. He's lying, he knows it, and that demonstrates an unacceptable lack of character on his part. His proposal to build an Allen Expressway Tunnel to Nowhere - that he hasn't even bothered costing because he knows that he'll never be able to pay for it, anyway - was the last straw.
Rocco Rossi is just as unacceptable a choice for mayor as Ford is. In fact, he might be worse, in that Ford actually seems to be dumb enough to believe his own nonsense. Rossi isn't. He's just cynical and utterly, unconvincingly so. In the unlikely even that he accomplishes anything at all, it would only be to further alienate Torontoians from City Hall.
In large part, that's why I'm supporting Sarah Thomson and ask that you consider doing the same.
Of the centrist and center-right candidates in this race, Ms. Thomson is the only one who doesn't appear to running for a Tea Party nomination in rural Mississippi or attempting to resurrect the ghost of William Jennings Bryan. They're all jokes, and I'm not getting that feeling from Sarah Thomson.
Thomson is the only candidate in this campaign who has a platform that doesn't laugh in the face of political reality and basic common sense. While I'm not thrilled with the way that she plans to pay for her promises, I can't help but recognize that she is the only candidate that has even attempted to. She's measured in her promises and realistic in how she intends to pay for them, which is a rarity this year.
Yes, I understand that Sarah Thomson is at the bottom of the main-tier of candidates in the polls, but so was John Tory at this point in 2003 and he came very close to winning at the end. Stranger things have happened in politics and this is a very strange year, indeed.
I hope that you'll visit the Sarah Thomson 4 Mayor website and read her platform. If you're so inclined, I'd ask you you to donate a few dollars to her campaign. Please note that all Ontario residents, not just citizens of Toronto, can give to our candidates.
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