It’s Official – Geoff Dawe is Running for Mayor
Posted by auroracitizen on June 22, 2010
The rumours are true. The Auroran broke the story earlier today that Geoff Dawe is running for Mayor.
In an email by former Mayor Tim Jones, Jones writes about the newest candidate as follows; “He is Geoff Dawe, the outgoing President of the Aurora Chamber of Commerce and 33 year resident of Aurora. Geoff has participated in and held leadership positions with his children’s school councils, his church and is president of his own company. More recently, Geoff has served as Chairperson of the Aurora Library Board.”
Jones went on to say; “He is a leader who seeks consensus, not retribution. He’s a team player, allowing full and uninterrupted input and with that input, he is a decision maker. Geoff respects the positions of others while asking for respect in return.”
It will be interesting to see how the 2 current candidates and Mayor react to this news.
Although Dawe has no direct Council experience, he brings a wealth of business experience and has been involved in town governance for many years serving as past Chair of the Library Board and President of the Aurora Chamber.
Maybe it’s time we had someone in a leadership position who actually has some real leadership experience — rather than the smoke and mirrors the current Mayor has bamboozled folks with for the last few years. It’s time Mayor Morris provided some specific documented experience rather than her generic claims of leadership and HR experience. Goodness knows, she hasn’t demonstrated any skills in either area.
Stay-tuned — it is shaping up to be an interesting summer.
Aurora Citizen 
Sheesh said
Another Sher St Kitts production:
An ‘awareness event’ for Canada Day?! For those that may not have heard about it for some reason?! (Maybe the same people that don’t know when Remembrance Day is…)
someone who loves this town more than politics said
The blurb for this production reads:
“celebrating our Canadian National Pride; Aboriginal Heritage and our Multicultural Diversity”
Gee, could you fit anything else in?
And lets not forget the tie-in to “wave in the 2010 Olympics” ?
I guess the obvious fact that the Olympics have been over and done with for some months now has been lost on the organizers.
Is this what $15,000 of tax payers money buys us?
What a sham.
The only explanation I can see for an event this special is most likely to undo the confusion that the organizers have made through as one person has pointed out circulating “the most useless parade route map ever”: http://www.hubbers.ca/blog/2009/06/05/most-useless-parade-route-map-ever/
Brickbat returns said
Yep,Sher resigns from the Farmers Market but continues to operate a special event with a title of the function almost exactly as the market event was.
Who is she trying to kid.
Or is The Mayor and clan fully backing her charades.
First 100% of the money designated for The Farmers Market goes to a sub-committee chaired by Ms.St.Kitts.
(It appears that way after David Heard asked this at council)
Then a joint venture between the Farmers Market and St.Kitts Music last year becomes a St.Kitts venture leaving the Market out in the cold.
This venture was The Jazz Festival.
She didnt just quit the Market as the Special Events Co-ordinator.
No,she actually took some of the events with her it might seem.
Making Plans for Nigel said
Hey, where IS Nigel? He used to be a regular contributor on this blog.
Robert the Bruce said
“We only want what’s best for him……”
I think Nigel is at Tim Hortons waiting to tell us about his experience and platform.
“And if young Nigel says he’s happy, he must be happy in his world….”
Anonymous said
I welcome someone who is a successful business man without a political background. No political experience…no political attitude…imagine that!
It’s about time!
Maybe the town can get on with business, and elect a business person with business experience.
Anonymous said
More consultants…another 50 Grand:
https://www.opba.ca/insidepages/bids/details.cfm?bidid=60552325-ff70-8eca-4cee-e9d9911e9811
Staff can’t analyze the “youth needs” of Aurora?!
Tim the Enchanter said
I’ll reserve judgment on Geoff Dawe until I’ve heard what he has to say but I’m certainly not bothered by his lack of council experience.
Current council has many years of collective experience yet the complaints fly fast and furious.
“Morris is an egomaniacal control freak”
“MacEachern is a disingenuous conniver”
“Wilson, Gallo and Gaertner are mindless sheep that exist to serve the Mayor”
“Buck is out-of-touch, stirring up trouble just because she hates Phyllis”
Collins-Mrakas and McRoberts have managed to fly under the radar for the most part, time will tell if they’re too disenchanted with the past four years to run again.
Empire building, glory seeking, doing favours for “special friends”, waffling on important decisions, empty promises, personal vendettas: the point is none of the complaints are in any way related to lack of experience.
A simple regime change doesn’t cut it either.
Remember the “disfunctional” council under the vastly “experienced” Tim Jones?
So we turfed Tim and his friends and replaced them with the “experienced” Phyllis and her friends.
Oops – still disfunctional.
Now what?
Dump Phyllis and her friends and bring in the Nigel and his friends because hey, Nigel’s got “experience”?
I think not.
Let’s get off this merry-go-round.
In my view serious and sweeping changes are sorely needed to get our funny little town back on track.
Whether or not Geoff Dawe (or any other potential candidate for that matter) is prepared to make those changes remains to be seen.
crapped upon too often said
It seems to me that Morris is half a step from being a political criminal, MacEachern a quarter step behind her, Kean won’t even make a decent councillor and Clowater should pull his name from candidacy for anything other than dog-catcher.
Dawe has lived in Aurora for over 30 years and must know something about the community. How effective he has been on the Library Board and Chamber of Commerce, no doubt we will hear words of praise from his supporters there and words of condemnation from his detractors. I also assume that having run a successful business of his own he has somehow managed to learn how to interact with and lead people in pursuit of specific goals. Let’s give the man a chance to make his case before all you political “pundit ghouls” start picking his carcass clean.
To all the negatory comments following this AC post, how many of you stalwarts are prepared to run for council and do so publicly, rather than carp from behind pseudonyms?
Joe Bloggs said
“…and do so publicly, rather than carp from behind pseudonyms?”
Yeah! You tell ’em Crapped Upon Too Often!
Huh? *shrugs*
Yet another Pot calling Kettles said
‘scuse me, but “Crapped Upong Too Often” appears to be carping “from behind pseudonyms”. Just sayin’.
crapped upon too often said
My point being that we all carp from behind pseudonyms. Even those who provide “names” – the question always to mind is are these their real names? None of us knows for sure.
But all the posts are anonymous and the vast majority are negative.
Can we not find something positive to say about anything or anybody? That was my purpose in “defending” Geoff Dawe. Let’s not throw him out because he has no ‘political’ experience. We have had too many ‘experienced’ politicians who have come close to destroying responsible politics in Aurora. Their idea of transparent accountability is to sling mud at everything and everyone, from staff to voters. The Code of Conduct should head the landfill together with the Integrity Commissioner. All that is needed is a new Mayor and Council.
There are several who appear regularly on this site who sound like sensible people. Why don’t you run for Council and help clean up the rat’s nest that is town hall?
Anonymous said
I’m afraid it’s a bit ‘ho-hum’ to me. To be fair, I don’t know the man, but for someone without previous council experience there doesn’t seem to be the breadth of community involvement that you’d like to see.
As for the Tim Jones endorsement (which I’ll bet Nigel Kean was expecting), that does nothing for me, either. I’ve heard he’s a decent fellow but I was never a fan of his as mayor. Mr Dawe strikes me as ‘Tim Jones 2.0’ – complete with his endorser’s charisma bypass.
someone who loves this town more than politics said
Anonymous 11:40 sums up my thoughts exactly:
“Mr Dawe strikes me as ‘Tim Jones 2.0′ – complete with his endorser’s charisma bypass.”
And has anyone notice how similar they look physically? They look like twiddle-dee and twiddle-dawe-um, it’s kind of scary.
Broderick Epps said
So Mr. Dawe has entered the race. We still don’t have a bonafide politician in the race. Last election Phyllis schooled Nigel Kean as she realized Mr. Jones was her advesary and directed ALL her energies against him. Nigel, followed her lead and did the same. An astute politician would have saved some venom for the other candidate but Nigel being Nigel followed Ms. Morris’ lead and well you know the result.So here we are with three neophytes against a cagey, manipulative,media spinning pro who will absolutely devour the three current contenders and win a second term. What a horrible thought but as it stands a very real possibility.
Suggest an Alternative to this Mayor said
We all know Mayor Morris and her cohorts read this blog, and I’m sure they’re all high-fiving each other and getting her victory dance ready.
Geoff Dawe is not a viable alternative for Mayor. Nice guy, to be sure. But if you talk to anyone at the Chamber of Commerce, not the most effective of leaders. They’ll be pats on the back as he heads out the door at the Chamber elections tomorrow night. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out….
And Tim Jones’ endorsement? We’ve all seen how people have rallied around Mr. Jones’ political aspirations lately.
Mr. Dawe is going to have to step it up with a big campaign machine. A concensus builder doesn’t necessarily a leader make. He’ll need to have his strategy all planned out, and hope to heck he doesn’t fall at the first gate.
If Nigel has any sense, he’ll exit the mayoral race. I think he has a crack at a council seat, but not a hope in hades for the mayor’s chair.
I fear a split vote could deliver Morris a victory.
But there is still great hope that there will be enough change for councillors that Phyllis could be lonely at the top.
A for Anonymous said
Why are we all assuming that the incumbent will be re-elected because of a split vote between her opponents? Are there still throngs of Morris-supporters, so many that she remains a strong contender and is the one to beat? Are there that many Aurorans who have been sleeping the past four years? It seems to me, with her appalling term of office, that she will have to claw her way back into office. I didn’t pay much attention to municipal politics 4 years ago, now I do, and I owe that all to the disgraceful behaviour of Morris and her 5 followers. I guess that’s one thing I can thank them for.
someone who loves this town more than politics said
Wow, with such an introduction paved by the AuroraCitizen one has to wonder if the tremors we just felt weren’t an eartquake at all but the result of the almighty Mr. Dawe announcing his candidacy.
More likely it was attributed to the venting of such incredible preassure of built up voter frustration and apathy with no “real” candidates coming forward.
We definately (not maybe) need someone in a leadership position who actually has some real leadership experience.
I fail to see how Mr. Dawe brings anything different to the table then what already exists.
Mr. Dawe is not a game changer.
I agree with “countdown” that Mr. Dawe may be a nice guy, but so was John Tory, doesn’t necessarily mean that all the other criteria for a politician is there.
Where is the backbone?
Outside the Library and Chamber of Commerce, which he has only had short stints of involvement with, I fail to see large corporate experience, Regional experience or even local experience.
Does anyone in Aurora know how he is, or care?
There’s no need to “stay tuned” over the summer, nothing is going to change a vote split come October.
And although I’m sure a vast number of Auroran’s would love to see Mr. Johnson’s fantastical senario come to life we can be assured this won’t happen either.
All 4 candidates have different views, and the ones who have piece-meal platforms at this stage show no intention of collaboration or compromise.
We’re dealing with big egos here, some with backing and others that are clearly out of their league.
I wouldn’t expect any of them to “react” to this news, simply because it’s not worth reacting to.
Just like I wouldn’t expect any of the challengers to drop out of the race and run for council, but that should be the question that all of them hear from every citizen.
Why Mayor and not council?
Anonymous said
While I agree that Geoff Dawe is not currently, nor has he previously been an Aurora Councillor, let’s be realistic here. Four more years of the status quo just won’t do. None of the current councillors are capable of the job and Nigel and Clowater are fringe players at best. Dawe is the best alternative. I remember when Tim Jones was Mayor he had the CAO sit beside him at the Council table to help with procedure if necessary. Dawe is a quick study, he’ll pick it up in no time!
someone who loves this town more than politics said
Anonymous 5:26
In the hopes of remaining realistic, when you say “Mr. Dawe is the best alternative” is that all it takes to secure your vote?
Like Mr. Kean I’m struggling to understand if Mr. Dawe’s support going to come from his vision and ability to execute?
If so let’s hear it.
Or is the strategy for Mr. Dawe to provide an “alternative” and go after the anti-Phyllis vote, if so he has an uphill battle to climb on 2 fronts:
1.) Like it or not, the Mayor has bought a lot of votes and is seen by a saint by several members of the community.
How does Mr. Dawe expect to win over these voters? With is Charisma? His staggering breadth of community involvement? or his leadership when it comes to regional politics?
Uh huh.
2.) Mr. Dawe faces a vote split on these grounds with Nigel.
Mr. Clowater doesn’t enter the anti-Phyllis equation because he has never provided his platform, nor has he ever claimed to question the current administration which is quite curious. I think his candidacy is solely to confuse voters and maybe steal them away from other candidates, but most likely at numbers that aren’t worth the time to calculate.
All I can see for now is that Mr. Dawe has provided Aurora with a Nigel v2.0.
Another candidate that will, like last election, be eaten and spit out by Phyllis, so I hope he is ready for what he is getting himself into, and Aurorans who place all their hope in this candidate recognize the risk in their endorsement.
All this rushing around and focus on who is going to become mayor is pushing the real question into the background: Who is really going to decide the town’s business, and those are the councilors.
As for your opinion that “None of the current councilors are capable of the job”
I think that is a blanket statement that you should consider retracting.
Whether you agree with their positions or not Councilors McRoberts, Collins-Mcrakas, Buck and even Gallo have proven themselves “capable”.
I would agree that Granger, Gaertner and Wilson aren’t capable of even formulating individual thoughts, and MorMac have exhibited a total lack of integrity to even be considered capable humans.
Hopefully all of their actions and lack thereof at the table will be seen by voters before they reach the polls but that isn’t being realistic.
If there is a great enough conviction for change then I suggest everyone start crawling out of their “anonymous” shells and vocalizing their opinions.
Immediately and everywhere.
Talk to your neighbors, even strangers about local issues and the politicians that are taking action on them.
A sigh of frustration may be all that it takes to start a discussion, but sharing experiences and having a healthy debate will go along way to understanding how a candidate is capable of achieving their platform.
Richard Johnson said
Geoff Dawe has impressive credentials and he appears to be very capable.
Our biggest concerns as a community should be that the vote for change is not split three ways, with Phyllis being re-elected with less than 30% of the total vote count.
In an ideal world, I would like to see Roger, Nigel and Geoff get together and come up with a solution that would see two of them run for council and only one of them run for Mayor. I realise that is unlikely to happen, but it would be the best case scenario given that all three individuals could get elected to council and we would have a better chance as a community to effect some much needed change. We need new blood and some professionalism brought to dealing with our town’s affairs.
A for Anonymous said
“It will be interesting to see how the 2 current candidates and Mayor react to this news.”
Do we really expect any type of reaction from Roger Clowater on this? He has yet to comment on anything relevant to this election and so far has just run a campaign of plastering his name everywhere with no substance behind it.
Countdown to Oct said
Really? Geoff Dawe is a contender? I don’t think he has the backbone required. Nice guy, but does the average person on the street know him? He better have a campaign machine behind him.
Poor Nigel was expecting Tim Jones to be his supporter. Maybe Nigel will finally decide to run for a council seat instead, and reduce the likelhood of vote-splitting for the mayor’s seat.
Anonymous said
Best news yet….now we have something to look forward to.