Speaking colloquially of course, you’ve  got your tail between your legs professor.

Yeah, three years ago, following that municipal election I took one look at the results, saw that Rick Kasper had topped the polls for council with a lead of 500 votes over the next candidate and boldly predicted that a “new power had emerged in Sooke politics.”

 How wrong I was!

 Somewhere between November 2005 and November 2008 that power gradually had waned so much that when Rick did decided to run for mayor this time round he went down to incumbent Mayor Janet Evans, albeit  by a relatively narrow margin of 313 votes.

 And if that wonderful Times Colonist picture of  the mayor, with a  broad smile on her face hoisting a glass of what suspiciously looked like bubbly, is any indication she savoured every moment of her win.

 And wasn’t that John Farmer — one of the masterminds of her win  and the best mayor Sooke never had, peeking over her shoulder?

 Your Worship, if I should be so bold,  you should frame that page and hang it in your office as a reminder of a great win. 

 The talking heads at CFAX radio also go into the act on election night praising Janet for her fifth win at the polls (two for council and three for mayor) and predicting that she seemed to have a lock on the job for years to come.

 Mayor for life?

 Well, maybe, but if she decides to run again she will never face a tougher opponent than Rick Kasper, a veteran politician whose greatest claim to fame was probably pushing for the creation of a new finance and administration committee to ensure greater accountability in the municipality’s financial affairs and, as far as I am concerned voting against the boardwalk.

 Was there bad blood between the mayor and Rick? Some of their public comments early in the campaign would indicate that but it never surfaced during the election campaign which was  a pretty dull affair with most candidates determined, it seems, not to rock the boat, while (yawn) sidewalks reigned supreme as the issue of the day.

 While candidates in adjoining municipalities slugged it out, candidates in our election quietly went about their business, littering our streets as usual with unsightly election signs and doing the door-to-door thing soliciting votes.

 Sheila Beech was up so bright and early on our street that she got me in the middle of cooking my bacon and eggs for breakfast. But she deservedly got re-elected so that kind of enthusiasm obviously paid off.

 Solid as a Rock Ron Dumont made it back but if it is any solace to Brenda, Ron fought back after a defeat at the polls a few years back so we will probably see and hear from her again.

 The name of successful candidate Maja Tait, is etched in my mind because of her simple rhyming “Tait in ‘O8” election signs. Her signs, in contrast to some of the garish efforts by other candidates, indicated to me that Councillor-elect Tait is an economy-minded person not prone to lavish spending and that is the kind of councillor we need.

OTHERWISE

Big story of the election was not so much that the museum referendum was carried by such a huge majority, that was a foregone conclusion, but that the museum will now be funded in perpetuity enabling it to hire a full-time director and allow Elida Peers to take some well-earned time off to pursue some new causes.

 I note the referendum authorizes setting up bylaw No 1, “for the purpose of contributing $25,000 annually to an endowment fund and $50,000 annually to an operating fund”  but makes no mention of tying these grants to cost of living. I would assume that is built into the bylaw.

 Any latent opposition among JDFers to supporting the museum was certainly mitigated when regional director candidate Ute Schnarr took an ad in the Sooke News Mirror and wrote a piece on her website in support of the museum. Successful candidate Mike Hicks was always vociferous in his support of the museum.

Thank you professor.

Y’re welcome