About the Blog:

Guelph Politico is locally sourced and dedicated to covering the political and cultural scene in the City of Guelph. Est. 2008.

Monday, October 18, 2010

The Following People Will Not Get My Vote...

...David Birtwistle.
That is all.
So in a last ditch effort to get as many Candidate Questionnaires as I can before the Election Day in one week, I sent another reminder to the outstanding candidates who have yet to hand one in. And as of 8:30 pm on Monday night, out of the nearly dozen still outstanding, only one has gotten back to me: Mayoral Candidate David Birtwistle. Here's what he (or somebody else considering that the e-mail wasn't signed by him) wrote back to me.

Please refer to my website, www.davidbirtwistle.com
Rena Akerman for
David Birtwistle
Candidate for Mayor
City of GUELPH

Yeah, that's a diss. And I've been turned down by girls with braces so I know what a diss is. I count myself as undecided for this election, but I sure as hell know who I'm not voting for: David Birtwistle. I know I may not exactly play centre field, but I didn't know I was one of the 'looney left.' I can only think that Mr. Birtwistle has confused me with another Adam A. Donaldson and didn't know that the questionnaire came from me, the one who complimented his debate performance.
If you'll draw your attention to the right (haha) you'll see that I've done as Mr. Birtwistle (or Ms. Akerman. Whatever.) suggested and added a link to his website. All I can do is my best and assume that Mr. Birtwistle just can't understand the kids now-in-days with the rap music and the brain damage and the blogging. I assume this because he, himself, doesn't even write his own blog posts. No big deal. 
And to all those that did take the time to answer the questionnaire, thank you. The demands of campaigning are incredible when you think about balancing press, personal appearances, debates, forums, research, going door-to-door, and those pesky jobs and family commitments you all have. I understand if a request for time from a simple blogger falls through the cracks, but in David Birtwistle's case, going out of your way to send me only your website URL, let's just say that I know when to peel the banana. At least from a hand gesture perspective. 
So yeah, I won't be voting Birtwistle on Election Day. Thanks for making that vote easy.

2 comments:

Chris Woodward said...

So you won't vote for a guy because he didn't fill out your questionnaire?

It might have been inconsiderate on his part, but it sounds like your decision weighs on the fact that you were "snubbed" more than his actual political abilities. Maybe his secretary misunderstood who you were and what you were about? I mean, if any of the other candidates refused to fill out your questionnaire, would you automatically write them off, too?

It just comes off as a shallow reason for not voting for someone, especially if you were impressed with that person's debatemanship.

Ryan said...

I disagree with Chris.

It takes 5 minutes to scan your blog and realize that its a wealth of information about the election. Had David Birtwistle or his assistant bothered to do this, they would have realized that it was worth the 1 hour's effort to respond properly.

Clearly he can't be bothered to communicate, which is not something I want in a mayor. He's lost my vote as well.

By the way, his website is mostly attacks and lacks basic features such as a platform. There's no excuse for that, as other less net savvy candidates at least have a platform available on the web.