Michael Levitt and I are supporting George Smitherman for Mayor of Toronto.
As Rocco Rossi supporters we were disheartened at yesterday
We were sad to see Rocco
But even if he won
But now it
George is the clear choice for a fiscally responsible progressive
George Smitherman will be a Mayor Toronto can be proud of.
Michael Levitt is a key Jewish community organizer and fundraiser for Rocco Rossi Campaign, Campaign Chair for Carolyn Bennett, Co- Chair Liberal Friends of Israel and CJPAC Board Member.
6 comments:
If George is such an obvious choice for Mayor, Mr. Morton, I find it strange that you're pining for Rocco!
Is your obvious second best, "obvious anything", except what you protest George is not: your clear "anybody but Ford" candidate?
It's now fairly obvious that Rocco prefers Ford over Smitherman. He said, "In essence, the choice for mayor is coming down to those who want to stop what Mr. Ford describes as the gravy train and those who want to stop Mr. Ford." As if those who want to stop Ford support the gravy train. The way he put the choices is clearly a slight against Smitherman. And just to make it clearer he urged people not to vote against someone but for someone; a valid statement but obviously designed to attack the recent strategy of the Smitherman campaign.
Rocco made a serious strategical error. He needed to wait for Smitherman or Ford to falter and then work his way up the middle. It's a difficult waiting game, particularly if it doesn't happen. But it's the only way candidates like him can win. And he was running just such a campaign: solid, balanced, and well thought out. Then things changed. He ran those god awful ads and had the dumb idea to bury a highway. What was worse, he came out with this just as people were seriously starting to question whether Smitherman could beat Ford. Smitherman's numbers were falling and THAT was the moment a solid Rocco campaign could have moved up as the challenger to Ford. It didn't because of those stupid moves. Some advisors who want everyone to believe their these great political operatives but really don't have a clue what they're doing decided he needed to cut through it all with something that will catch people's attention. I feel sorry for Rocco for listening to these people, because it killed his chances. But if THESE are the type of people whose counsel he values then he didn't deserve to be mayor.
"I want to commend Rocco Rossi for what was surely a difficult decision to end his campaign tonight. I can't imagine how hard this decision was for Rocco, his family and his supporters. Since early January, I have watched Mr. Rossi in action and I have been consistently impressed by his bold thinking, his wit and his passion for building a better, more inclusive Toronto. His unbridled optimism - or his "never betterness" as I called it at the TVO debate - is inspiring. I wish Mr. Rossi and his family well, and every success in whatever he chooses to do next.”
That was a comment from George Smitherman on Mr. Rossi's withdrawing from the Mayoral race. From the very beginning of this race both George and Rocco have presented well thought out progressive ideas for this City. But recent polls have made it clear that Rocco's ability to win has all but evaporated. I'm sure dropping out was a difficult decision for him, and who to support next will be a difficult decision for his supporters. But with only a week and a half until election day there is very little time to waste. With that in mind I ask that all of Rocco's supporters join me in electing George Smitherman the next Mayor of this great city.
Both Rocco and George, when asked "If not you, then who?" answered "Joe Pantalone"
That's who should be Mayor. Smitherman is Ford light and has consistently proved to have few original ideas nor any understanding of the tsunami about to swallow us all
Have you seen the size of Ford, all the candidates can be called Ford-light. :)
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