May 6, 2006: THE TORONTO STAR

BY: Royson James

It's fair to say that the city's political movers and shakers, having turned Toronto upside down in search of a suitable candidate to topple David Miller for the mayoralty in November, didn't have a brain wave and happen upon Jane Pitfield.

In fact, "Just call me Jane" is the second choice of the disaffected and dispirited, the disappointed in David Miller bandwagon, the haters who never saw anything good in Miller in the first place, the far right, the anti-tax crusaders, the anti-condo loons, the any-development-over-20-storeys-is-bad-for-you brigade, and various and sundry dissidents.

Who is the first choice?

Ah, hmm, well, there is none.

Julian Fantino, the former police chief who proved the most political of chiefs in memory? Yes, many would love to have him, but he isn't running. Why should he? Fantino may miss the limelight, but his missus sure doesn't. Besides, he's making much more money and doing much less work than he did as chief. Why would he mess up his comfortable nest to get muddied and bloodied in an election dogfight with people who have been dying to go at him?

Ex-Liberal MP Dennis Mills? Ego aside, this dog won't hunt.

Argonaut coach "Saint" Pinball Clemons has already turned down the offer. He has a full-time job running a football team and a full-time job administering tens of millions of provincial money earmarked for youth violence.

Nobody else on city council is close to being ready, though Giorgio Mammoliti and Michael Thompson have future designs on the job.

So, Pitfield is the second and sole choice of the right, the middle, Conservatives, Liberals and the others. The sooner they rally around her, the better chance she has of pulling off an upset victory.

Problem is, not too many know what Pitfield is made of, her core values, the causes that make her tick, how she will perform under pressure. She may have the royal looks, but does she have the royal jelly to lead, to make tough decisions, to get a city to rally to the cause and sacrifice for some common good?

As a matter of fact, has Pitfield figured out what exactly is the common good?

"I give her credit for standing up and being counted," said Councillor Case Ootes, who buried his own mayoral aspirations three years ago and deferred to John Tory, who finished second to Miller.

But Ootes hasn't stood up and backed his colleague from Leaside.

"I'm waiting to see how Jane's campaign evolves," Ootes said yesterday.

Coward. But oh so predictable.

During the last election, many of Miller's NDP colleagues on council watched from the sidelines until it became clear Miller was on a roll. Then they rushed to his side.

At this week's campaign launch, Councillors Mike Del Grande and David Soknacki were the only two to stand with Pitfield. It's expected most of the following councillors will join in by September's end, unless her fortunes are tanking: Denzil Minnan-Wong, Frances Nunziata, Karen Stintz, Doug Holyday, Rob Ford, Cesar Palacio and Thompson.

If David Shiner, Cliff Jenkins, Mike Feldman, Ootes and the like start embracing Pitfield, you know she's looking like a winner.

In formally launching her campaigning this week in unspectacular fashion at a Thorncliffe Park banquet hall, Pitfield touched on a multitude of themes — designed to offer something to everyone. That's neither good nor bad this early in the campaign. But it raises eyebrows. Is this how it will be in September, or will the platform be distilled to three issues most damaging to the incumbent?

At her launch, Pitfield spoke of crime and safety, tax hikes, inaction on waste management, homelessness, dirty streets and other issues.

The natural tendency is to pile on, but a candidate does so at her peril. For example, voters want to know if Miller is taking care of their taxes, so it's fair game, good politics, even, to paint the mayor as the "Billion Dollar Man" for increasing spending over three years by that amount.

But to extend that into broadsides against all spending and into pronouncements such as, "I think like a taxpayer" and the like isn't necessarily a winning strategy.

Most of the 37 per cent of eligible residents who vote in municipal elections are city builders. They want Toronto to thrive and prosper. They understand that property taxes are an important part of the equation.

What they want to hear is a crisp, practical vision of how to make this city shine, and an equally clear mapping out of how to achieve this without sending ratepayers to the poorhouse.