Hunt Pondering Jump to Provincial Politics
I see in the Surrey Leader that longtime Surrey Councillor Marvin Hunt is considering a run for the BC Liberal nomination on Surrey-Fleetwood.
This might be a good fit for Marvin. Clearly the power locally has shifted to Surrey First, with all of the SET councillors except for Hunt and Judy Higginbotham having joined Dianne Watts's coalition. That leaves Marvin and Judy on the outside looking in.
Marvin has done an admirable job steering some regional bodies (he is a former president of the Union of BC Municipalities and a longtime GVRD and TransLink board member), and he would bring a lot of experience to the provincial table.
The timing does present a tricky issue. The BC Liberals are trying to get their candidates for the May 2009 election in place this fall BEFORE the November 15 municipal election. So if Hunt takes a BC Lib nomination, it does complicate his council re-election bid: opponents can suggest that re-electing him may cause an expensive civic by-election less than a year later. But if he takes a nom and decides not to run for Council, that leaves a six-month span with no income and the always-there possibility that he loses in May 2009 and is left out of politics.
This might be a good fit for Marvin. Clearly the power locally has shifted to Surrey First, with all of the SET councillors except for Hunt and Judy Higginbotham having joined Dianne Watts's coalition. That leaves Marvin and Judy on the outside looking in.
Marvin has done an admirable job steering some regional bodies (he is a former president of the Union of BC Municipalities and a longtime GVRD and TransLink board member), and he would bring a lot of experience to the provincial table.
The timing does present a tricky issue. The BC Liberals are trying to get their candidates for the May 2009 election in place this fall BEFORE the November 15 municipal election. So if Hunt takes a BC Lib nomination, it does complicate his council re-election bid: opponents can suggest that re-electing him may cause an expensive civic by-election less than a year later. But if he takes a nom and decides not to run for Council, that leaves a six-month span with no income and the always-there possibility that he loses in May 2009 and is left out of politics.
posted by Jordan Bateman @ 11:13 AM
