Running for Local Council

I dont want to make this thread a rant about the issues that caused me to run, these are local issues that only affect us living in close proximity. It came to the point where I couldnt keep fighting an up-hill battle, so I decided to run for my local council and force them to take notice of our situation.

One of the reasons I'm starting this thread is in the hope to hear from others who have ventured into the world of local politics, because this is a new world to me and even tho we are a small "city", I know the grubbinesses of corruption is present--and it does kind of scare me in a way.

I know I'm not going to change the world, but looking at our legal options; running for local government is the more cost viable option (it only cost me $80 to nominate).

So, who has done this? did you get elected? How did the establishment deal with an outsider coming to play in their ranks? How did you campaign?

So far my "campaign" has been limited, I only just went in today to file the nomination with the returns officer so no "propaganda" as yet. Basically I have told my neighbours (who are in the same situation as me) and I have told some friends, but most of my friends dont live in the district (some only by a single street).

I reviewed the results of the last election when they happened and its around 150 votes to get elected, its not many but in honesty its a LOT more than some of the other local election margins I have viewed--even from larger cities. This low number means it is possible for me to win this, but still very unlikely.

With a voter base that small you need to get in with the city employees. The cops, fireman and utility workers all vote.
Unfortunately that means playing into the good old boy system.
Your only other option is a door to door personal meeting with Joe public. But Joe is very apathetic.
Good luck

originally posted by: Bluntone22
With a voter base that small you need to get in with the city employees. The cops, fireman and utility workers all vote.
Unfortunately that means playing into the good old boy system.
Your only other option is a door to door personal meeting with Joe public. But Joe is very apathetic.
Good luck

That's very good advice. In fact, it may not be possible to win without support of the local cops, firefighters and city employees.

You'd also want to get in good with the local contractors that are routinely awarded contracts to do improvements and maintenance. Once they know you've got their backs, they'll support your campaign and of course, it gets you in line for "payola" if you're elected.

a reply to: Bluntone22
I do know some people who work for the city, but some know me by a different name (I had to run with my real name which is a whole other issue). I dont know if they will vote for me tho, but your right the city employees are a good portion of that 150.

The cops dont work for the city here, nor the fire dep, they are both state run. I dont know if the police would bother with a local election, the police mostly move around and its only really the higher ranked ones that stay here--I have always thought not being known by the cops here was a good thing... hmmm.

Door to door is an option, I was going to distribute campaign material in peoples letterboxes, but if I'm doing one, I guess I could do both at the same time.

a reply to: TonyS
I do know a lot of the contractors for the city--more than actual city employees, but the problem with most of those guys is they are all from NZ or the UK and wont enrol to vote, because if they vote in Australia once they will have to vote forever always or get fined... so Im told.

One guy from the UK who is a mate told me to fk off when I asked him to enrol to vote, he doesn't want to have to deal with the fines because of our compulsory voting at state/federal level. Thats just one of my mates born from outside of Australia, a lot have the same view.

Honestly, the work done here by our Kiwi and pommy cousins is fantastic, but they dont give a # about local administrative laws and stuff, they just want to get paid, get drunk and enjoy the weather. This isnt true with all migrants, but my tradie mates in the area are some of the most politically apathetic people I know. No love lost for them, but I would like if they had a say where their tax goes (ie: voting).

I have tried running for local government before, I did not win but found it interesting. Maybe next time.

Engaging with the community is a big part of it. The voting rates for local elections are generally low at around 20% so targeting the right people does take time. The more older demographic is usually more interested in local government, but there is always exceptions.

There does appear to be a gradual growing interest and competition for local government positions. Get your name in the local paper, attend local groups and events, try to understand your local community.

a reply to: kwakakev
Assuming you ran on a particular local issue, did that issue get addressed by the "establishment" after running? I mean, was there a goal achieved just by running?.

The older vote is what I'm counting on. The people around me are mostly retirees who share the same issue with the council, I'm hoping to get their support but I am still considered "young" (im 35) to them.

Its likely that I will be called by someone from the local paper once the nominations close, they have their own war with the council and they like to cover council politics. There may even be a debate forum--there was for candidates last local election but it may have only been for mayoral candidates??, this will be covered by the local media, so I will have to try and keep some sort of media professionalism.

Did you have a campaign budget? How much did it cost you at the end of the day (if you dont mind me asking)? I'm running this on a budget of 1 empty wallet, really I cant afford to throw money at my campaign but I know I will have some costs.

a reply to: ItVibrates

I did not have a campaign budget either, if I was going to spend money on anything then a small advertising flyer to hand out would be the first thing. Go for some fridge magnets if you get some funding.

If there is mainly just one big issue that bothers you then you really need to think if this is for you. There are other ways to get these things addressed, as a member of the public you can still bring it to the council and speak on the matter if you wish. If you do get elected, then very likely some resolution will be found for your current issue rather quickly. Are you still prepared to take on and look at all the other issues that do not affect you as much as this one does?

Are you currently attending council meetings and familiar with their processes?

originally posted by: ItVibrates
a reply to: TonyS
I do know a lot of the contractors for the city--more than actual city employees, but the problem with most of those guys is they are all from NZ or the UK and wont enrol to vote, because if they vote in Australia once they will have to vote forever always or get fined... so Im told.

One guy from the UK who is a mate told me to fk off when I asked him to enrol to vote, he doesn't want to have to deal with the fines because of our compulsory voting at state/federal level. Thats just one of my mates born from outside of Australia, a lot have the same view.

Honestly, the work done here by our Kiwi and pommy cousins is fantastic, but they dont give a # about local administrative laws and stuff, they just want to get paid, get drunk and enjoy the weather. This isnt true with all migrants, but my tradie mates in the area are some of the most politically apathetic people I know. No love lost for them, but I would like if they had a say where their tax goes (ie: voting).

Unbelievable; the compulsory voting thing. And of course, it makes many of us wonder if the only reason for the compulsory voting is to graft some semblance of legitimacy on what appears to be otherwise a "One Party" state.

Well..........good luck with the election. Hopefully the position pays handsomely.

a reply to: kwakakev
I'm happy to work on other issues, I am involved in activism in other areas and have outlined a platform on a range of local issues, not just the one I need solved.

I havnt been attending council meetings because there is nothing they will do for us on this, they basically brushed their hands of this issue a couple of years back. For them admitting that they may have been at fault once upon a time was enough--its not enough for us who are being poisoned from their historical actions.

After they admitted it was most likely partially their fault (tho no direct owning of the situation), they said they were broke and could not make any funds available to us, and that it was the state governments responsibility now anyway...

State government just wants us dead and would turn our water off if they could--it happens here in WA you know?.

So basically, yeah I am forced to run on one issue (a very big issue) but will happily keep on working for a better community. I think I can do a better job than the people who just want to build tourist infrastructure.

a reply to: TonyS
Honestly, Im not in it for a big pay day. I study law after leaving a 10 year career in IT, if I want to go back to the big pay checks I would go back to IT.

I'm in this so I dont have to live in a contaminated site, I mean I dont care about infertility from the toxicity, but the young couple a few doors down do. I'm more concerned about the fact just living here has shortened my life by at least 10 years due to whats under us. I'm more concerned that there is no option from here than living on a park bench. We cant sell our homes cos its contaminated, we have nowhere to go, just stuck here in the #--literally.

a reply to: ItVibrates

Pointing the finger and passing the buck is a common political tactic. Your colorful use of language does show you have the energy for it but care is needed if attributing blame as there are legal implications with council decisions. There is a long, colorful and messed up history to get us where we are today, not just one mans stuff up.

Knowing where the problems are is great and helps a lot in fixing things up. Getting to the solutions is where it is at, a lot of the time people just want to make sure if something is done, it is done right.

a reply to: kwakakev
I know its not just the council that is at fault with the ConSite, but they have been the only ones to even acknowledge the issue.

State are also responsible but they have a severe detachment from anything that does not involve digging holes in the country. Its actually the Department of Health who's radioactive (yes) waste was dumped here illegally but the state has the brilliant idea just to close the hospital where the waste once originated and pretend we dont exist... or any people in this town exist... They even tried a few times to "merge" our council with ones surrounding us to make us "go away"--its kind of hard when we were the ones here first.

The state is a whole other problem, but if I'm in the council then I at least have more resources behind me to tackle them on this.

If I was running for village counsel again, I would run my entire campaign thru social media and email. Also go the the post office, hang around and introduce myself to the locals.

I spent a lot of money on posters and advertising....lost anyway to the "good ole boy" network.

a reply to: olaru12
I did want to avoid posters--printing costs is my main reason for that. How do you mean "lost" to the old boy network? did they vandalise them or remove them or something?, I know if I had posters vandalised then I would be quite annoyed, its another reason I wanted to avoid posters.

Social media is an area I am using, I have some followes on my FB page, but they are mostly friends (some strangers, but not many) and mostly friends outside of the ward or city. I also have my own blog-site (the domain is my name) which I can convert into a campaign site. The domain was originally created years ago just so I could have my own email address and showcase some of my work, but it's there already and nobody is going to miss the content on it I will replace with "propaganda" so why not make use of it?.

Other forms of social media I have yet to consider seriously. I dont want to make vids of myself and upload them to youtube, I have yet to consider a strategy for twitter. I really only use FaceBook in regards to social media so my ideas there are really a bit limited.

The post office is a good idea--its in a small shopping area with Woolies and a few other shops so its always got people around.

a reply to: ItVibrates

My village is about 50% Hispanic, 50% anglo....

I meant "lost" as in defeated...

The "good ole boys" are the families both anglo and Hispanic that have held on to the council for years. They have a network that is mostly excludes new people. Ive only been here 15 years and that puts me in the "new guy" classification. My village goes back to 1760 as do some of the original families.

a reply to: olaru12
My bad, I assumed you were here in Australia with your username--1760 is a little early for European settlement here. Our town dates back to 1820's and its the oldest European settlement in the region, but we're kinda youngsters in comparison. The earliest European recording of the river mouth was in the 17th century, but no settlement till much later.

I know what you mean about being "the new guy", a lot of places to the south of us, you basically have to be born in the town not to be considered "the new guy", even after decades in the community. We have a much more diverse population in this city. In fact the Portuguese Consulate is in our town and not in the state capital because of the large (about 15-20%) Portuguese population.

We also have the states largest Esperanto speaking community for some reason :/

EDIT: "Woolies" in the previous post is Woolworth supermarket--sorry for the colloquialism.

Nuclear waste is sounding like a big business these days, for whatever reasons a precedent has been set with the dumping of nuclear waste at some location. Trying to get such a site established is very hard. Instead of having and 'unofficial nuclear waste site', make it official then heaps more money will come quickly in to set it up right rather than the mess that is currently swept under the carpet.

Just an idea.

a reply to: kwakakev
The dumping happened long in the past, this was the council tip-site, but it was developed and sold off in the mid 80's as low-cost home-sites. I bought the property here in the mid 2000's; at no point did anyone inform me this was the old tip-site. Over the years I have learned more about this place, became friends with some of the residents and learned about the odd heath problems people were having.

I personally dont have a civil case against anyone, but others do for their health problems. I wont discuss other peoples legal situations, but with the exception of the young couple--most people are 60+ and are likely to die before anything is done.

If it was just lead in peoples systems, I wouldnt be so gun-ho toward the council, as there are other sources of lead here that are extrinsic of this being a former waste dump. Its the Uranium that keeps showing up, and THAT is what pisses me off. Especially when we have a council (and city residents) that loves to talk up their "green" credentials.

The Uranium levels on peoples test results I have seen are all high (not just "elevated"), so where did it come from?. I have no documentation to prove it came from the hospital, but I do have testimony from an old garbage truck driver who claimed he drove contaminated waste from the hospital to the tip-site once a week.

At least I am getting some notice out of this. Already have had some inquiries today from the establishment. I think, if they dont kill me, I might actually be able to make some progress on this.

a reply to: ItVibrates

When it comes to fracking, radioactive agents are used to help track where the fracking liquids go. If there is uranium in the soil, I assume there is the technology to help identify it, but as for the cost, experience, limitations and such I am not sure about. Can always just walk around with a giger counter and see which spots are hotter than the others.

In terms of running for council, it is a hot topic you are on.