The municipal election is less than two months away, and recent developments show that there is a lot of candidate volatility.
When former Langley City mayor Peter Fassbender announced July 30 that he was going to seek his old job back, it didn’t take long for one of the other candidates for mayor to back off. Paul Albrecht, who is finishing his first term as a councillor, announced Aug. 3 he would instead run for councillor again.
Albrecht, who ran unsuccessfully several times before winning a seat in 2014, is showing more pragmatism than politicians often do. He would rather be at the table making decisions than on the outside looking in. Four years is a long time to wait for the next election. He should have a better chance at retaining a councillor’s seat.
On Aug. 15, Langley Township Councillor Kim Richter, who announced in November she would run for mayor against incumbent Jack Froese, also showed a pragmatic streak. She is no longer running for mayor, but instead is seeking a councillor’s seat again.
Her announcement on Facebook received a lot of positive feedback from her supporters. A common sentiment was that they would rather her voice was at the table. Richter does have a reputation for bringing up issues that other councillors are often reluctant to touch, and many voters appreciate that.
In some ways, she is like the late Muriel Arnason, who was legendary for taking provocative stances and bringing up issues that no one else was paying attention to. In her earliest days as a Township councillor (she was the first woman ever elected to council), Arnason was often vilified by some of her fellow (male) councillors. Often their retorts were personal and gender-based, which would be a complete no-no in today’s political climate.
Both announcements will have a significant ripple effect. Some of the candidates who have announced already will now be realizing that there is one less “open” seat – one vacated by a sitting member of council. In Langley Township, it appears that seven of the eight incumbents are running again, although not all have announced their intentions yet. In Langley City, it appears that at least five of the six councillors are running again. First-term Councillor Val van den Broek is still in the mayor’s race, and is the only one seeking a different office at this point in time.
In addition, two former City councillors who stepped aside in 2014 are running again – Teri James and Rosemary Wallace, who has been a school trustee for the past four years. As the City election results are often very close, it is entirely possible that several incumbents could lose their seats this year.
In the Township, a number of newcomers have already stated they are seeking council seats. If there is only one “open” seat (Councillor Charlie Fox is not running again), there will be very stiff competition. The incumbents usually have an edge, but as in the City, two former councillors are seeking to get back on. Steve Ferguson and Bev Dornan were both defeated in 2014.
This year’s municipal election is very different from all those which have gone before. It is the first with rigid spending limits and a prohibition on donations from businesses and unions. Candidates are limited in how much of their campaigns they can self-fund. The election is, for the first time, taking place in October and candidates generally have more questions than answers about how and when to start vigorously campaigning.
As for the Langley Board of Education election, there have been many rumours about challengers to the existing trustees, but little of substance has been publicly announced. It is entirely possible that the race for trustee will be the most hard-fought of the three separate local government campaigns, due to controversy over the sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) curriculum.