Recently, while canvassing a home in the Fallingbrook area, the homeowner said to me that in his opinion, I was the hardest working candidate he’d ever seen since Paul Godfrey. I told him that I was completely flattered by his comment, but that I wasn’t surprised.
While not trying to sound cocky or anything, I told him I wasn’t surprised because the hard work he saw in me is the exact same as I have had throughout my entire life. This election campaign has been but one of many challenges that I have faced in my life. In each case I have embraced the challenges with the same tenacity I have embraced the past several months with. I am in this election to do one thing and one thing only…that is to win. Given that, how could I approach the campaign with anything less than my very best? From the very beginning my team and I knew that to beat an incumbent (let alone 2) it would be an uphill challenge. For the last several years, my opponents have had the luxuries that come with holding a position of public power. Their names have been printed and broadcast into local homes for years and we knew this was a big challenge for me and the only way to over come that challenge would be to outwork, out hustle, out fundraise them both, while maintaining my integrity at all costs by taking the high road throughout.
Working as hard as I could was a commitment that I made to Roxanne, Eric, Scott, Chris, Steve, Mike and Joe who form my campaign management team, and in turn they all made that same commitment to me. I have received similar commitments from the 15 others who form the inner circle surrounding us as well as the 40 others who work around the periphery. There is such an amazing sense of purpose and drive amongst our team members, that as we now sit less than two weeks until Election Day it is hard to imagine how our energy and passion won’t take us to our ultimate goal!
Back on March 17th which was the day I officially entered this race, I recall wondering out loud what my opponents would do, if anything to discredit me. When looking at me, people see a fairly successful business man, who over the past many years has dedicated thousands of hours to the not for profit sector, raised more money than perhaps anyone else in the region, understands the issues that face our town and has demonstrated proven leadership, vision and does everything with passion. On the surface it would seem there isn’t much to discredit, but at the same time I know that nicer people have had worse things said about them, so I still had concerns.
As it turns out, moving ahead a few months to just recently, it seems my concerns had proven true. Apparently some people out there who for reasons known only to them felt that instead of attacking my platform and policies they would attack my character instead. Given that I’m an actor, director, producer, these individuals used that to figure out how to make it appear as if I’ve made some very poor acting choices in the past. While admittedly not everything I appeared in were “Oscar worthy” there is nothing out there I wouldn’t be willing to admit to. Imagine my shock and dismay then when allegations began surfacing, made by a fictitious individual that I had appeared in soft porn movies. There is no video that exists to validate this point but hey, with some creative editing using films I have been in as well as films that I haven’t…maybe they thought they could fool some folks. Imagine my disgust when certain local media outlets chose to run with this story despite the claims being anonymous, unsubstantiated and unverified. This is not what I would consider journalism with integrity and it really caused me to wonder if all this is worth it.
There is an old sales tactic that works around the premise that if you have nothing worthy of selling on it’s own merits, then sell it by not telling your prospective clients why they should buy from you, but why they shouldn’t buy from your competitors instead. It’s called “Wag the Dog” and it’s been used for decades, but it’s also a sad statement of affairs.
I have a vision that comes with plans, policies and platforms that are easy to understand. They will work and my competitors know it. On the other hand they wish to run on a past record that is filled with rising taxes, shrinking jobs and a reduced sense of community. So it only makes sense then that those who realize the discrepancy try to even the playing field by attacking my character and integrity.
Between now and October 25th, I will knock on 5000 more doors (400 today alone!), participate in 2 more meet and greets, conduct 1 voice drop talking about advance polls, hold 2 small fundraisers since I’ve funded this campaign almost entirely myself, hold an “OLD STYLE POLITICAL RALLY” and a trip to advance polls, make thousands of phone calls, put out 400 more signs, stand on a different corner every day while waiving at cars and telling them that this year. there is a clear choice and more….phew! I have worked harder than anyone in this race and I will keep up the pace that they simply can’t right until the end!
WHY am I doing this? Because it’s important that during the next four years, we have the type of leadership, the type of vision and the type of passion to make Whitby a better place to live work and play. I feel in my heart I am the only candidate in this election that can do that and come Election Day I sincerely hope you will agree with me.
ON OCTOBER 25th PLEASE VOTE ROCKY VARCOE FOR MAYOR OF WHITBY.
