Oro-Medonte: Group says it’s unbiased

By NATHAN TAYLOR, THE PACKET & TIMES October 1 2010
The West Oro Ratepayers Association (WORA) has not yet thrown its support behind a particular candidate in Oro-Medonte Township, despite incumbents’ concerns to the contrary, an official says. In an email sent to WORA members in May, vice-president Domenic Natale indicated the WORA executive “committed to support Sandy Agnew himself with his campaign to run for deputy mayor.”
That was one of two commitments WORA made regarding the Oct. 25 municipal election. The second, Natale wrote, was that WORA would “create a support team to identify a possible candidate to run in Ward 4 and to support them with their campaign strategy.”
However, in an email exchange earlier this month between WORA president Ron Golden and Ward 4 Coun. John Crawford, Golden said the “final decision on which candidate WORA supports will be made on the basis of the report card being organized by the AWARE group.”
During an interview Thursday, Natale addressed the contradictory messages.
“I don’t know what would have led me to say that,” he said. “We have not taken a stand to support any individual.”
Natale’s email was sent before it was known that the citizens’ group AWARE Simcoe would be surveying and interviewing election candidates.
WORA is a residents’ group started in 2003 to address concerns about urban sprawl and development in the township.
WORA does have a vested interest in the races in Wards 3 and 4 — the areas of the township it represents — and for the deputy mayor position. (Mayor Harry Hughes has been acclaimed.) WORA has also been involved with the survey initiative by AWARE.
At one point, Natale explained, there were three organizations within the township with similar objectives — AWARE, WORA and the Oro-Medonte Citizens Alliance (OMCA). For example, all focused strongly on issues affecting the environment, government transparency and responsible use of taxpayer dollars.
The OMCA had approached WORA to get involved in promoting the issues ahead of the election. WORA agreed. However, there were concerns about a “duplication of effort” between the OMCA and AWARE. The OMCA later folded into AWARE, which has an Oro-Medonte chapter.
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WORA was invited to provide input into the questionnaires that were going to local candidates.
“We agreed to participate,” Natale said, noting it was more efficient than having WORA create its own survey, which was the original plan.
WORA will support candidates who “reflect a similar attitude” toward issues that are important to the organization, Natale said.
“We are eagerly waiting for some of those results to be posted,” he said.