‘If I go, I don’t do anything to lose. If I go, I go to win,’ says Jeromy Farkas, seriously considering running for Calgary mayor
The smart money is putting down dough on Jeromy Farkas running for mayor of Calgary.
On this day Farkas is not telling us what he’s decided.
But read what the former councillor, who lost to Jyoti Gondek in the mayor’s race three years ago, does say and place your own bet.
“Life’s too short. Don’t live with regrets,” says Farkas.
“I would much rather regret doing something and falling short than standing on the sidelines saying: I could have made a difference but I was too afraid.”
Farkas confirms he is talking to people and people are talking to him about taking the political plunge.
“What was good for me after the election was screwing off for awhile, letting the councillors and mayor do their thing without lobbing grenades.”
But Farkas says city council is “a car crash you can’t look away from.”
He doesn’t see the problem at city hall just coming from one group of council members.
He points to what he calls fake progressives on council who mouth the progressive lingo without acting on it.
Then there those on council Farkas considers fake conservatives.
“They talk the talk. Do you see any single one of them willing to walk away from their city pension to make a point?
“Do you see any of them willing to stand up and actually go against the grain, go against the city bureaucracy?
“They’ll come and talk to you, Rick. They’ll give you a couple good lines. They’ll get their likes and shares on Facebook. They’ll get the social media credit.
“But when they walk into that city council chamber they are compliant just like the group that votes 100 per cent with Gondek. The fake conservative councillors can ride the wave of discontent but at the end of the day do they have an interest in solving problems?
“They’ll moan and whine but they’re just part of the machine like everybody else.”
Them’s fightin’ words.
Farkas describes himself as “an old school progressive conservative” who is live-and-let-live on social issues and willing to spend money on “the right things” while “seeing city hall wastes a whole lot of money.”
The councillor who fought a lot of battles in his four years on council says city hall is not listening and has not been listening for a long time.
It is a city council who “has turned its back on Calgarians” and Farkas says city hall is far worse than it was when he was on council and it was bad back then.
“It’s not just the silly things going off the rails.”
People could shake their heads or laugh off the Giant Blue Ring or “a couple of rocks and a rusty piece of rebar at Canada Olympic Park.”
He’s talking about Bowfort Towers.
Then there is the way something random will come out of nowhere at city hall, like Gondek skipping the menorah lighting at city hall late last year.
“Boycotting Hanukkah. Where the hell does stuff like this come from? Where do you even start with stuff like that?”
And when city council plays stupid on issues and it comes to the biggest files they have zero support from the public.
Farkas answers to conservatives who favoured him three years ago but may not feel the same way now.
“I stood up when it was hard. I got the bloody nose and then some. I was willing to stand up when other people weren’t. At the end of the day I would stack up my conservative record against anyone.”
Yes, he’s talking to people and people are talking to him.
“They are folks who four years ago would never have dreamed of supporting me for anything even if I ran for dog catcher.”
They may have liked what he was saying but “they couldn’t support me because I was too much of an ass.”
“The last thing I want is a mayor and council who report to Premier Danielle Smith or Premier Naheed Nenshi.”
And so we will see if the smart money is right and Farkas will run for mayor.
The smart money usually gets its right.
“Politics is not a spectator sport,” says Farkas.
“If I go, I don’t do anything to lose. If I go, I go to win. I don’t want to waste anybody’s time.”