ANDREW DRESCHEL
Embrace change … make it work                                    CONTACT ANDREW

POLITICAL ACTIVIST SWITCHES TRACKS

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Hamilton Spectator
Don't be surprised if one of these nights you happen to spot a skinny guy squatting by an election sign with a magic marker in his hand.
If so, never mind depleting your store of moral outrage. It's not an act of vandalism.
It's only the irrepressible Mark Alan Whittle fiddling with one of his own signs. He's not defacing it. He's doing a little cosmetic surgery.
Solvent and elbow grease gets rid of the word "mayor." The marker replaces it with "council."
Whittle, 43, is an auto parts professional and licensed mechanic who works in the PartSource store on Upper James. He was the first candidate to enter the megacity mayor's race and the first to drop out.
But the city hall gadfly is only regrouping, not beating a complete retreat.
Instead of chasing the mayor's job, he's now going after the Ward 7 council seat on the central Mountain.
And when you're running on the cheap, that means there's some salvage work to do.
He's got about 25 mayoral signs that need altering to reflect his change of plans.
And he has some reconditioning to do on that dressed up arctic white 1990 Z24 that he's been tooling around in for months.
The black lettering on the sides that says "Whittle for Mayor" has to go.
The quarter panels that say "No new taxes during my term in office" can stay because it applies to both the mayor's job and council.
The rear deck lid that says "Embrace change, make it work" stays because that's Whittle's general philosophy about the new Hamilton.
But there's no saving the "Whittle 4 Mayor" on the front hood. That needs a good peeling.
Regrets, he has a few.
Whittle was looking forward to tossing a few "grenades" into the mayoralty debates. But even though he figures his fruitless campaign cost him some $700, he's convinced switching is the right move.
He says that's what customers who shoot the political breeze at the store think. And his mom tells him that's what folks at the seniors' centre are saying.
"So I'm bending to their wishes."
Whittle believes the change will increase his electability.
Instead of spreading his scarce resources over the six communities that make up the new Hamilton, he can concentrate on his "hometown" ward where he lives and works.
"I think I can really put a strong campaign on here although I don't have a lot of money because I can hoof it like large. Plus my visibility is high during the day at work because I deal with hundreds of people."
If all this makes Whittle sound like one of those fringe candidates who crop up every election, it should.
He is a fringe candidate, but not in the loose-thread sense of the word.
There's no question Whittle is an unconventional character. But he's also an indefatigable political activist and city hall watchdog.
He is a tireless letter writer who is forever firing off letters and e-mails to local politicians, provincial cabinet ministers, and reporters and editors.
He has the bounce of a puppy, the tenacity of a bulldog, and the voracious appetite of a media hound.
He can turn a political phrase, work up a sensible argument, and understand a policy issue as well as or better than many a council incumbent.
What makes him a marginal candidate is he doesn't have a campaign organization behind him. He's a one-man band with a losing track record who was massacred in both his previous stabs at a Ward 7 seat.
In the 1997 election, which saw Terry Anderson and Bill Kelly victorious, Whittle finished fourth in a field of five with 1,202 votes. That was a huge improvement over 1994 when he finished last among eight with a dismal 382 votes.
This time around Whittle's going to be facing Kelly again for sure. But it's hard to say about Anderson. He's unavailable for comment and rumour is he's considering running federally.
Naturally, there's speculation former alderman Henry Merling will launch a comeback attempt.
Whoever is in the race, you can count on Whittle being in their faces.
"I'm honing my axe now," he says. "I really want to do good this time, if not win."

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