Newcomers Jonina Campbell and David Phelan topped the polls Saturday night as the four New Westminster and District Labour Council-endorsed candidates took control of the seven-member New Westminster school board.
Campbell and Phelan join labour-endorsed incumbents Michael Ewen and James Janzen on the board that outgoing trustee Brent Atkinson said was beset by "division and confrontation, rather than support and consensus" between 2008 and 2011.
Three Voice New Westminster candidates, incumbents Casey Cook and Lisa Graham, along with newcomer MaryAnn Mortensen, also won election, with only Voice New Westminster incumbent Jim Goring failing to win re-election. Atkinson and Lori Watt chose not to seek re-election.
"It's all a little unreal right now," said a jubilant Campbell. "I'm very excited. I worked very hard for this and I don't think I can explain what happened tonight."
Campbell, a Richmond school teacher, garnered the most votes, 5,825, in her first run at office, just ahead of the 5,603 Phelan earned.
"It was a lot of hard work," said Phelan. "Knocking on doors in some pretty bad weather, I'm pretty happy."
Phelan, who only earned 2,322 votes in 2008 when he ran as an independent, said he's looking forward to starting his new job as soon as possible.
"Let's get down to the key challenge of building new schools," said Phelan.
The mood was considerably more subdued at the Dublin Castle, where Voice candidates congregated. And while the group managed to hold its three school board spots, Mortensen's victory came at the expense of her running mate.
Goring knew early Saturday afternoon that the night might not go well when he got a call from a Toronto phone bank telling him to vote for the four labour-endorsed candidates.
"This was when I realized that the game was up, that the district labour council and the NDP-backed candidates were running a much bigger game than I had ever expected," said Goring, who fell 185 votes short.
"I had the energy to go another three years, but the voters have spoken," said Goring, who previously served as a school trustee between 1996 and 1999. "I think my family's not totally unhappy with how this turned out."
Goring's disappointment was occurring at the same time Mortensen won her way onto the board, keeping the Voice New Westminster contingent at three.
"It's mixed emotions for me right now," said Mortensen.
"It's good for me, but we're losing a very positive voice in Jim Goring. I have nothing but respect for Jim and Brenda McEachern-Keen. ... I think it's going to be some time before I'm jumping up and down."
Mortensen said she was happy with how she ran her campaign, and she's happy to see two other newcomers join the board.
"I'm looking forward to working with Jonina (Campbell) and David (Phelan). I think they're great people who bring a fresh perspective," said Mortensen. "I think I can work with Michael (Ewen) and James (Janzen) too."
Goring said he regrets focusing his attack on the school district's business company on its chief executive officer, Brent Atkinson, when he should have concentrated on the "bad behaviour of the business company, not the individual."
And Goring minced no words when he talked about the past history of the business company.
"Who created the problem? Mr. Ewen was part of that. He never acknowledged or apologized for helping create the initial problems with the business company."
For Ewen's part, when asked what he thought about the only incumbent to lose his spot, Ewen didn't say a word, only shaking his head to denote that no comment was forthcoming.
alau@royalcityrecord.com
PRELIMINARY NEW WESTMINSTER SCHOOL BOARD RESULTS AFTER 17 OF 17 POLLS REPORTING (UNOFFICIAL)
1) Jonina Campbell 5,825*
2) David Phelan 5,603*
3) Casey Cook 5,351*
4) Michael Ewen 4,795*
5) James Janzen 4,718*
6) Lisa Graham 4,455*
7) MaryAnn Mortensen 4,283*
8) Jim Goring, 4,098
9) Brenda McEachern-Keen 4,094
10) Glen Richmond 3,651
11) James Bell 2,707
12) James Pepa 2,337
*elected
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