“Here’s your sign.”

Sign story #1

Signs are often a large percentage of a campaign budget; they can also be the most labor intensive for your volunteers. From the construction to delivering to supporters. From installing in public areas according to city bylaws to the follow up maintenance. Everyone knows you will lose some to weather conditions and petty vandalism. It would appear though, that a bizarre phenomenon has occurred to my signs in the last 48 hours.

I did not have my signs out the first week of the campaign; it takes a while for donations to come in and then production time to create them. So they have been out for roughly two weeks. Today I got a call from volunteers that my signs on XX Street were down. Now that is not unusual; it was windy yesterday. Then another call and another and yet another. Plus one is telling me; they are not just “down”, they are “gone.”

I find this rather difficult to believe, it is on a road I travel frequently and I know they were there yesterday. It is late, I tell my volunteers to go home and I head to the location with my son to check it out. Sure enough, there is no sign of the signs. Not blown down with the wind; not broken off by vandals; just plain “gone.” So we replace them with new ones.

As we return to our vehicle my son says; “Here’s your sign.” Sure enough at a nearby building; in a pile of debris, is my sign….and a few feet further another, and another. We recovered half of those missing signs. Sadly as we went to the other locations we were not so lucky. By the end of the night the tally of signs lost is close to forty.


Sign story #2

In our rounds this evening we spotted a home that had a sign for nearly every party on its lawn. Now dueling spouses does happen, but three different supporters in one household is unusual. These are constituents I must meet. The conversation goes something like this:

Jane Morgan: “Hi, I am Jane Morgan. I am running in the election and I am a little surprised at the variety of signs on your yard.”

Constituent: “So am I.”

Jane Morgan; “Pardon me?”

Constituent; “Everyday I come home and there is another one.”

Jane Morgan: “Are you saying they didn’t ask your permission?”

Constituent: “Nope. In fact I called the Liberals and told them to remove it. They told me it is outside of property line and is on public space.”

Jane Morgan: “Well it certainly looks like it is in your yard.”

Constituent: “I know and everyone thinks is support them. Who are you running for?”

Jane Morgan: “The Wildrose Alliance.”

Constituent: “Well go for it. You are the only one who has come to my door.”

I am quite proud that my sign is within the property lines with the permission of the resident.

Sign story #3

I wasn’t even going to comment on this one; but after today’s events I have changed my mind. On Tuesday I noticed nearly all of my fellow candidates in Calgary North Hill had signs popping up on public areas on Centre St. and 14 St. I gave each of my sign volunteers a copy of the restricted list and I know these two streets are completely off limits. On Wednesday I call the city of Calgary 311 line; thinking perhaps I have missed some “exception.”

My call was answered promptly and after some brief research the representative confirms they are indeed restricted streets. She tells me if I have the exact address, I could lodge a complaint. I say, “Well there are several and frankly I don’t have time for that.” Out of curiosity I ask how long would it take for that type of concern to be addressed? They try to resolve within 21 days.

So there you have it; if you are going to break city bylaws pertaining to election signs, do it in the last 21 days of the campaign.

And no, you will not see any of my signs on either of these streets.

Post script:

While I certainly have my own opinion on the above, the "lady" in me is saying,

"Follow Thumper's motto."

Readers comments are welcome.
They will be reviewed by either myself or Mike, my campaign manager.

Unexpected commentary; but appreciated !

Most of the people on my "favourites" list are friends either in person or "virtually" through web forums or email.

Tonight I will be adding someone who I do not know nor have I had much interaction with; but with such glowing comments I simply have to show my appreciation.

The Enlightened Savage; Tuesday, February 26, 2008 wrote:

Jane Morgan is an active blogger and poster to the "Project Alberta" boards. Intelligent as hell and the owner of a rapier wit, Morgan can more than handle herself, and would be a fantastic MLA. The former Jane Greydanus (Alliance candidate in the Calgary Elbow by-election) is a big wheel in the Wildrose Alliance, and is a tireless advocate for electoral and democratic reform. She stands to make a splash in the riding, with an extremely organized campaign, talking about issues that matter to the people of North Hill. If the Wildrose Alliance wins a riding in Calgary, I'd bet dollars to donuts that it's Jane Morgan in Calgary North Hill.

Wildrose Alliance Steps Up Campaign

Since the WAP commercials started this week I have added the video feed to my blog. They will be aired on CTV and Global in Calgary and Lethbridge for the final week of campaign. As will the radio ads on QR77, Country 105 and AM1060.

This is the two minute ad and is my favourite.

Master RRRoller

It's that time again; a sure sign Spring is here.

Time to RRRRoll up the rim ! !

In search of an appropriate image to pay homage to my caffiene supplier; I found this little online game. You can try it here.

Wildrose Alliance Signs

Just a quick note .... it has been a very long day.

I met with a couple of our candidates today and I must say I am impressed with the number of signs being displayed across the city. Also, as I was travelling down Bow Trail I happened to pass Bob Babcock, he has a large billboard style sign in back of his truck..... Not quite as big as mine (LOL), but still lookin' good Bob.

Bob's wife makes the most addictive cookies and their kids are just too cute. ;)

You can learn more about Bob Babcock at http://www.yourchoiceforchange.com

Kyle Fawcett Responds to "Unknown" Blogger

For a new, unknown blogger, one of my first entries has caused quite a stir. First over at Calgary Puck where one individual took my “fun” speculation on the outcome of Calgary North Hill as some sort of valid election prediction.

Then the surprise that Kyle Fawcett actually bothered to take the time to respond to my blog.

Kyle’s comments are in PC orange. Just for Kyle since they couldn't seem to find any orange when they printed his brochures.

I think the voters in Calgary North-Hill would prefer a candidate working hard at the doors and on the phones over a candidate that wants to spend the last week of the campaign making outrageous predictions.

Somehow I don’t think the constituents would appreciate me at their door or calling them after midnight; when I wrote the blog entry. In my opinion they would prefer an MLA who is not going to be just another nodding head in the Legislature.

So I won’t be making any predictions other then saying that as I suspected from the time I started thinking about putting my name forward to serve in Calgary-North Hill, this race is going to be VERY close, the outcome likely decided by 100 votes or less.

All in one sentence Kyle says he won’t make a prediction and then goes on to make a prediction.


As mentioned my blog entry was fun speculation, and yes; I set it up that I was the “victor.”
It was not a serious prediction. I did offer a prediction on the Puck forum, which was:

“If I were to make a prediction, it would be something like this.....

The successful candidate in Calgary North Hill will likely win by less than 1000 votes and with a percentage of votes somewhere between 37-42.”

It is interesting to see that Kyle predicts the outcome will be decided by less than 100 votes! It makes one wonder if he thinks Pat Murray is going to gain over 1000 votes to come within 100 of the previous PC total. Or perhaps his coming to grips with the fact that PC support is way down in Calgary and realizes the possibility that he could register 1000 fewer votes than Mr. Magnus did.

Sometimes predictions can be used as motivation, but I can assure everybody that the thought of having Calgary-North Hill represented by a Liberal running on a purely negative platform that fails to provide a forward looking vision for Alberta and destroys future economic opportunity for Albertans, is all the motivation I need.

Predictions, in my opinion are not motivators. They are merely a tool to generate discussion.

I understand Kyle’s fear of potential Liberal economic destruction; sadly we have already seen the PC can carry out economic destruction all on their own.

Instead, I would reach out to Ms. Morgan, and her handful of supporters, and say come back down to earth for the last week of this campaign, and let’s ensure that Calgary-North Hill elects a conservative member to the legislature.

This would be EXACTLY why I am running;
to give the constituents a true conservative choice!.

If she truly cares about the direction this province should take for the next twenty years, she should be able to get past her own ambitions to be an MLA, and stop the same potential vote splitting in Calgary-North Hill that netted us 13 years of mismanagement and corruption in Ottawa.

I am an “ambitious” person and I have many “ambitions”; but being elected as an MLA is not one of them. I see it as a responsibility to offer the public a viable choice. I would consider it a great privilege to be the voice of the people of Calgary North Hill

Those who fear vote splitting; fear democracy. Without choices on the ballot; democracy cannot be served.
To suggest that others should not participate in the democratic process; to benefit another is petty at best and at selfish at worst.

ps: Kyle, with you being the same age as my daughter, I realize I am several years your senior; however there is no need to address me as "Ms Morgan".
Jane will be fine.

Calgary North Hill Under the Radar

I am a little surprised that Calgary North Hill has not garnered much attention. I believe it is a constituency that the PC's will lose in this election. Maybe everyone already realizes that; thus the media is not bothering to cover it.

Kyle Fawcett is running for the PC's. He certainly cannot rely on riding Ed Stelmachs' coattails to victory, since he does not have any in Calgary. The coattails of the incumbent, Richard Magnus are pretty short as well; in 2004 of all the PC's in Calgary, he won with the lowest percentage at just 43.2. (Editted Feb. 24; to correct wording. Thanks to Bobblehead at Calgary Puck forum for pointing it out)

In that election his vote count dropped by over 2500 from the previous election. Yet, voter turnout from 2001 to 2004 only dropped about 900. Where did the other votes go? The difference was picked up by the Green and Liberal candidates. Protest votes perhaps?

The PC's are certainly no more popular today than they were in 2004. Add to this the fact that many Magnus supporters have now "come over to the Wild side" and PC fundraising is in slump in Calgary; surely they realize this is a lost seat.

I am not a political strategist that can fully analyze the outcome with any certainty; but let's explore a potential scenerio for fun.

First a couple of facts:
- voter turnout has been 10-11000 for the last three elections, total electors has been fairly constant around 22000.
- this election the total electors has gone up to nearly 27000, roughly a 15% increase.
- this is the first time in many elections that there are six candidates running.

Now for some speculation, starting with the least significant:

Social Credit:

This is the first time since 1979 they are running a candidate in North Hill. I have met Jim Wright, he seems like a nice enough guy and if he can get some to swallow ...." advocating mandatory inclusion of the teaching of the Origins Theory of Intelligent Design or Creation as a viable model alternative to the theory of evolution. True scientific evaluation of both theories and their probabilities should be applied."
Or this one: "…that a marriage is valid only when it is a marriage between one unmarried man and one unmarried woman."

Their slogan is "RU Ready?" I suspect the answer will be a resounding; NO.

NDP:

They have been dropping in vote count since 1986. When I went in search of John Chan's website I found this. It would appear he is stuck in the 2006 Federal election or perhaps he is gearing up for the next one. Since he is a perennial on at the Federal level; he may hold off another decline in vote total.

Green:

I couldn't find too much out about Kevin Maloney; suffice to say he is not nearly as strong a candidate as Susan Stratton was in the 2004 election. In my opinion they would have been better off giving her a second go at it. I will give Kevin credit though, he is at least interested in getting a candidates forum organized.

Liberal:

Pat Murray ran in North Hill in 2004 and garnered just over 3000 votes, as mentioned earlier, some of these could have been protest votes. Given the increase in population and it being his second time round, I suspect he will have a similar result this time.

PC:

As mentioned Magnus had already experienced a serious decline in support; Kyle Fawcett is an unknown in a time when PC support is at an all time low in Calgary, may very well register numbers similar to the Liberal candidate.

WAP:

This would be me.... Jane Morgan. Brent Best ran here in 2004 under the Alberta Alliance banner; he was a name on ballot candidate, the party was very new and was considered a "rural" party. I have run before in Elbow, with a very low showing. However; much has changed in the past nine months.

We have had many issues that have split the province; Edmonton vs Calgary; urban vs rural; oil & gas vs everyone else. Our policies have also matured since 2004 and we are no longer considered "radical". With that has come a significant increase in party support; our largest percentage of members now come from urban centres.

People are looking for a fiscally conservative, socially moderate; dare I say "libertarian" alternative and they are finding that in the Wildrose Alliance. Many PC supporters have come to us; many who previously stayed home will now come out to vote WAP. In the recent leadership debate, Paul Hinman came out very strong and demonstrated we have a common sense approach that many can identify with.

Now let's put some numbers to these speculations:

SC: Let's give him 175 votes. Trevor garnered that many in Elbow by-election.
NDP: I will give him 725 votes. 2004 count plus 15% for electoral increase.
GRN: With the population increase he may hold Susan's total 1250.
LIB: 3700. 2004 count plus 15% for electoral increase.
PC: 3700. He should be able to at least pace the Liberal candidate.

Total elector count is 26871. Let's say that we get 50% turnout, that would be up slightly from previous election. Not unreasonable since Elections Alberta has a very active campaign on to "get out the vote" and in my opinion people are getting motivated.

50% works out to 13435 votes.
Total votes to other candidates as per above: 9550
That leaves 3885 votes going to the WAP. :)
185 votes ahead of both the Liberal and PC candidates.

Perhaps I am way off base or dreaming in technicolor; but I did predict that Ed Stelmach would come up the middle and win the PC leadership race.

If nothing else this was a fun exercise.

Meet the family.

As some of you may know, I previously ran for the Alberta Alliance in the 2007 by-election in Calgary - Elbow, under my maiden name of Greydanus. That is when I met some new "cyber" friends on the Calgary Puck Forum. They learned first hand that a candidate can have a sense of humour.
Not long after the by-election I changed my name when I married an incredible man, Cory Morgan. Clicking on the link, you will see he is also a candidate in the 2008 election. Here we are in one of my favourite shots from our wedding day.


Our children also celebrated our very special day with us.
These are my three; who are now all adults.



.... and Cory's' three.....




You can view our entire wedding album here. Full credit to Perry Thompson Photography for capturing the essence of our wedding.

Fastest campaign vehicle !

I think everyone should experience driving around with their name plastered on the side of their vehicle. Instantly your driving habits change.

Signs were done by 3M Trim-Line http://www.trimlinecalgary.com/.

They suggested I not drive too fast.... obviously they don't know me very well. The only one who has more pictures of my car than I do, is the "Minister of Finance"..... LOL. They take a pic of me every so often and even have the nerve to send me the bill.

Campaign vehicle #2

Hello and welcome to my blog

Finally, I am entering the blogging world; please be patient with me as I learn my way around.

If you have found this page, you likely know I am the Wildrose Alliance candidate in Calgary - North Hill. You can check out my campaign website at http://www.janemorgan.ca

I must extend a HUGE thank you to my webmaster, Mike. Without him it never would have come together.

I see this blog as a place where you, the viewer, can get to know me a little better. Not all of my entries will be politically based. I envision something similar to what Monte Solberg used to have on his blog; the everyday life of a politician or in my case.... a wanna be.

I am glad you dropped by and hope you visit often to check out what me and my team are up to.

Cheers,

Jane Morgan