The AMS has decided to endorse candidates in the municipal election this year—the first time in recent memory that they have thrown their behind a group of candidates at the municipal level.
In a meeting at Kingston city hall last Thursday, AMS Assembly voted to endorse Harvey Rosen for mayor and Ed Smith for Williamsville, but decided against endorsing a candidate in Sydenham, the district the University belongs to.
Whether students agree or disagree with the specific endorsements is beside the point—at least they will be thinking critically about the candidates and the municipal election as a whole.
Though a worthwhile attempt by the AMS to increase student awareness about municipal issues, their process was flawed in a few ways. First, there were too few committee interviewing the candidates. Of the 25 people on the Assembly, only five or six actually spoke to those running in the areas of King’s Towne, Sydenham and Williamsville. As well, the AMS refused to endorse a candidate from Sydenham, but still published the grades of the candidates. If endorsement is to be done properly it needs to be universal, and avoiding the endorsement of a candidate in the most highly contested and important district for students is spineless and frankly ridiculous.
There is nothing inherently wrong with the endorsement of municipal candidates as long as the right research is done and accurate information is given to students. Fortunately there’s still plenty of time for students to get involved and make an informed choice of their own.
The will be doing its part to help keep students informed about the Nov. 13 election by publishing candidate profiles as wekk as those running for mayor in our Nov.3 and Nov.10 issues. A complete guide to voting will also be published in Friday’s paper.
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