Longtime Burlington activist Wanda Hines made it official this morning: She’s running for mayor as an independent.
The formal announcement will come at a press conference scheduled for 6 p.m. tomorrow, January 6, at North End Studios, but she confirmed her plans by phone with Seven Days this morning.
“I’m jumping in,” she said. “I just see it as a good opportunity. I’m running into people who say they never vote. They feel frustrated.”
We received Hines’ email this morning as her two soon-to-be rivals — Republican Kurt Wright and Democrat Miro Weinberger — were squaring off in their first debate before a packed auditorium at Champlain College. Attached to the email was this campaign sign (note the fine print – “Paid For By the Committee to Elect Wanda Hines”) and her entire biography and resume. (Leaving little doubt about her intentions).
Hines was director of the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf for 12 years, and now works for CEDO, the city’s economic development office.
“I’m looking to motivate people to get out and vote, participate in their lives, get out and do it,” she said. “Right now I feel a lot of people are going to sit this election out and that’s what I’m seeing and that can’t happen. This is an important election. People are telling me this is where I should be. I’m going to do it.”
She added, “This is where I’m supposed to be. I’m a product of my community. And why not?”
Asked about Hines’ announcement following the debate, Weinberger said he welcomes her to the race.
“She’s an important part of this community, has been a leader for a long time and I think she has important perspectives to articulate,” Weinberger said.
Is Weinberger worried about Hines siphoning off supporters — particularly among working-class voters and Old North Enders?
“No mayor has been elected — with one exception, Mayor Brownell — without that coalition of Progressive voters, [and] a large number of those are in the Old North End. I think it’s no secret that that’s not the part of the city I live in and I have work to do in that part of the city,” Weinberger said. “But I’m doing it, I have been since the start and I’m going to continue to focus on building those bridges in the weeks ahead.”
This article appears in Jan 11-17, 2012.
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wanda hines does not have the capacity to run a city, sorry to say. she was good at the food shelf, but im afraid is way over her head in this race.
I am coming late to this discussion, but I have thought a bit about the “impact” of Wanda entering this race. I think it is far more complex than most people realize. Without a Progressive in the race (at the moment), I think there are many voters (not Progressive voters, just simply voters) in the ONE who would either have sat out this election, or would have voted for Kurt as much as would have voted for Miro. Here is why-
The more liberal voters would likely vote for Miro, the more working class person would more likely vote for Kurt (obviously there are also working class liberal voters too). And as Wanda indicated many are not voting at all. Pundits often forget that most voters vote based on a gut feeling for someone “that person is more like me”, “I trust her/him”, more than various positions on the issues. If we simply boil it down to people vote D, P, or R, we neglect the very independent nature that we all love so much about our community. Many in the ONE would have felt a closer affinity to Kurt than to Miro. Now there is another option that could draw many of those folks back from leaning towards Kurt.
So before folks jump to conclusions about whether this helps or hurts Miro or Kurt take a minute to look at the numbers. If Wandas entry into the race brings out people who would otherwise not vote, then it increases the number of votes necessary to get to 40% (Kurts hope). Considering that turnout in areas of the city other than wards 4 and 7 is typically low, her involvement to increase turnout (particularly in wards 2 and 3) coual also have an impact that hurts Kurt.
Obviously there are also ONE voters likely to support Miro, clearly the solid D voters will be there for him. But I am not sure that many of those voters will be switching away from him. It is the independent folks that are up for grabs and most of them were probably going to sit this one out.
What Wanda brings to the campaign is another long time community member with deep roots in the ONE. She has been involved with helping people better their lives for a very long time. Being rooted in the community and understanding the needs of the community is an important aspect of her candidacy.
I think that all three candidates bring interesting skill sets to the table, I would be surprised if this election ends up being predictable at all.
You obviously like Wanda, then vote for her. (not if you live in Winooski, i guess). People have used the vote siphoning excuse for years. Luckily enough people didn’t buy it a long time ago or we wouldn’t have the best Senator in the U.S. Senate.