As a result of a couple of facebook posts where Ben Burd claimed that the infamous ‘trash talk’ video clip had been taken down, the group where it had been posted in was inundated with posts refuting the takedown. It is now obvious that this video and others, if the video was announced as being #1 in a series, is only going to go to Mr. Cleveland’s gang of enablers. He is publicly  silencing his critics!

This is dangerous and does nothing for his campaign to be the Mayor of Cobourg. Firstly the ‘blocking activity’ and the monitoring of social media takes time to perform. Time that should be devoted to campaigning not smearing. Secondly the act of blocking and assembling a list of people blocked is very Nixonian (wiki ref here), who was famous for his ‘enemies list’. In this critical stage of the campaign he – Mr. Cleveland and his advisors as well as his supporters should be healing the apparent divide not making it obvious and greater.

The major question now for Mr. Cleveland is simple – “How do you intend to govern the Town for ALL of its Citizens?” not just the people who like him. Turning his campaign slogan – “You may not like the style but you like the results” If division and derision is the result of this election what a “Pyrrhic Victory” (wiki ref here)

It must be obvious to all of the candidates who are running to be on Council that the Mayor is going to be a problem to work with, well maybe not to a couple who appear to have drunk the koolaid, His leadership style is tantamount to running a cult where loyalty is demanded as opposed to a leadership style that emphasises collaboration and teamwork. A quote from a release a couple of weeks ago should be carefully parsed by all of those who wish to be on a Council that Mr. Cleveland might lead for a clue as to how they will be treated.

“On my original lawn signs, teamwork was my number one position, because no matter the situation, job or role, as a leader I have always been able to foster a team approach. My career spanning emergency services, restaurant and bar consulting, entrepreneurial startups and a decade on multimillion dollar oil rig projects created a belief that everyone can find a way to work together. My initial defensiveness at the perceived hostility from certain members of both councils led to responses from me that frankly did not help to build bridges and I regret that very early mistake in this role. I had not realized the level of hostility I would face at the Northumberland County Council and Cobourg Town Council. Had I known even half of it, I can honestly say that I would not have run. I have now learned through this experience that teamwork and building a team approach is impossible when it comes up against someone’s manifest destiny, when certain members of the team (council) feel that they are entitled, because of a certain length of service, to be the “natural” mayor. I have since learned that my surprised win disrupted this ‘natural’ order and I was never to be forgiven for it.”

We guess he must have given up on his manifest destiny to be a leader then if he realised that he was the leader of the wrong team – he gave up on leading because he couldn’t control them. Controlling is not leading!

But back to the campaign, The next few All Candidates Meetings will be revealing. Will the Leopard change his spots to appeal to All of the voters and deliver a mature and healing message or do we get the usual pugnacious supercilious attitude we have seen for the past four years? The voters of Cobourg will be the judges. Our advice to the manager of this team and we know who you are and your history, is simple – change your candidate’s attitude and demeanour, appeal to the complete voting population not just shore up your base. Drop the Trumpian approach it is not becoming!