Arena board chair throws hat into the ring

[attach]2272[/attach]Jumping into the political sphere has been a long time coming for Ward 32 candidate Keith Begley.

Running his own communications company, Begley has known for three years that he was going to vie for the position of city councillor.

“I don’t like the way city hall is being run, I don’t like party politics, and I think our community is not being well-represented,” he said. “Having 23 people on one side following the mayor’s orders, they can do exactly what they want whenever they want at city hall.”

Admitting that he knows it’s a tough job because of the alliances already on council, Begley says his main goal would be to eliminate the perceived ‘party politics’ as best he could.

“Councillors should be representing their community, and party politics shouldn’t play there,” he said. “I shouldn’t have to vote for something you want, just so you’re going to vote for something I want.”

The other major concern for Begley, who is also the board chair for the Ted Reeve Community Arena, is a lack of accountability on council.

“I believe they don’t do a proper business plan on things they decide to do,” he said. “A prime example is the ice rink they want to build for $88 million. Do they have a clue what that entails? No. They’ve just decided to do it and get so far into it that they can’t back out of it.”

The three-time president of the Beaches Lions Club says his selling point is that he is not a politician.

“Most of my activities in the Beach have been volunteer. I’ve raised thousands of dollars through the Lions Club, and if I could work at it full-time, I could do a lot better and a lot more for our community.”