Another candidate to declare this morning: EX-LIBERAL TO RUN FOR NDP IN ROTHESAY Nomination John Wilcox will announce candidacy at a press conference Monday morning VERITY STEVENSON TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL ROTHESAY • Former Liberal candidate John Wilcox will announce his candidacy for the NDP in the riding of Rothesay on Monday morning, a spokesman for the party has confirmed “We can confirm that John (Wilcox) is going to announce (Monday) that he is joining the NDP ... at 11,”Tony Sekulich said on Sunday. “But I don’t want to give any comment that would sort of jump the gun.” A “news release” was sent on Friday to the Telegraph-Journal advising of his nomination, but Wilcox said he wasn’t sure who sent it. “It’s one of probably half a dozen people” he said on Sunday, laughing “And sometimes, things get out there and waters get crossed, and dates and times get crossed.” On Sunday, an official press release was sent by the NDP saying the party would be holding a press conference Monday at 11 a.m. at the Glen View United Church community room at 8 Upland Rd. to “announce a new NDP member” but did not mention who it would be. “I am forthright person, but the announcement’s scheduled for tomorrow and I want to respect that,”Wilcox said explaining that he didn’t want to add to the fact that he would join the party. The soon-to-be NDP member spent most of his career as a Saint John police officer and joined politics during the 2012 election, when he ran under the Liberal banner but lost to current Progressive Conservative MLA and Health Minister Ted Flemming. He was defeated by Stephanie Tomilson,the principal of Rothesay High School, in a controversial Liberal nomination on May 10. Her election as the new Rothesay-area Liberal candidate was appealed by Wilcox but finally dismissed by the party. Abel LeBlanc, the former Liberal MLA in the Saint John-Lancaster riding from 2003 to 2010, who was appointed NDP candidate for that riding on June 9, has said he felt Wilcox didn’t get a fair chance. Paul Kitchen, head of Rothesay Netherwood School, a private day and boarding institution in the town, confirmed the school received a letter from a Liberal delegate – later confirmed to be Wilcox – with a complaint around students from the school voting at the nomination meeting. The students had arrived on RNS buses to vote at the nomination meeting. Meanwhile, Tomilson’s husband is a teacher at the institution. “When you see this kind of stuff going on, it’s time to say goodbye,” Le-Blanc said at the press conference announcing he would be joining the NDP earlier this month. In 2012, Wilcox was also up against Green party candidate Sharon Murphy, independent candidate Marjorie MacMurray and New Democrat Party Leader Dominic Cardy. He had been running for the seat vacated by former Progressive Conservative party candidate Margaret-Ann Blaney. Cardy will run for a seat in the Fredericton West-Hanwell riding this time around. The Green party and the People’s Alliance have not yet announced their 2014 candidate for Rothesay.
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 10:08:56 +0000
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