Mayoralty candidate decries war of words

A mayoral candidate took aim at personal insults among two of his competitors Friday, stressing the election campaign should focus on city issues instead.

“I’m really embarrassed by the mayoral candidates slinging mud at each other. We should be more professional … I don’t think we need to bring up people’s past or garbage that they’ve been involved in. I think this needs to be about the City of Winnipeg and what we’re going to do for the City of Winnipeg,” Mike Vogiatzakis said at a press conference Friday.

He confirmed he was referring specifically to skirmishes between Scott Gillingham, who is seeking re-election as mayor, and Kevin Klein, a former city councillor and provincial cabinet minister who registered for the race this week.

Within a few hours of Klein’s Tuesday announcement that he would enter the mayoral contest, Gillingham issued a statement labelling Klein “toxic,” a “Caribbean political fixer” for Peter Nygard and a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Klein worked for Nygard, a former fashion mogul, for about four months in 2012 and two weeks in 2014. Nygard was later convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault and is in prison.

In July, Klein attended and wrote about a gathering in Ottawa that was hosted by U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra, though he has stressed he does not support Trump or his ambassador.

Klein promptly refuted all of the mayor’s claims, calling them “childish.” He has since said his lawyers are reviewing Gillingham’s statement.

On Friday, Klein said he rejects accusations that he has also made personal attacks.

“I think that anyone who’s been following this, and any reporter who’s been asking me questions on a regular basis, knows that I have not started a smear campaign on Scott Gillingham. I have no intentions of starting a smear campaign against Scott Gillingham. I think what he’s done is unfortunate. I think it’s childish,” he said.

When asked Friday for his thoughts on the dispute and the overall tone of the campaign, Gillingham said it’s fair for all candidates to highlight the records of others.

“I fully expect my record to be under scrutiny and attacked by other candidates. Some other candidates, Mr. Klein is one of them, (have) a record … His record is fair game. And I’ll be talking about his record because the future of Winnipeg is at stake,” he said.

However, he stressed his campaign will also share a positive vision for Winnipeg.

Meanwhile, Vogiatzakis said any perception that the mayoral campaign is a two-way race between Gillingham and Klein, its most well-known contenders, is false.

“I am in this race … The media needs to stop making it a narrative where they only push two people that are in the race. There is a third person in the race, and this third person is a serious candidate, and you will see (that) on election day, or when the next poll comes out,” he said.

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Mayoral contender Don Woodstock, the first candidate to hold press conferences to share his platform promises, said he feels the battle between other candidates leaves him as a positive alternative.

“It’s no longer a two-way race, it’s a one-man race, and that’s Don Woodstock … So you only have one person that has brought a positive message and real meaningful change,” he said.

Voters will elect their next city council on Oct. 28.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.