My adventure in politics.
| Date | Event |
| 9/24/2013 | Kim Craitor retires. |
| 9/25/2013 | Read report that Liberal party will have a replacement candidate in 30 days. |
| 10/30/2013 | No news: Liberal party still looking for candidates. I start thinking that I should put my name forward because I have a lot of issues with what's been happening in Queen's Park. |
| 11/6/2013 | I join the Liberal Party. I have never been politically involved before other than working with Kim Craitor on a few issues as his constituent. I want to raise awareness of my issues and offer solutions to the government. Obviously, I am not happy about what has happened to Fort Erie. |
| 11/8/2013 | I inform the Riding Association that I want to be considered as candidate and submit my biography for review. |
| 11/22/2013 | Karen Gansel (NF Liberal Riding Association President) calls to inform me that, due to my lack of political experience, the Riding Association will not consider my application. I reply to tell her that I don't accept her refusal and will be issuing a press release on Monday. |
| 11/25/2013 | Press release issued. |
| 11/26/2013 | Interview with Kris Dubé of Bullet News in response to press release. |
| 11/27/2013 | Web site goes online - www.frankraso.ca |
| 11/29/2013 | Visit the Fort Erie Times to talk with Sarah Ferguson (editor, Fort Erie Times) about my story. |
| 12/2/2013 | Emailed Corey Larocque (reporter, NF Review) & Steve Gallagher (regional managing editor of Sun Media's Niagara-South region and editor-in-chief of The Niagara Falls Review) to let them know that I am trying to be the Liberal candidate. |
| 12/3/2013 | Steve Gallagher sends automatic reply telling me contact the NF City Desk. Called Corey to follow up and he blew me off. |
| 12/4/2013 |
Emailed Ray Spiteri (reporter, NF Review) to comment about his Dec 3rd story. No acknowledgement from Ray. Got a call from Kim Donaldson (Liberal Nominations Commissioner). We discussed the Liberal candidate nomination and I told her that I just want to participate in the nomination process. Since she didn't know anything about me, I recommended that she visit my web site. |
| 12/6/2013 | Sarah Ferguson visits me and I give her a tour of the property where I've been planting trees with the Niagara Restoration Council. |
| 12/11/2013 | Sarah Ferguson emails to let me know that she can't run the story about my interview because Karen Gansel won't return her calls. |
| 12/16/2013 |
Attended Press conference at MacBain Centre. I noticed that the preferred candidate is surrounded by NF city council peers who refused to be considered for nomination. Spoke with Pat Sobara (Liberal Party campaign director) and Premier Wynne after the press conference about my intent to be in the nomination race. Also spoke with Peter Conradi (Regional Content Director, Sun Media Niagara South & Editor-in-Chief, St Catharines Standard) and gave him my flyer. |
| 12/17/2013 |
Interview with David Akin of Sun TV. Matt Day (reporter, NF Review) leaves afternoon telephone message and asks me to call him back (likely about Liberal Candidate Story). |
| 12/18/2013 |
Reply to Matt Day by email in the morning and then call him in the afternoon to leave message on his voice mail. No contact with Matt Day by day's end. Emailed Karen Gansel (cc Premier's Office) to provide me with the NF Riding Association Members List so that I can work on getting the 25 signatures necessary to be considered for nomination. Karen responds to tell me that she can't provide me with the names of the members of the NF Riding Association for privacy reasons. I then ask if the preferred candidate has access to those names. If not, would she provide these names to an independent 3rd party who can contact members on my behalf? No reply yet. |
| 12/19/2013 |
Read Fort Erie Times this morning and see that, from Alison Langley's (reporter, NF Review) page 35 article (a reprint of Niagara Falls councillor preferred candidate), she appears to also not be aware of my story. Having contacted her today, she informed me that she IS aware of my story. I am beginning to wonder if local Sun Media editors are Liberal Party insiders. Spoke with Kim Donaldson at 7:35 pm. She told me that she accepted Riding Association's Nomination Plan (consisting of one name) after a Panel discussion on December 14 and the nomination process is now closed. She informed me that I have 72 hours to appeal this decision according to the Ontario Liberal Party's RULES OF PROCEDURE FOR ARBITRATIONS AND APPEALS. |