Remember Joe Pantalone's campaign launch? Don't worry, neither does anyone else. The deputy mayor registered on Jan. 13, the day after a massive earthquake devastated Haiti. The opening of his first campaign office at 1 Clinton St. last month was a homespun affair that reinforced his image as a low-key candidate.
Now that he's got a new campaign chief in John Laschinger, Mr. Pantalone is going for the do-over. Mr. Pantalone's fundraiser Wednesday night at Montecasino Place in North York has morphed into a "campaign launch," according to a release his camp distributed this morning.
One group encouraging its members to attend Mr. Pantalone's launch is the Labourers' International Union of North America Local 506. The union, which represents approximately 9,000 workers in Toronto and the GTA, decided to formally endorse Mr. Pantalone at its annual steward/foreman seminar Saturday.
"We believe he's a good man. He's been around in the city," said Carmen Principato, the business manager for Local 506. "He's been a deputy mayor for a few years now and we believe he could be a good mayor."
Mr. Pantalone is stumping hard for more labour endorsements too. Now that it's pretty safe to say he'll be the only major candidate on the left, look for more of those union endorsements to start rolling in.
Kelly Grant