Hamilton’s public school board will see a shakeup in the chair’s position after Carole Paikin Miller edged out incumbent Todd White in a tight Ward 5 election race with a heavy dollop of political intrigue.
Paikin Miller, a retired teacher and wife of East Hamilton-Stoney Creek NDP MPP Paul Miller, took 2,349 votes to beat White by 109 votes in a three-way battle.
Jason McLaughlin, the other candidate, drew the support of 1,175 voters despite his campaign getting off to a rocky start due to due to questions about off-colour jokes on his Facebook profile.
Paikin Miller, who declined to speak to the media when she entered the race, did not respond to a voice-mail message seeking comment by deadline on election night.
White said he congratulates her for her victory, but made it clear he believes his dismissal by her husband in August from his constituency assistant’s job in the MPP’s office played a key role.
He said the firing was a reprisal for a public spat over grievances and a human rights complaint he filed against Miller, and left him without an income to run a campaign while raising two young children.
“When you stick your neck out you have to be prepared for it to be cut off and in this case, Paul Miller and the NDP cut it off,” White said.
“There seems, obviously by tonight’s result, to be a general acceptance of all of the above,” he said. “What has Paul Miller and the NDP taught me? Perhaps I should have kept my mouth shut.”
Going into the election, the board had been guaranteed to have four new faces as a result of incumbents choosing not to run again.
In Stoney Creek’s wards 9 and 10, Cam Galindo thwarted former NDP MP Wayne Marston’s bid to reprise the trustee role he left for higher office.
The west Mountain’s newly combined wards 8 and 14 meanwhile saw Becky Buck take more than 60 per cent of the vote in a five-way race to replace retiring trustee Wes Hicks.
In Dundas, lawyer Paul Tut, who had been endorsed by outgoing trustee Greg Van Geffen, prevailed over four other competitors with about 35 per cent of ballots cast.
Ward 3 in the lower city went down to the wire, with winner Chris Parkinson edging out his closest competitor, Maria Felix Miller, by 29 votes in a six-way contest to replace Larry Pattison.
White aside, incumbents Christine Bingham in wards 1 and 2, Kathy Archer in Ward 6, Alex Johnstone in wards 11 and 12, and Penny Deathe in Ward 15 won by comfortable margins.
Ward 4 trustee Ray Mulholland and Ward 7 trustee Dawn Danko were unopposed and elected by acclamation.
The Catholic board saw only two changes, with newcomers Louis Agro and Phil Homerski prevailing in coupled wards 9 and 11, and 12 and 13, respectively. The seven remaining trustees were re-elected or acclaimed.
French public school trustee incumbent Marcel Levesque was acclaimed, while French Catholic school trustee incumbent Pierre Girouard beat challenger Denis Frawley, taking nearly 75 per cent of votes cast.
Hamilton’s public school board will see a shakeup in the chair’s position after Carole Paikin Miller edged out incumbent Todd White in a tight Ward 5 election race with a heavy dollop of political intrigue.
Paikin Miller, a retired teacher and wife of East Hamilton-Stoney Creek NDP MPP Paul Miller, took 2,349 votes to beat White by 109 votes in a three-way battle.
Jason McLaughlin, the other candidate, drew the support of 1,175 voters despite his campaign getting off to a rocky start due to due to questions about off-colour jokes on his Facebook profile.
Paikin Miller, who declined to speak to the media when she entered the race, did not respond to a voice-mail message seeking comment by deadline on election night.
White said he congratulates her for her victory, but made it clear he believes his dismissal by her husband in August from his constituency assistant’s job in the MPP’s office played a key role.
He said the firing was a reprisal for a public spat over grievances and a human rights complaint he filed against Miller, and left him without an income to run a campaign while raising two young children.
“When you stick your neck out you have to be prepared for it to be cut off and in this case, Paul Miller and the NDP cut it off,” White said.
“There seems, obviously by tonight’s result, to be a general acceptance of all of the above,” he said. “What has Paul Miller and the NDP taught me? Perhaps I should have kept my mouth shut.”
Going into the election, the board had been guaranteed to have four new faces as a result of incumbents choosing not to run again.
In Stoney Creek’s wards 9 and 10, Cam Galindo thwarted former NDP MP Wayne Marston’s bid to reprise the trustee role he left for higher office.
The west Mountain’s newly combined wards 8 and 14 meanwhile saw Becky Buck take more than 60 per cent of the vote in a five-way race to replace retiring trustee Wes Hicks.
In Dundas, lawyer Paul Tut, who had been endorsed by outgoing trustee Greg Van Geffen, prevailed over four other competitors with about 35 per cent of ballots cast.
Ward 3 in the lower city went down to the wire, with winner Chris Parkinson edging out his closest competitor, Maria Felix Miller, by 29 votes in a six-way contest to replace Larry Pattison.
White aside, incumbents Christine Bingham in wards 1 and 2, Kathy Archer in Ward 6, Alex Johnstone in wards 11 and 12, and Penny Deathe in Ward 15 won by comfortable margins.
Ward 4 trustee Ray Mulholland and Ward 7 trustee Dawn Danko were unopposed and elected by acclamation.
The Catholic board saw only two changes, with newcomers Louis Agro and Phil Homerski prevailing in coupled wards 9 and 11, and 12 and 13, respectively. The seven remaining trustees were re-elected or acclaimed.
French public school trustee incumbent Marcel Levesque was acclaimed, while French Catholic school trustee incumbent Pierre Girouard beat challenger Denis Frawley, taking nearly 75 per cent of votes cast.
Hamilton’s public school board will see a shakeup in the chair’s position after Carole Paikin Miller edged out incumbent Todd White in a tight Ward 5 election race with a heavy dollop of political intrigue.
Paikin Miller, a retired teacher and wife of East Hamilton-Stoney Creek NDP MPP Paul Miller, took 2,349 votes to beat White by 109 votes in a three-way battle.
Jason McLaughlin, the other candidate, drew the support of 1,175 voters despite his campaign getting off to a rocky start due to due to questions about off-colour jokes on his Facebook profile.
Paikin Miller, who declined to speak to the media when she entered the race, did not respond to a voice-mail message seeking comment by deadline on election night.
White said he congratulates her for her victory, but made it clear he believes his dismissal by her husband in August from his constituency assistant’s job in the MPP’s office played a key role.
He said the firing was a reprisal for a public spat over grievances and a human rights complaint he filed against Miller, and left him without an income to run a campaign while raising two young children.
“When you stick your neck out you have to be prepared for it to be cut off and in this case, Paul Miller and the NDP cut it off,” White said.
“There seems, obviously by tonight’s result, to be a general acceptance of all of the above,” he said. “What has Paul Miller and the NDP taught me? Perhaps I should have kept my mouth shut.”
Going into the election, the board had been guaranteed to have four new faces as a result of incumbents choosing not to run again.
In Stoney Creek’s wards 9 and 10, Cam Galindo thwarted former NDP MP Wayne Marston’s bid to reprise the trustee role he left for higher office.
The west Mountain’s newly combined wards 8 and 14 meanwhile saw Becky Buck take more than 60 per cent of the vote in a five-way race to replace retiring trustee Wes Hicks.
In Dundas, lawyer Paul Tut, who had been endorsed by outgoing trustee Greg Van Geffen, prevailed over four other competitors with about 35 per cent of ballots cast.
Ward 3 in the lower city went down to the wire, with winner Chris Parkinson edging out his closest competitor, Maria Felix Miller, by 29 votes in a six-way contest to replace Larry Pattison.
White aside, incumbents Christine Bingham in wards 1 and 2, Kathy Archer in Ward 6, Alex Johnstone in wards 11 and 12, and Penny Deathe in Ward 15 won by comfortable margins.
Ward 4 trustee Ray Mulholland and Ward 7 trustee Dawn Danko were unopposed and elected by acclamation.
The Catholic board saw only two changes, with newcomers Louis Agro and Phil Homerski prevailing in coupled wards 9 and 11, and 12 and 13, respectively. The seven remaining trustees were re-elected or acclaimed.
French public school trustee incumbent Marcel Levesque was acclaimed, while French Catholic school trustee incumbent Pierre Girouard beat challenger Denis Frawley, taking nearly 75 per cent of votes cast.