2013 grade: C-
2012 grade: N/A
Cell: 240-3330
Before he was elected, all we knew about Matt Whitman was he laid claim to inventing something he calls “reverse networking,” which as far as we can determine means saying nice things about people. Not exactly our cup of tea, but neither does it strike us as something that needed to be invented. People were saying nice things about people way back in the 1970s, even. Remember when Jack and Chrissy were at the Reagle Beagle and Jack said he kind of liked Mr. Roper? Like that.
Whitman’s election campaign consisted mostly of standing in a ditch outside the Tantallon Superstore, thrusting a sign into the windows of passing motorists. It worked.
On Twitter, Whitman had a habit of blocking “negative” people, ie, his constituents raising issues. After being called out on it, he seems to have changed his ways.
At council, we haven’t yet seen that spark of awareness that eventually comes to rookie councillors. He hasn’t done anything horrible, but neither has he done anything positive. We wait.
This article appears in May 9-15, 2013.
I would disagree on the rating just based on interactions with Mr. Whitman. He is always answering calls and emails and is engaged in the community, which is a double improvement over Peter Lund. Whitman is always visible and engaged on topics, especially on social media, facebook and twitter.
Whitman needs to tell everyone why he put his house for sale 1 month before the election, said he was moving to St Margerets Bay, and never did !!
Whitman tricked the people of Saint Margret’s Bay when he pretended to move there in Sept 2012. Can’t wait until 2016
Whitman does nothing for Hammonds Plains but take pictures of himself at events and post them on Facebook. He promied to fix the Hammonds Plains road but remember folks, all the widening proposed up to 2017 was done by previous rep Peter Lund. I have yet to see Whitman stand up at Council and talk about extra lanes or anything. The last week in January he was in Toronto attending trade shows and taking pictures of himself with CBC celebrities while the Hammonds Plains road is now full of pot holes. This guy just wants to be a celebrity and collect a city pay cheque
Matt Whitman has just posted pictures of himself all over twitter and facebook showing himself with shovel in hand filling pot holes on the Hammonds Plains Road wearing Dress Shoes and a Blazer, NO SAFETY VEST, NO SAFETY SHOES, NO HARD HAT, is this a joke..!! All perfectly taken photos with the right angle and exposure. What kind of example does this tell our children. Whitman is on Social Media preaching cross-walk safety every week yet he breaks every rule there is in road construction. Yet worse, he is paid $75,000 a year to take photo ops like this. Does he think the public can stand for this old school vote getting scheme.
I believe that Whitman’s only goal is to turn his image and profile into a profit driven enterprise. He just hasn’t figured out how to yet! This stint as council is his latest ploy to try and make that happen.