The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
Longtime City Council critic Dan Montague beat Mayor Paul Fraim to the punch on Monday, announcing he will challenge Fraim in the May election.
Fraim had planned to announce today that he will run for re-election.
Montague, 70, a Portsmouth native and retired shipyard worker, challenged Fraim four years ago, gathering 22 percent of the vote.
If elected, he said he will shake up the establishment.
"When I'm elected mayor, all of the meetings will be at night and will be on live television," Montague said.
He said he was unable to campaign full time four years ago because his wife, Rita, was battling cancer. She died two months after the election.
"My heart was not really in it because she was so sick," he said. "But my heart and soul are in it now."
Although Montague said he personally admires Fraim, he said the council "just keeps doing dumb stuff over and over."
"How many times does the Hague have to flood before they fix it? They don't do much of anything right," he said.
Montague said he will wage a grass roots campaign and won't accept any campaign contributions.
Fraim, mayor since 1994 and on the council since 1986, will announce he is running for re-election today at 11 at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott. Dave Iwans of DIA, the Norfolk public relations firm that will help Fraim with his campaign, called the announcement a "campaign rally" that he expects will draw more than 500 supporters.
For more details, return to PilotOnline.com later and read tomorrow's Virginian-Pilot.
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Dan Montague, you need a
Dan Montague, you need a website. Can't find your page on the first page of google results. You need to be on twitter and facebook. Maybe some LinkedIn, forget about Plaxo.
I do usually have some
I do usually have some solutions, when I bring an issue up to the Mayor and Council, and he does listen to me.
I don't complain much, but
I don't complain much, but Mayor Fraim knows when I do complain.
I am on a couple of boards and do get things done. It's a very difficult job. The person who said that it's the council is correct, partly. But some of them really do get the job done.
Watch What You Wish For
It's easy to whine about the city when you have no solutions. Mayor Fraim probably does a better job than any of the board dorks who complain about everthing. I would rather have him in office than any of the incompetents on here.
I bet you sat
right next to the teacher all through school, didn't you?
He is the problem
I cannot even imagine voting for Paul Fraim in the coming election. His image is one of Elmer Fudd and he has done more damage with his visions than most would imagine. He wants to strip the power if our citizens to question their inept decisions by increasing petitions for referendum to 8,000 signatures making it virtually impossible for us to challenge their wayward decisions. The citizens of Norfolk are hardly well served by Mayor Fraim. They have cost the city millions that we can hardly spare and if you are a citizen of the city the burden is carried on your shoulders. I will vote for whoever runs against Fraim and just about the same goes for the other incumbent council members. I'm sick of all the mismanagement that abounds in city hall.
It's not Mayor Fraim but the idiots on the
council. Remember, they take a vote on issues and if the vote goes against the Mayors vote then he can't do anything about it. Oddly enough, these council members keep getting voted back in. It's no different than Ran Nagin in New Orleans. He left all of those buses under water instead of using them for evacuations. Then it's Bush's fault and they vote the idiot back in!!
nice picture
why didn't you photoshop we hate this man on his forehead while you were at it. nice job of objective journalism there.
Haha yea they give Dan's
Haha yea they give Dan's age, but only mention how long Fraim has been in office.
Mayor Election
We don't have term limits, thanks to the politicians! This is the time to enforce time limits....VOTE THE BUMS OUT. I don't know if anyone can do a better job than Fraim, but it's time for him to move out.