Meet the Sault's three city council newbies

Two lawyers. And a downtown travel agency owner. There will be three rookie councilors on the new Sault Ste. Marie City Council.

Two lawyers.

And a downtown travel agency owner.

There will be three rookie councilors on the new Sault Ste. Marie City Council.

Matthew Shoemaker, a civil lawyer, was a shoe-in in Ward 3 last night, as was Judy Hupponen, owner of North Star Travel Plus at 794 Queen Street East.

The other newbie is lawyer Ross Romano, who was elected to fill Frank Manzo’s shoes in Ward 6.

Shoemaker was confident of victory today, based on the response he was getting door-to-door.

“I felt I had done the best I could do…. The only poll I saw was the SooToday.com poll,” he told us. “It showed me winning 47 percent of the vote.”

Shoemaker’s final tally was considerably less than that, at 38.6 percent of total votes cast in Ward 3, but it was easily enough to earn him a seat on city council.

However, the SooToday.com poll wrongly predicted Northern Jewellery owner David Poluck as winner of the second Ward 3 seat.

It was actually taken by Hupponen, the core area’s most stalwart champion in a race in which many candidates expressed serious concerns about the downtown.

“I think Judy is very bright, a small business owner with an interest in tourism. We can use her expertise. I look forward to working with her,” Shoemaker said.

In Ward 6, Romano comments: “I was never overconfident but I felt that my team worked hard enough.”

“I wanted to hit every door in the ward but I came up short,” the criminal lawyer told SooToday.com late last night.

Each evening, Romano hit the streets after work, starting around 5:30 p.m. and continuing with his team until dark.

Two or three family and friends joined him each night.

Saturdays and Sundays, Romano and his wife started between 11 a.m. and noon, knocking on doors until 5 or 6 p.m.

He estimates they got to 4,200 doors, missing maybe one polling station.

Judy Hupponen did not return our call last night.

The re-elected incumbents were:

Ward 1 - Steve Butland, Paul Christian

Ward 2 - Terry Sheehan, Susan Myers

Ward 4 - Lou Turco, Rick Niro

Ward 5 - Marchy Bruni, Frank Fata