Danny DeVito running for mayor in Vaughan

CP24.com
Oct. 15, 2014
By Joshua Freeman

Danny DeVito is running to be the mayor of Vaughan. No, not that Danny Devito.

This one is just 28, works as an IT consultant and helped out on current mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua’s 2010 campaign.

He thinks the city needs change. His top priorities are getting more transparency around the building of the hospital and easing gridlock.

But if you didn’t know all that, we can start with the recognizable name.

Born Daniel DeVito, the candidate says he goes by Dan or Danny most of the time.

He’s never met the star of “Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “Twins” and “Taxi,” but he says he nevertheless enjoys the name recognition when it comes to running a campaign.

“I would say it definitely gets people’s attention when they hear there’s someone named Danny DeVito running for office,” DeVito told cp24.com in a phone interview Wednesday.

That’s nothing new. DeVito says he’s been getting attention for his name since he can remember.

“At a certain point I wondered if they (my parents) realized what they had done when they named me, but it’s a part of my identity and I accept it,” he says.

However he’s hoping that now he’ll finally be able to cash in on the recognizable name to win elected office, if not this time then in the future.

“The reason I’m running mainly is to get my name out there and my perspective out there so the people of Vaughan know they have other options,” DeVito says.

That may be the best he can hope for this time around. While there are only four candidates registered to run, incumbent Maurizio Bevilacqua - elected in a landslide in 2010 - is not expected to face any sort of serious challenge.

Still, that doesn’t mean that DeVito can’t try and get his message out there.

He says he’s also running to bring about greater awareness to the issues he cares about, namely the need for transparency around issues like hospital construction.

“The Vaughan public keeps getting told one thing after another about why it (the hospital) is being delayed or not built,” DeVito says.

DeVito says he’d also like to see a lobbyist registry at city hall to make business there more transparent.

“Vaughan’s reputation has been cleaned up over the last four years but it’s also become significantly more quiet as far as its negotiations and its actions go,” DeVito says. “People want more openness and transparency.”

When it comes to congestion, he’d like to see more buses on the road so that young people feel transit is an option instead of driving.

“There aren’t enough routes in the city to serve the increasing population and as a result people are more reliant on their cars,” DeVito says.

Despite a fair bit of turnover on council in 2010 following a tumultuous term, he thinks the public is still looking for a “general overhaul” in this election and days he can be part of that change.

If his mayoral bid doesn’t work out this time, DeVito says he’ll likely run for office again when there’s an opportunity.

“Should there be a byelection of any kind, I would definitely be interested in running again,” DeVito says.

At the very least, he has a name you’ll remember.