John Rodriguez took Marianne Matichuk 'for granted' in last election

Morning North9:06Sudbury mayoral candidate John Rodriguez

We are presenting profiles of all 10 candidates running for mayor in Greater Sudbury this municipal election. The CBC's Erik White prepared this profile of John Rodriguez, a former mayor who thinks voters should give him his job back.

Former Sudbury Mayor John Rodriguez says he isn't underestimating any of his opponents in this election.

In an interview with CBC News, Rodriguez said he didn't take the inexperienced Marianne Matichuk as a serious threat in 2010.

And this time, he's trying to make leadership one of the top election issues.

"I believe the public were short-changed in that. I short-changed the public maybe in that I didn't press the issue more. And I took her for granted."

At 78, Rodriguez is the oldest candidate on the ballot in Sudbury.

He told CBC News the main reason he's running is to finish the job he started in his first term as the city's mayor.

Rodriguez added he believes the Elton John ticket scandal has overshadowed the dozens of great things he did as mayor. He said the public focused on the number of concert tickets purchased by city council, rather than what was achieved during the four-year term.

"Is there nothing that I did that was good? Was everything bad? Was everything seen through the lens of the Elton John decision? You know, I never lived that down."

Rodriguez said one of his goals in this campaign is to point to what was accomplished when he was mayor, including the new Bell Park amphitheatre, the second rink at Countryside Arena and creating the office of the auditor general.