OPEN VOTE FOR CHIEF MINISTER – 99% OF PEOPLE HAIL A VICTORY FOR DEMOCRACY!

And the only ones not happy are Horsfall, Ozouf, Le Marquand and the rest of the Establishment Party gang who hold the public in utter contempt…

With apologies for the shortness of this post following on from a couple of weeks when I simply haven’t had the time to focus on the internet. Many States Members it is true have been doing nothing for some weeks. Others, such as Senator Terry Le Main have to be roused from their snoring even when actually in the States being paid by you and me!

Inconvenient as it certainly is when trying to run an election campaign I’m pleased to say that I have not been one of those taking it easy. Constituent work has continued to grow and grow. Whilst with my Scrutiny colleagues Deputies Roy Le Herissier and Daniel Wimberley we are also putting the finishing touches to the much anticipated report on the review into the Historic Abuse Inquiry finances.

The report is set to be completed by the end of the coming week – yet a late, surprise piece of evidence may still yet have to be incorporated. Watch this space…

If a candidate won’t tell you clearly who they would ideally vote for in the race for Chief Minister do not vote for them.

Canvassing this past week, and judging by the amount of people who have stopped me in the street, phoned or e-mailed, my successful proposition to turn back the tide of ever-increasing secrecy under Ministerial government has been one of the most widely supported States decisions of recent years. Indeed, it is such a fundamental part of a democratic and transparent government that one really would have thought that it would have been passed unanimously.

It wasn’t, of course, for the truth is we have many in the States who support democracy and respect for the ordinary working public only as lip-service. Anyone in doubt should just consider the words proclaiming commitment to a ‘fairer, more equal society’ we see the Executive happily sign up to with Strategic Plans: words that then strangely never make it into policy.

My proposition was actually won by just two votes. There are still those desperate enough to risk trying to scupper it when it returns for what is normally the formality of a PPC motion to put the wishes of the majority into Standing Orders. The list of the democrats who supported me and the nineteen supporters of the Old Boys’ network who voted against already available on this and other sites, my advice to all readers attending hustings in the coming weeks is quite simple.

Ask all candidates who they would like to vote for as Chief Minister. This simple question is guaranteed to reveal who is worthy of one of your votes and who isn’t. Should a candidate refuse or claim they cannot say yet he or she will be revealed to be either a liar or a supporter of Senator Philip Ozouf and the policies running Jersey directly into the Abyss of a two-tier society. Quite probably they will be both. Either way he or she giving such answers can be guaranteed not have the interests of the Island’s ordinary people at heart.

Want an example? I am told that Mary O’keeffe-Burgher was asked this question by former Senator Ted Vibert, one of the six people who turned up to her recent ‘Meet the Establishment party candidate’ meeting. Apparently she refused to say. She supports secrecy and keeping the public in the dark. Say no more…

Grouville Hustings

Grouville was the first of the Senatorial hustings that I have been able to attend. As these hustings are being reported elsewhere on the net I will say only this. Love him or loath him – and I have certainly had my strong disagreements with the man - the undeniable fact is that on the night Stuart Syvret was simply streets ahead of the other candidates in terms of the quality and depth of his answers.

As for Philip Bailhache, not only did he not manage the same level of applause as Syvret – even in his home parish – the fact is that his incredibly arrogant and frankly plain stupid statement that too many ‘backbenchers’ haven’t got enough to do, and that there are apparently ‘too many questions’ preventing the Great and the Good from doing their work really said all that needs to be said about what an out of touch and politically lightweight candidate this man really is.

Yes, strip away the self-promoted myth of the great Statesman and the truth is actually pretty threadbare. As for his truly bizarre attempts to suddenly pretend that he isn’t a proponent of independence from the UK at all – this really is too ridiculous for words. Though many in the Establishment party might like it to be so we aren’t quite yet living in the pages of Orwell’s 1984!

Keep the Faith

Trevor