Sunday, September 02, 2007

Now it begins


The Conservative Party Website


01/09/07 and the campaign for an elected Mayor has kicked off successfully with a baloon release
Here Fast forward to 05:00 minutes and watch.

those who are against had no one available to speak, it is my understanding that Cllr Nick Wallis is to be the spokesman for the 'NOs', now that he returned from camping holiday in Tory Territory (hattip to Cllr Cartwright for that).

I have to be honest here I am not sure how much the New Labour party machine will be behind Darlingtons Labour group as Elected Mayors are after all an important part of New Labour Policy and it is this Darlington Labour group that is going against its parties own policy.

Perhaps the clunking fist of Gordon Brown does not reach this far.

3 Comments:

At 8:56 am, Blogger Darlington Councillor said...

Really, David? - news to me. In fact Alan Charlton got a comment in the Echo and I understand he is going to lead the No campaign. Alan is a well-respected figure in the town - a retired businessman and someone who gives his time and expertise to several charitable groups.

For me, I'm not the Press Spokesman, any more than I'm the Treasurer or the Secretary or the Campaign Co-ordinator. I am happy to help out where I can.

You're right, there is a tension for Labour Councillors here between Party policy and local circumstances. I'll blog on this on my own site at greater length later on, but suffice it to say that I understand the Party's desire that Local Government be more decisive, without some of the bureaucratic log-jams which can impede decision-making.

Of course, the complaint from the Yes campaigners has been quite the opposite - that decision-making has not paid enough heed to the views of others. Bizarre then that they are trying to bring in a system which makes creates a "Government of One" for many decisions currently taken by Cabinet or Council as a whole.

Elected Mayors can work, and I'm not so one-eyed to suggest otherwise. They rely on a certain kind of individual getting elected, but to judge from the howls of complaint around the country, often the post attracts those who like exercising power exclusively themselves, hence the number of campaigns to return to Darlington's current Leader and Cabinet model.

 
At 10:50 pm, Blogger The Darlington Tory said...

Nice to have you back Nick, refreshed and ready for the fights ahead I hope.

Dave

 
At 11:03 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The only problem with elected Mayors is their title, it takes away centuries of tradition of the Mayor being the leading citizen of the borough, impartially chairing debates, and representing all factions for a "non-political" year.

I'd be much happier if people like Ray Mallon, for instance, were titled "Leader", so that the traditional post of Mayor could continue.

The difficulties, of coures, are in finding the right type of person to be a candidate for "Leader".

 

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