I had heard some time ago , courtesy of TDC's Mole, that a TDC Cabinet re-structuring job was in the wind and now Michael Child has published details on http://www.thanetonline.blogspot.com/ quoting a TDC Press Release that I cannot see on TDC's website!
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Call me a cynic, but what has brought about this sudden need to carve up 'Woger's' portfolio into 2 parts and give Cllr Kirby the half that already has a competent team looking after it?
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What a surprise that Cllr Kirby, after his dreadful chairing of the Extraordinary Council Meeting on 9th Oct 2008 (China Gate)( with a host of complaints to TDC that followed with even LG Ombudsman involved?) should now find himself 'demoted' to having the un-important half of Woger's portfolio! Who will we find 'elected' as Chairman of TDC in his place on Thursday 26th February?
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So we now have a Cabinet of 7. If that wasn't uninspiring enough, it would seem that 'Mauwice' now has a sudden urge to involve more 'back-bench' Councillors in the running of TDC. The idea would seem to be that the now 6 Cabinet members under 'Mauwice' will now have TWO back-bench Conservative Councillors as 'lead members per portfolio'. This will now create 12 more jobs for the Tory boys & girls presently sitting silently muttering on the 'back-benches'.
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What this does of course, is increase 'Mauwice's' grip on the Conservative Councillors. There will now be upto 18 of them 'involved' in Cabinet Portfolios and presumably they will all be able to claim or be allocated extra 'allowances' for the additional responsibility and thus increase their remuneration; I thought that TDC was involved in cost-cutting exercises, or could it be that 'prestige' and 'public service' considerations are at play here, with no extra 'bonce' involved.( An FOI enquiry on the financial implications of these changes could be in order).
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So we could soon see 18 out of 34 (53%) Conservative Councillors 'beholden' to the 'grace and favour' morsels from the discredited Leader of TDC as he faces the ignominy of having already been admonished by The Standard's Board for the Winter Garden's 'F*****G T****R incident and is still awaiting the resolution of ' The Edinburgh Wool Shop Petition Affair'.
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An improvement on the running of TDC or an attempt to secure his position by making sure that a majority of Conservative Councillors will support Cllr Ezekiel if and when the Standard's Board makes a finding that 'Our Leader' was out of order concerning his behaviour towards Cllr Iris Johnston? He will presumably be spending more time in 2009 on a yacht in the Med anyway?
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Make your own mind up. You could, of course, support The Thanet Elected Mayor Petition which is shortly to be rolled out!
20 comments:
OMG - Heavens help us - and I thought Thanet might have some sort of future - well seems we will now be going backward instead of just standing still.
Presumably these extra posts have some sort of allowance attached to compensate for the extra work involved. It will be interesting to see who gets the jobs and I wonder if my totally anonymous councillors are on there. Perhaps then they'll actually do something to earn their allowances.
Just as interesting will be who is not listed.
Do you think Cllr. Broadhurst will be on the list?
At the moment it would seem that no extra allowance will be attached to 'Lead members' who are likely to work 2 days a week on their portfolio. The aspiring Tory, will of course, hope to advance in the pecking order by such selfless service. I could suggest some names that will definitely not be asked!
call me a cynic but might it be because the existing few are too lazy to do anything and want to pass the jobs onto others who mayn't be so idle?
Bertie for mayor - make sure you advertise where we sign the petition for a mayor because you have 2 thanet voters at least who will put pen to paper and can easily recruit more. Why doesnt Malcolm stand he would make an excellent mayor - needs someone to cut thro' the swathes of has been and ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING FOR THANET!
10.52, as soon as Malcolm gets things launched, I will let everyobe know. He has decided to time things so that if successful with a referendum, a Mayoral Election can coincide with other elections and reduce cost to the tax-payer. I have no Mayoral ambitions, but thanks anyway!
So, we'll have an inner circle of the accepted and an outer circle of the unacceptable, presumably. Will the unacceptables then find themselves de-selected for the next TDC elections? Perhaps we'll find a larger number of Independents standing in 2011.
To give two days a week to their portfolios will be difficult for some as there must be a number who have paid employment elsewhere. If there's no extra money for this work, will some be faced with promotion inside the inner sanctum and part-time working outside?
Surely every form of government has a cabinet, and that cabinet has policy theme leaders and they have a staff of paid servants? Brown's got one, Obama's got one, even Mugabe's got one. Every body of governance we ever liked had one, and so did every one we hated.
Except Hitler, he only had a dog and a leatherbound set of the complete works of Shakespeare.
I don't know who to hate any more; perhaps if SMEG threw a Tesco bag of planning applications into the acquifer I'd be a little clearer?
Bertie, all you ever do is tell us how awful the cabinet is. But you never tell us why they are awful.
We have tax increases and services similar to most other councils (certaily in comparison to places like Dover and Shepway and Canterbury), schemes that are bringing jobs to the area, and plans that will make this a top place to live in 5 years if everything comes off.
So why don't you just lie back and think of England and let them get on with it, rather that fret about things you don't understand and can't change?
23.45, when a member of cabinet fills out a misleading declaration concerning hospitality; when a Leader is involved in the Winter Gardens Fracas and then The Woolen Shop Fiasco; when a Cabinet member likens Phase 1 China Gateway to a resident building an extension and when 'cronyism' is more important than 'talent', do you really expect me to be impressed by TDC Cabinet?
A confident capable leader surrounds himself with the best talent in his team. Look at the talent sitting idle on the Conservative back-benches because they are 'new' or not part of the sycophantic glee club.
Is that enough at this late hour to be getting on with?
'Plans' you talk of that are TDC inspired boil down to the TC fiasco. In the 11 years of Labour 'boom' in this country, I have witnessed a remorseless decline in Margate in particular and Thanet in general. Do you think the policy decision concerning The Dreamland site that flew in the face of an Independent Inspector's advice was sensible? I find the 'grovelling' to Waterbridge and Godden concerning putting a 'fun-fair' on Dreamland this year an embarrassment that highlights the utter failure of TDC under Ezekiel and Co. Need I say much more?
But a council is not just about Dreamland and Manston. It is about a thousand other things. You conveniently forget that they don't own the Dreamland site, and don't have the money to buy or do anything with it. And it is not as if the Labour government, who have the big money, has gone out of its way to support the town or the area.
Whatever you may think about Ezekiel, and your prejuidices are clear to see, he does seem to have the support of influential people outside the area, who are working with the council to bring improvements.
And if you know anything about local politics, you will have observed that the Labour bunch are even worse.
But then you don't seem to have anything good to say about anything or anybody, a sure sign that you are frustrated and without talent.
00.48/23.45, we must beg to differ about The Dreamland site. When it was described by the Independent Inspector as the key to Margate's regeneration and the need to retain it as an area for a visitor attraction,TDC took the wrong option and it has become a derelict site as a result but TDC doubled the value of the site for its owners from (then) £16 million to £32 million.
Please continue to put your arguments and to promote the good things that TDC does. It helps balance.
I may well be frustrated and without talent; only others can make that assessment as my own viewpoint is subjective!
"He (Ezekiel) will presumably be spending more time in 2009 on a yacht in the Med anyway?."
Cheer up Bertie, he may fall overboard.
16.08, you are probably correct but I would not wish Mr Maxwell's fate on poor Mauwice; he is already 'out of his depth' as Leader of TDC!
Bertie, have you seen the post on Tony Flaig's site that has also been posted on Mike Harrison's site anout a mayor (presumably Labour), who bullied and harrassed Ezekiel's wife. It seems that could be the reason he got angry at the ball.
I haven't heard this before. Could you get in touch with your Labour contacts to find out who it was and why they didn't make him face up to his responsbilities?
This seems like a serious breach that has been hidden from view by both parties.
trying to post a comment would seem to be a waste of time as you seem hell bent on character assasination rather than look at the fact that the current cabinet members spend a lot of their time and private life in the service of Thanet,it is a great pity that this is not realised. I too raised the issue of the lead members proposal and understand that it is part of succession training.Why Bertie can't you look at all the good work that is being done by the people we have elected, and if you feel you can do better then you can put yourself forward in two years time as there will be vacancies.Lets see if this passes your censorship
Since when has a carpet salesman ever exerted any influence outside Thanet. He and his cronyies want to be out as soon as possible they are giving Conservatism a bad name and putting off decent people coming forward as councillors and i class myself as one of those. So keep up the good work you aren't a lone unimportant voice Bertie - you are the brave one that speaks for decent thanet people - many of them conservative who are absolutely aghast at what these "gangsters" get away with in the name of apathy from the rest of Thanet!You don't get all this personal character assasination from the local labour group and many of them are bravely trying to do their best for Thanet even if many of us don't agree with their politics they seem to have the 3towns more at heart than forwarding their own causes, which could be said of the Conservatives.
You've heard it now!
My apologies for delay today in putting up comments; family matters have kept me elsewhere.
10.00, I am slightly confused. Are you refering to posts from 2008? In regard to the Winter Garden's Affair, the Standards Board found that Cllr Ezekiel was 'out of order'. In response to the original Standard's Board Complaint, a counter complaint was made against The Mayor, courtesy of Cllr Ezekiel's wife (Secretary to The Mayor?) concerning a diary entry about Holocaust Day being discussed by him. This complaint was up-held by The Standard's Board but was not the subject of a complaint at the time but raised later, presumably as a response to Cllr Ezekiel facing a complaint after his unacceptable conduct at The Winter Gardens. The obfuscation of the whole business was very successful from Cllr Ezekel's point of view as even our local Gazunder had to clarify its initial poor reporting a week afer reporting the Standard's Board findings incorrectly!
The fact remains that Cllr Ezekiel's conduct that night and in The Edinburgh Woolen Shop last summer, was not what the electorate expect of Thanet's Council Leader and has brought the office of 'Leader' into disrepute. I still maintain that these incidents are serious matters that should warrant resignation from office or removal from office by our Councillors. I am disappointed as a Tory, that my own Pary's Cllrs have not resolved this matter.
13.35, as I have had to remind reader's from time to time, I am happy to put up critical comments but do reserve the right to 'edit' or 'delete' comments. If I do so, I will always announce that fact. I am delighted to say that I have not had to edit or not print a comment for a number of months now, and your reservation about your comment not being published is unjustified.
You must forgive me for being sceptical about this sudden need to 'bring -on' new blood to give them experience and succession training. There were a number of Councillor's elected as genuine Tories (as opposed to sudden Saul of Tarsus conversions we have seen by 'Our Ken' and Cllr Watt-Ruffel)in May 2007. A number of those Tory Cllrs had specific skills and personal qualities that were on offer to 'Our Leader' but have not been called on and have been deliberately ignored because they were even opposed by 'Our Leader' at the selection stage. So forgive me for having the view that 'Our Leader' has surrounded himself with 'jobs worths' and sycophants of little ability other than as supporters of 'Our Leader' and this Lead Councillor idea on portfolio's is just an extension of patronage and influence to secure a base against 'impeachment' by his own Party's Cllrs of integrity.
Hear, hear all you say is sadly true Bertie - can count on one hand those with intellectual acumen in the cabinet, seems to be if they can be bothered they get lumbered with all the paper reading and digestion, whilst the others just laze around.
Think it is time we had some independants or at least tories with a brain!
Couldn't agree more - but as far as the cabinet is concerned you can count those with intellectual acumen on one finger! The level of intellectual ability is embarrassing. A more sycophantic self interested bunch would be hard to find elsewhere.
Anonymous said...
Apologies for the late response to your posting on 8 Feb, but I have been on a short hol.
You should be more balanced in your reporting of events. Cllr Clark was also found to be offensive and disrepectful by the Standards Board, www.standardsboard.co.uk, and the allegation was not brought as a counter claim by his wife. My understanding is that she has never involved the standards board for the months of bullying and harrasment that she went through, instead she involved her union.
I have to agree with other bloggers comments that had the boot been on the other foot, then the Labour Party Political Machine would have been baying for blood, but someone seems to have unplugged it on this occasion. It would appear that the Cllr in question even went to ground and wouldn't assist in any preliminary investigation.
I also believe that it took over a year and a half for this matter to be resolved, and it was only when the unions threatened action that it was brought to a conclusion, wherein Mrs E recieved an apology for the behaviour of said Cllr.
You have every right to blog your opinons BB, but just make sure that they are balanced. "Mauwice" may say things that he shouldn't at times, but at least he is up front, not sneaking around in the background, having nasty little jibes at people over a matter of months. Incidently, this matter with Mrs E had, apparently, been logged some time before the WG fiasco, so it could hardly be called retaliation.
Methinks " Mauwice" may have been set up at the WG to react, funny that, just before the elections!!
20 February 2009 09:28
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