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Mayor of Medway 2008/2009
Yes, it’s that time of year again, when the selection of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor gets underway, with the official Council noting of which group will have the Mayoralty.
This year, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Conservative Group will be bestowed the great honour of the Mayoralty – using an undemocratic system which I totally disagree with.
So, in a move which may make me unpopular amongst many members, I am going to bite the bullet, and say who I, if I were in charge of the Conservative Group, would appoint Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
Mayor John Ward (only joking Jane Etheridge
)
Deputy Mayor Mike O’Brien
As always, it is important for me to point out that the two aforementioned names are presented as a matter of my personal opinion, and that I will fully support whoever is chosen by the Group.
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Hahaha. I have no idea who either of those people are, or how the process works.
The system, introduced when the Unitary Authority was created around ten years ago, is “points-based” so that everyone gets a turn every few years, depending on how many seats they have on the Council at 1 January each year.
Personally, I have always believed that the Mayor, as First Citizen, is supposed to represent “the people” of the whole council area. Now, that can never be a hundred percent the case, of course, but whoever it is should at least have come into contention (i.e. been elected to the Council) for this exalted position based on the most popular “platform”, so should always — always! — be from the largest political group on the Council.
We were elected to serve the public — not make rules to suit our parties’ own ends — and I have said elsewhere that I believe the points method should be scrapped. I hope we shall be able to do so in the not-too-distant future; but as it happens we have the Mayoralty under the points system for the next two municipal years anyway: i.e. the largest group (us!) which would be the same under the straight “majority” system that I want.
Oh, and I wouldn’t put myself up for Mayor, so Alan was right to cross me off up there
Just for information: there are four pairs (i.e. for both Mayor and Deputy Mayor) who have been nominated and seconded, so we shall all have ballot papers given to us at our Group meeting tomorrow evening, and will complete these and submit them by the time of our next Group meeting after that.
I don’t think “cuddly” Jane Etheridge is among them, at least not for Mayor (I don’t yet know who the Deputy Mayor candidates are).
And finally (for tonight at least)…
I am not convinced about a directly-elected Mayor in a situation such as ours, if for no other reason that Medway is not a city (and, technically, can never be, according to legal experts) whereas Rochester by itself was.
Even Rochester’s city status was deliberately allowed to lapse by the former Labour Administration of the Council, and cannot be re-instated (we worked hard on this question a couple of years ago).
Beyond that, the situation in London has shown how such a position (holding, in that case, vast personal power with, in reality, little in the way of “checks and balances”) tends to work against the interests of the people.
I don’t want anything even remotely like that here.
What we need is someone who is on the “inside track”, so is in a position of (elected, yes) authority rather than from outside of the political side of the council itself, but without holding significant personal power.
This is what we have at present: the Mayor cannot be a Cabinet member or Scrutiny chairman, for a start. It’s the best system for us, I feel sure.
Now, a Sheriff is another matter…
Yes, I’d worked out the points until 2011 after the last election – and am still having trouble explaining the way it works to my Dad!
Of course what I didn’t know was how each Group chose its candidates – obviously now we have an insight into one of them!
“I don’t think “cuddly” Jane Etheridge is among them”
Shame.
Alan
You wrote, quoting my “I don’t think “cuddly” Jane Etheridge is among them”
Shame.
Well, don’t forget there’s always next year…
“Well, don’t forget there’s always next year…”
Here’s hoping – we wouldn’t want to have to wait until 2011, now, would we
?
I agree. I think “Cuddly Jane” is a lovely lady in many ways, and would actually be a very good Mayor out in the community.
As for the other Mayoral duty of running Council meetings — well, that could be a bit of a problem, as Jane isn’t the best at running meetings, and even now often falls prey to the less reputable opposition members’ ploys.
If we could get rid of those who behave so badly (as I have personally witnessed at Scrutiny meetings and elsewhere), then I think that Jane could — with some coaching in advance — handle this other task, and show how genuine compassion and honest feelings are of far greater value than self-serving political manipulation.
I, for one, look forward to such a time, and fervently hope that it will happen.
Back on the “directly elected mayor” question:
It is worth reading just what effect this can have, HERE and in tomorrow evening’s Dispatches programme on Channel 4. It can be very dangerous!
Now we know (those of us who watched the programme). Unless the “directly-elected Mayor” set-up is hugely changed — which seems unlikely with the present Government — this just is not a sensible way to proceed. No one person should have that much power, budget and authority, anywhere in Government at any level.