Si wrote:I can see Jimmy's problem here - on the one hand the No campaign is demanding info concerning the trust and money and complaining when it's not forthcoming, not to mention the complaints about several councillors who seem to be saying "vote Yes because I say so" and not giving hard and fast reasons. But on the other hand, we now are told that there are councillors who are questioning the proposal but you can't say who they are and they won't tell us this. So we are getting a bit of "Just trust me and ask no questions" from both sides now.
I've named the two who have gone public (myself and John Meudell) in a big way. A third, Helen Vecht, has also publicly stated that she will be voting against the proposals. We are encouraging the others with concerns to put their heads above the parapet.
Obviously, it's not your fault Greg, if other councillors have privately voiced concerns to you but then refuse to put their money where their mouth is in public - it puts you in a problematic position. But I have to wonder, how can the Chair and other Councillors apply pressure to these people? After all, no one on the Council in a professional capacity - if they disagree they won't find themselves out of work and on the bread line. And being Councillors, representatives charged and trusted to voice concerns of their electorate, they should not be the sort of shrinking violates who might be worried because another Councillor might threaten to pinch their dinner money. So how is pressure being applied, and does the fact that pressure can be successfully applied mean that we have the wrong people representing us?
I'm afraid to say that the Chair is a party political man and not adverse to trying to use political tricks to get his way. Also, Councillors are bombarded with information and then not given the chance to take time to think it through. When the Trust was set up, councillors weren't given advance notice of what was being proposed and were given only 15 minutes to agree and sign it off - that's not even enough time to read the papers properly.
When Councillors and former Councillors are publicly denigrated by the Chief Executive and the Chair takes no action, or when personal attacks are made on Councillors who have the guts to speak out or they are falsely accused of acting maliciously, is it surprising that some of those with doubts don't want to be seen to be rocking the boat or going against the flow?