Co-option is a fancy word in council speak for getting a replacement councillor when someone resigns or dies. Tonight we had to co-opt a conservative Councillor. There were two people who had applied to be co-opted, usually a quite painless exercise
Due to an obscure rule of my lot, the Labour party, seemingly we can't vote for a co-opted candidate who will become a conservative Councillor. That meant that we wouldn't take part in the vote, but we would just observe proceedings. Not that it mattered the conservatives had a majority, albeit, of one, and we were voting to co-opt a conservative, and that's the way it works.
Prior to the co-opting interview we all agreed that each candidate would be asked the same few penetrating questions.
First up was a portly gentleman with a black tie and a black suit, as if he had just come from a funeral, or maybe he had been to the chamber previously and thought a solemn attire best suited the occasion. He was asked to give the councillors a short introduction, about himself. He told us a rambling tale that began, he said, three weeks ago. He hadn't thought about standing for council but after some comments he had overheard from visitors about the poor state of our toilets in the gill, he obviously thought he would like to get involved and on seeing the notice about the vacant seat on the council was prompted to apply to be co-opted. He seemed a very down to earth type, a man of the soil, me thinks,or is that soil pipe, that spoke with some real passion about the town and how he hoped he could make a difference.
Then up stepped our inquisitor, Cllr Jenkinson, I held my breath, what fiendishly difficult question was she going to asked to probe further into the psyche of our candidate.
It was designed to trip up the most able of candidates.
"What do you know about the protocols and procedures of how the council operates" she asked, or something along those lines. With one fell swoop she had exposed the achilles heel of our first candidate. He had to admit that he knew very little of the esoteric nature of local government, but hoped to learn as he went along and became more involved. He seemed to think that having concern and a passion to make things happen for the good of the town would be enough to start with.
Good answer I thought.
Question No. 2. "Do you have any knowledge of how the town council represents different parts of the town". Another scorching question, so relevant to being an effective Councillor, (sic)
Here, he scored a little higher as he seemed to know that the town was divided into wards,
Q.3 "And what did he think he could achieve" if he became the chosen one. This gave him the opportunity to tell us a little more about his abilities to be a listening ear, and how people often came to him to solve problems of one sort or another in his community and at work. He hoped to bring these same qualities to the council. Another good answer, I thought.
The second candidate also looked as though he had also just returned from a funeral, he was slight, a touch dapper, and a lot more reserved.According to his resume he's 75, but carried his age well.
He faced the grand inquisitor with an ever so slight air of superiority, and a quizzical stare.
Answering the same questions put by our arch inquisitor he was, shall we say succinct. .
To question one, why do you want to be on the town council he may have said "to serve the town", or something like that, I don't remember, as it was answered in the blink of an eye.
Any way we were straight on to question two.
I think his answer to that one was "yes", and on Q3 he also seemed to know about wards.
What did he want to achieve? I think he may have expanded here to slightly more than one sentence, but to me it was an unmemorable aspiration..
The conservatives had their vote, we abstained
By a majority vote of all six conservatives they agreed to co-opt candidate No 2, the 75 year old, who just happens to be the husband of the mayor.
Even if we, the labour lot had voted, and we had all voted for candidate A, candidate B would still have won because they, the conservatives, had already decided who they wanted, before the fiasco of the interview. That, it seems, is democracy in action.
To my mind it was all a bit of a farce, even if we'd had Nelson Mandela, as the other candidate he wouldn't of stood a chance. It's sad but true that party politics plays out its petty games even in Ulverston town council. and last night we saw it played out, blatantly.
Candidate No 1 even said that he didn't think that it mattered a jot whether you were on the left or right, he just wanted to bring his passion for the town to the Council debates.Maybe that's where it all went pear shaped for him, I mean the last thing the town council want is passion for goodness sake, something might end up getting done.
Had he declared that he had been a lifelong Conservative supporter the cats may have been among the pigeons and the outcome could have easily gone the other way. But then again being the Mayors husband may have just swung it..
Just saying.
Due to an obscure rule of my lot, the Labour party, seemingly we can't vote for a co-opted candidate who will become a conservative Councillor. That meant that we wouldn't take part in the vote, but we would just observe proceedings. Not that it mattered the conservatives had a majority, albeit, of one, and we were voting to co-opt a conservative, and that's the way it works.
Prior to the co-opting interview we all agreed that each candidate would be asked the same few penetrating questions.
First up was a portly gentleman with a black tie and a black suit, as if he had just come from a funeral, or maybe he had been to the chamber previously and thought a solemn attire best suited the occasion. He was asked to give the councillors a short introduction, about himself. He told us a rambling tale that began, he said, three weeks ago. He hadn't thought about standing for council but after some comments he had overheard from visitors about the poor state of our toilets in the gill, he obviously thought he would like to get involved and on seeing the notice about the vacant seat on the council was prompted to apply to be co-opted. He seemed a very down to earth type, a man of the soil, me thinks,or is that soil pipe, that spoke with some real passion about the town and how he hoped he could make a difference.
Then up stepped our inquisitor, Cllr Jenkinson, I held my breath, what fiendishly difficult question was she going to asked to probe further into the psyche of our candidate.
It was designed to trip up the most able of candidates.
"What do you know about the protocols and procedures of how the council operates" she asked, or something along those lines. With one fell swoop she had exposed the achilles heel of our first candidate. He had to admit that he knew very little of the esoteric nature of local government, but hoped to learn as he went along and became more involved. He seemed to think that having concern and a passion to make things happen for the good of the town would be enough to start with.
Good answer I thought.
Question No. 2. "Do you have any knowledge of how the town council represents different parts of the town". Another scorching question, so relevant to being an effective Councillor, (sic)
Here, he scored a little higher as he seemed to know that the town was divided into wards,
Q.3 "And what did he think he could achieve" if he became the chosen one. This gave him the opportunity to tell us a little more about his abilities to be a listening ear, and how people often came to him to solve problems of one sort or another in his community and at work. He hoped to bring these same qualities to the council. Another good answer, I thought.
The second candidate also looked as though he had also just returned from a funeral, he was slight, a touch dapper, and a lot more reserved.According to his resume he's 75, but carried his age well.
He faced the grand inquisitor with an ever so slight air of superiority, and a quizzical stare.
Answering the same questions put by our arch inquisitor he was, shall we say succinct. .
To question one, why do you want to be on the town council he may have said "to serve the town", or something like that, I don't remember, as it was answered in the blink of an eye.
Any way we were straight on to question two.
I think his answer to that one was "yes", and on Q3 he also seemed to know about wards.
What did he want to achieve? I think he may have expanded here to slightly more than one sentence, but to me it was an unmemorable aspiration..
The conservatives had their vote, we abstained
By a majority vote of all six conservatives they agreed to co-opt candidate No 2, the 75 year old, who just happens to be the husband of the mayor.
Even if we, the labour lot had voted, and we had all voted for candidate A, candidate B would still have won because they, the conservatives, had already decided who they wanted, before the fiasco of the interview. That, it seems, is democracy in action.
To my mind it was all a bit of a farce, even if we'd had Nelson Mandela, as the other candidate he wouldn't of stood a chance. It's sad but true that party politics plays out its petty games even in Ulverston town council. and last night we saw it played out, blatantly.
Candidate No 1 even said that he didn't think that it mattered a jot whether you were on the left or right, he just wanted to bring his passion for the town to the Council debates.Maybe that's where it all went pear shaped for him, I mean the last thing the town council want is passion for goodness sake, something might end up getting done.
Had he declared that he had been a lifelong Conservative supporter the cats may have been among the pigeons and the outcome could have easily gone the other way. But then again being the Mayors husband may have just swung it..
Just saying.
