Straw man's straw man

In what looks like a shot over the bows in the election battle for Fellgate & Hedworth, the independents who are part of the Independent Alliance grouping are attempting to derail other candidates planning to stand in the ward as independents in the coming election by implying they will be puppets of Labour councillor Paul Waggott.

Their Winter 07/08 campaign leaflet says:

"IT’S EMERGED that the last remaining Labour Councillor, Paul Waggott in a last ditch attempt to cling onto his seat may be behind a plot to stand another ‘independent’ in May’s local Elections, which clearly stinks of desperation.

Remember the one and only true INDEPENDENT candidate for Hedworth, Fellgate & Calf Close endorsed by current Independent Councillors Steve Harrison and George Waddle is GERALDINE WHITE."

This means that any independent other than the candidate 'endorsed' by Waddle and Harrison has effectively been smeared as a Labour straw man before the nomination papers are even signed. This is without even considering the sheer arrogance of the Waddle and Harrison politburo in assuming the role of arbiters of who is or isn't 'independent'.

Without any evidence, these claims are pure dirty tricks spin.

This 'clearly stinks' of cynical electioneering and makes them no better than the Labour party they supposedly despise.

Listening to be heard

It was handbags at dawn between Fellgate and Hedworth ward councillors Paul Waggott and Steve Harrison in the Shields Gazette yesterday, and it indicates that there may be more media contretemps before the May 3rd election. Hijacking of media credit is not new in South Tyneside - recently Couns Brady and Gibson basked in the glow of a misleading headline whilst [Independent candidate] Steve Pattison and his Friends of Temple Park did all the legwork to stop the development of the site's former caretaker's residence into a surgery.

So I can understand Coun Harrison's petulance at Coun Waggott's alleged press hijacking but the real point has been missed. Residents' concerns have finally begun to be addressed, and if it took the fear of losing Fellgate and Hedworth ward to the Independents to get things moving it shows that sometimes our electoral system does work.

What the voters will see though is two councillors fighting very publicly, when it's obvious they should have been working together, or at the very least talking to each other. It's apparent to anyone watching from the sidelines that it's partisan politics that's all that matters in South Tyneside, and particularly Fellgate and Hedworth, not consensus resolution for the benefit of residents.

While the sitting councillors are noisily sound biting each other in the press, apparently today the prospective Green Party candidate for Fellgate and Hedworth ward quietly collected nomination signatures and listened to residents concerns.