Election

Senatorial by-election 2010

I’ve no confidence whatsoever that any present States member – nor any declared candidate so far – has sufficient understanding of how to reduce public spending (and therefore reduce the likelihood of increased taxes).
I have, and that would be my main platform – explaining why all previous attempts to cut back have failed.

That is why I’ve decided to stand in the forthcoming by-election created by Stuart Syvret’s non-attendance at States sittings. If successful, my main aim would be to get to grips with the departmental system that is a breeding ground for waste and inefficiency. It is not fair on our hard-working civil servants or our taxpayers to let this continue.
There are ways to tackle this and succeed, but it requires tackling the problem at its roots.
I’ll explain more later – don’t want other candidates pinching my ideas just yet!
Sadly, I note our Treasury minister has already given up in his quest to cut expenditure. In the JEP of May 5th he talks about issuing a consultation paper after the election asking the public which taxes they’d prefer raised!

In the meantime (rather like battle of flowers float building) a successful campaign requires more effort than people realise. Take, for example, polling day itself. You’d expect a representative of your preferred candidate to be there when you vote, right? Well, polls are open for 12 hours and, given that it would be unreasonable to ask a supporter to stand there for more than three hours, that’s 4 people required per parish (actually more, because St Brelade & St Saviour have two polling stations, and St Helier three. Get the idea?  Then there’s putting up posters and so forth.
Want to help?     e-mail me @ gclbaudains.co.uk

Have a nice day.