Saint Ouën's low-energy Connétable

Are you a disgruntled retiree looking for a well-paying seat to place your bum onto while you slowly glide towards your impending death?

Did you run an election campaign based entirely on selling yourself as a good person rather than someone with half-decent policies?

Have you found that your £46K/year salary isn't sufficient to prevent you from whining about it in the local rag?

Well then, the position of Connétable de Saint Ouën may be just what you've been looking for!

That's right, folks, our esteemed local Connétable is at it again, this time telling hacks that States members need a pay rise. According to Mr Buchanan, "If it [the Assembly] wants to attract people with real ability from the finance industry, then it has to realise those people are worth a certain amount of money." and, reassuringly, that he's finding his shiny new position to be "a lot more work than I expected". I always thought the reason these parish types sold themselves on their experience at the top of parish life (as Buchanan does extensively in his vote.je statement) was because they knew how it worked and how to handle the workload. Obviously, our Richie doesn't seem to have had the same experience!

After all, it's not like there's a big pay dispute going on at the moment, in which the States have repeatedly claimed that there's no more money left, is it? It's not like a senior member of the States Employment Board and the government as a whole making these sorts of comments could be seen as massively insensitive, right? Oh, yes, did I remind you that Connétable Buchanan is on the SEB, and an Assistant Chief Minister? 

To be fair, it's not like you'd know that from the way he conducts himself. According to Bob King of JCSA Prospect, "He’s talked about intense negotiations but he’s never been in them... I have only had one conversation with the guy, at my request, to say the whole thing is going to hell in a hand cart and here’s your chance to sort it out, and there was much hand-wringing from them".

Encouraging as ever, eh? We all know that the "negotiations" are a joke, a farce which involve the States representatives banging on about lack of money and little else, but you'd think the SOJ would at least pretend to try, right? Apparently not, especially when you're dealing with a man who, not even a year into his new job, declares that he'd rather be "having a rest" than serving the parish as Connétable. Obviously the Assembly is a bit too high-energy for Mr Buchanan. 

Don't you worry though, gris ventres; after all "It’s a challenge. I shall probably give up at the end of four years, exhausted and worn out". Stunning! Why bother with anything as ghastly as a potential challenge when you can be elected unopposed, trouser two hundred grand and split after four years, amirite?

I'll be honest, Richard, mate; it's not a great first year, and no amount of tasteless whinging to the rag about your salary is going to change that. Saint Ouën and the Assembly in general need vigour, energy, political aptitude - not a low-energy ex-finance drone whose selling points include "63 years of life experience".

The fight goes on.

Richard Buchanan and the democracy problem

Richard Buchanan is not a man I expected to like.

63 years old, a banker by trade and an ex-copper, Buchanan perhaps exemplifies the classic ultra-conservative Jerseyman the likes of which I would prefer to see flushed along with their ideas about Jersey’s political system back to the 19th century. Having faced no election, since joining the States he has been catapulted into the position of Assistant Chief Minister, where his principal job so far has been to put on John le Fondré’s hat and speak for the Chief Minister while said Chief Minister takes a cosy 3-week holiday.

His latest venture into the spotlight has been in comments made relating to Senator Sam Mézec and his criticisms of the parish system (which we’ve already covered extensively). Buchanan has not only alleged that Mézec is showing a “clear lack lack of understanding of how the parish system worked” and called him “misinformed” - he also called the parishes “inclusive” and said there was “plenty of information” about the upcoming elections!

It’s worth pointing out that our Richard has been involved in with the Parish of St Ouen for over a decade as an honorary policeman and Centinier, and now obviously runs the place. I’m sure that from his perspective, as a paid-up, card-carrying member of the parish establishment, a notification in the Gris Ventre and a small notice in the JEP gazette is just fine, but for ordinary people that just ain’t enough. I like to consider myself fairly politically aware and I found out about the last St Ouen parish assembly by accident browning the A View From the West blog - for someone who isn’t particularly political, this stuff will pass right over their heads.

The Connétable needs to appreciate the reality of the situation. His last rates meeting was attended by about 30 people, the vast majority of which were interested in basically spectating. Two questions from the floor, and a seat on the Accounts Committee left empty. A dry experience? To say the least of it. Of course it is! What do you expect from an antidemocratic system, hijacked by establishment geriatrics and so far removed from the lives of ordinary parishioners that it may as well be taking place on Mars. This isn’t acceptable in what’s ostensibly a 21st century democracy, full stop.   As Senator Mézec said - modernise, or become an irrelevancy. I don’t want to see our parish system retreat up its own arse, but guess who has the power to do something about it? The Comité de Connétables. Write to, phone or email your representatives. Go up to them in Morrison’s, go to their surgeries, graffiti your parish hall with pro-democracy slogans - demand democracy! Democracy is what we all deserve and it’s what we all must have.

Nothing less can be accepted.

Connétable de St. Ouen updates Parish website after criticism

Just a quick PSA for my fellow gris ventres - following a request by yours truly to update the Parish of St. Ouen website, the Connétable, Richard Buchanan, has made significant additions to the website to include names and contact details for each and every elected parish official - Procureurs, Centiniers, Vingteniers, Constable's Officer, Roads Inspectors and the members of the Roads Committee and the Rates Assessment Committee. This comes after Deputy Sam Mézec's major attack on the current state of Parish democracy posted on his blog last Wednesday exposed the anti-democratic bent of the Comité de Connétables, the lack of information available about elected roles and the general vestigial state of Parish democracy to a massive degree (something we also analysed, asking what Jersey's democracy movement could learn from libertarian socialism and the ideas of Murray Bookchin).

St. Ouen continues its slow, slow crawl towards something resembling the 21st century!

You can view the newly-posted information here.

Lying Cliff le Clercq

Well, well, well.

Cliff le Clercq, Richard Renouf's only opposition for the post of St. Ouen deputy, has been caught lying about his credentials as a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). Despite his membership expiring two years ago, he used their name and logo on his website and claimed membership at the electoral hustings last Tuesday - despite being warned to cease by the Advertising Standards Agency last January, who said they were "concerned" by le Clercq's "apparent disregard" for advertising regulations. le Clercq claimed that the loss of membership was due to issues with his bank account.

Now, as I said the other day, I found le Clercq surprisingly credible at the hustings on Tuesday, seeming to have the right idea on gun rights and the reasons young people feel disenfranchised. I wouldn't vote for him - Renouf, for all his faults, is a pretty reliably progressive and experienced candidate with a record of effective scrutiny, who has also been a very good constituency politician that genuinely makes an effort to represent his parishioners. le Clercq may have the right views on certain issues but I sense in him a strong whiff of the old St. Ouen conservative who will slide straight into bed with the establishment as soon as he gets his bum one of those nice red seats. This latest scandal only raises more concerns - can you really trust someone who can't manage the workings of his own bank account with public finances? The man is, after all, a shrink (sorry, "life coach") - great if you want someone to feel better about their life, but unconvincing compared to Renouf's experienced legal background and former role as a Procureur de Bien Public.

Is this really a man you want representing you in the Assembly - "apparent disregard" for advertising regulations, a man whose lack of response to the rulings of a regulator the ACA found "concerning", and someone who can't seem to even manage his own bank account?   

I'll stick with Renouf, thank you.                                           

le Clercq vs Renouf

Regular readers will know that I'm a resident of the parish of St. Ouen, and tonight, we had our deputy hustings! There are two candidates for the seat: Richard Renouf, the sitting deputy since 2014, and Cliff le Clercq, a failed senatorial candidate from 2008 and professional psychotherapist. I must admit, first of all, that prior to his surprise stand for deputy (announced and arranged at the nominations meeting, with more than a hint of "token opposition" about it), I had never heard of him. That in mind, I was genuinely fairly taken aback with how credible he sounded. Renouf, with the exception of one question relating to mental health that he stumbled over and failed to recover, was his usual calm, collected and credible self - having run the Health and Social Services Scrutiny Panel over the last term, he has an impressive grasp of a range of issues. Interesting points were made on several issues; both candidates took a position in support of the Bailiff being removed as President of the States and in support of an elected speaker, which I found somewhat surprising for a parish which is - as noted by Renouf - one of the Island's more traditional. Both candidates expressed their approval for St. Ouen's shooting culture - Renouf supported further restrictions on firearms that would "keep them out of the hands of criminals", which I found slightly concerning as possibly giving gun owners even more red tape to fill out. Owning a firearm in Jersey is cumbersome enough - criminals, as a rule, don't carry weapons, and incidents are very rare - there is no reason for any change to the current laws (although apparently our favorite Assistant Home Affairs minister Deidre Mezbourian (one of Gorst's more obedient pets) disagreed). Happily, le Clercq was quite categorical in his support for the status quo. Another interesting topic covered was electoral reform and "superconstituencies", which Renouf seemed to show support for. le Clercq, slightly irritatingly, ignored the thrust of the question ("what are the candidates' views on electoral reform") and launched into a tirade about the committee system (although I didn't disagree with what he is saying - the man is in favour of abolishing ministerial government and returning to a consensus-based system). The prize for "most accurate point of the evening", however, must go to le Clercq for his bang-on point about disengagement from younger voters; his point, essentially, was that young people don't feel like they have a stake in society, and therefore, they don't vote. This, depressingly, is very true - people feel that the Jersey system isn't worth their time. They plan to leave at the earliest opportunity, and in many cases, never come back. Why? Because the Island is too expensive for many people to afford to live here.

The most concerning point, however, will be a joint award. Both candidates expressed an "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" approach to the introduction of ID cards. Sorry, but I find it difficult to support anyone in favour of these things. The idea that a citizen should have to carry around an ID card at all times for presentation on demand for any agent of the state is simply an appalling breach of personal liberty. I should not be expected, in my own country, to provide proof in the street that I am a legitimate citizen of this country. ID cards are a deeply dangerous and fascistic intrusion into people's personal lives and I find it deeply worrying that both of St. Ouen's candidates condone them.