Unprecedented discontent - 12 more registered for change

Today was spent concentrating on the final moments of the voter registration campaign. I can advise that a further 12 people have been added to the electoral roll. They range from senior executives in Finance to those just about surviving on social security. It also includes one unemployed woman, redundant 18 months ago and unable to find work.

The mood on the street is somber. There will be votes for change.


05.09.2011 Make that 14!  As I went round the corner to the papershop in Roseville Street, I suddenly remembered that two neighbours had expressed and interest to be registered and that I had left them a voter registration form which they would complete and I collect. I rushed round at ten minutes to nine, hoping to catch them before they went to work. They had gone. However, they had left the completed form with a son and grandfather awaiting my collection! The form will be delivered to the Town Hall this morning before Noon, the cut off time.

It was a close call, but two more will be votining for that change, both safely registered by me.

Green Street Barracks Saga – Part III – The many headed hydra of secrecy

If secretiveness is the opposite of transparency, then secretiveness is the hallmark of government in Jersey. True to form, it was manifest Wednesday morning by the Corporate Services Scrutiny sub panel looking into the failure of the Lime Grove purchase, in deciding not to make public a BNP Paribas Real Estate report and valuation produced in June 2008.

The innocent abroad before the panel was chartered surveyor Paul Harvey of BNP Paribas Real Estates. In June 2010 he had produced a report and freehold valuation of Lime Grove House, Green Street for his client Jersey Property Holdings, the States of Jersey property management body.

Mr Harvey came over as an informed and capable expert prepared to stand by the professional integrity of his report, which valued Lime Grove House at £8.8 million. Speaking with a Northern Ireland accent, we must assume he comes from that culture of straight talking no nonsense. What he was not was a politician like Senator Sarah Fergusson and Deputy Colin Egree, versed in the ways of Jersey government.

Mr Harvey’s report was produced under the usual client and professional relationship and carried with it the backing of professional indemnity insurance. The report was produced in two versions, one full and the other “concise”, stripped of technicalities. The précis he told us was intended for States Members. It is at this point that matters become interesting. It appears neither full nor précis version were presented to all States Members when the House was asked to approve the transaction. Clearly the concise version was circulated amongst only an inner circle of Members, presumably associated with the Council of Ministers.

Mr Harvey was agreeable to a copy of his report being made available to the Scrutiny Panel for their use and that a copy of both full report and précis would be had delivered that afternoon. Since the client was the States of Jersey there could be no objection to it being shared with the Scrutiny Panel.

Senator Ferguson and Deputy Egree were in no mind for the report to be made available for public inspection on the Scrutiny web site. Quite why this should be so was not clear.

Mr Harvey was repeatedly pushed into a line of questioning as to whether there were any confidentiality matters associated with release of the report and he replied that it was at the clients’ discretion to do as they wished with a work commissioned at their behest. If the client wished to put it into the public domain, he would not object, albeit this was not the normal way in a commercial transaction. It was for Jersey Property Holdings to decide as it was their report.

Senator Ferguson said that she would discuss the matter with the Treasury Minister before the report was put in the public domain.

The third panel member Deputy De Sousa did not demur as she may have missed the point.

Clearly States Members as a matter of urgency must demand a copy of the report and précis be made available to them and to the public. The many headed hydra of secrecy must be fought.

How hard work turns into votes.

"Nick Le Cornu knocked on my door and I might vote for him because he made the effort"

Thanks to Martin Higgins for his little plug in a JEP vox pop article (31.08.2011) about voter awareness of the forthcoming elections. I knocked on the door of Martin's apartment and that of his partner during canvassing last month. They gave me a sympathetic hearing for my policies.

There really is no substitute for a candidate making the effort to knock on a voters' door. The effort is genuinely appreciated. From one election to the next, electors do not see an elected Deputy or receive any kind of Newsletter updating them on political events of importance.

St Helier No.1 district has a 75% voter abstention level. This is because most voters cannot see how a vote will make any difference to their lives and do not understand what a vote for an individual means in policy terms. It is worth bearing in mind that there is an extra 20-30% of the potential electorate that is not registered. This amounts to around 1000 people.

Clearly in the future this voter abstention and non-registration must be addressed. The solution is a political one and a political one only. There has to an education campaign amongst working people that their social and economic interests can be advanced by polticial action.

For the next two months I will be knocking more doors and returning to those that said they would be voting, hopefully to win sufficient trust for them to give me their vote.

I surely will be knocking on Martin's door again soon to make his possibility of a vote into a certainty.

All burnt out!

Have the vandals been active in Snow Hill car park?

A diesel Ford van is currently sitting in the car park with its cabin in a burnt out condition and the glass melted. What happened is not clear, but it seems strange that a diesel engine would catch fire of its own volition. Inside the cabin are various burnt builder's tools and a safety helmet. Is there more here than meets the eyes?

Lime Grove House - Why Bankers are more important than the Police

Lime Grove House is situated next to Green Street cemetery. The failure of the purchase negotiations of the building may yet turn into the political graveyard of the Treasury Minister and his Assistant.

What went wrong is the subject of a Corporate Services Scrutiny sub panel that held its first hearings today. Whatever mistakes may have been made, the larger picture is sure to be missed. It is clear that when it comes to re-housing a homeless financial services company, then this has priority over the needs of the public sector. That there should be this deference is understandable if one realises that Finance has captured the island economically and politically. The Council of Ministers exists to assist the interest of Finance - at all times.

The political scandal is likely to turn around the decision by the Treasury to exclude Property Holdings experts in order to renegotiate the purchase price downwards. The desired saving was half a million pounds on a deal worth £8.75m, arrived at after protracted negotiations. Three separate valuations by professionals arrived at a similar figure. The vendors understandably took umbrage when presented with a revised “take it or leave it” offer of £8.25m. When a new purchaser appeared on the scene, having also messed them around previously, but this time prepared to transact swiftly, the deal was lost to the public. Independent valuers estimate that Lime Grove House is currently worth £12m.

Behind the decision of the Treasury to renegotiate will be found the ego of the Treasury Minister and his Assistant, driven as they are by obsessions with efficiency and value for money.  Acting tough screwed the deal. The total loss to the public is significant as this move by the Police was the first in a series that would allow a complex jigsaw of changes to be effected.

In the play of wills as to who will be the next Chief Minister, this debacle does not assist Philip Ozouf’s ambitions. The other contender is Ian Le Marquand, who is likely to come out whiter than white from this fiasco – and he has the emails to prove it. This it should be noted is merely an inter-elite squabble. Real change will come from neither.

Hearings continue tomorrow and I will be reporting further on the “Green Street Barracks” saga.

Jewish Merchant from Podole - photograph by M. Greim 1874

Hope for the unemployed – but no help from government

Paul is an unemployed driver. He now falls into the category of the long term unemployed. He needs work and finds there is no support for him as a property owner in Jersey.

Unemployment is corrosive of personal morale and of relationships. To survive means depleting savings and them becoming a nuisance by borrowing money from family and friends.

Unemployment is now at an unprecedented level. Action is required by government; active intervention that will provide training, retraining and work schemes. From the government there are statistics, silence and inaction. There must be change.

My blog has been examining the social and economic reality for working people in Jersey.  I have interviewed the disabled, the unemployed, the working poor struggling to make ends meet and pensioners on fixed income in circumstance of rising prices. This is the reality of life in Jersey today. It is one that our complacent mainstream media prefers not to cover.

I shall continue to expose reality and campaign for collective action.

Paul was a van driver and has his own van. He will consider any employment offers if readers want to contact me they will be forwarded - nick.lecornu@jerseymail.co.uk

Donald Perrier – “The Ronald Reagan of Jersey politics”

You will recognise Donald’s voice – you will remember him from the BBC Radio Jersey lunchtime phone-in (before it was suppressed nine months in advance of an election for fear of too many dissenting voices) or a Town Hall political meeting; but who is he?

Donald Perrier is one of the characters of Jersey politics; always opinionated and sure to offend someone. As we know, he is not afraid to speak his mind. I interviewed him this morning in the overgrown garden of the now closed La Follie Pub next to French Harbour. He lives not far away, but the location symbolises the failure of imagination that has resulted in beautiful dockland being turned into a wasteland of missed opportunity and indifference.

Donald is just about to turn 83. He was born into a poor Jersey family living in Trinity. When it came to installing electricity in 1936 into their rented house, his father walked to St Ouen to see the landlord, a mean Jersey Farmer, to ask if he would share the cost of installation. The landlord refused, knowing full well that Mr Perrier senior needed electricity and would pay the cost himself in its entirety. Electricity improved the Perrier family lifestyle, enabling them to run a couple of light bulbs and, through a single socket, power a radio that did away with wet batteries that had to be replaced weekly.

Donald has many anecdotes from pre and immediate post war Jersey. His father was a first class gardener and a man of little ambition. For many years he worked part time for a Jersey lady, Madame Gruchy that lived in Don Road. At her death in 1964 she left the father in her will the sum of £1 for each year of service. He had worked there for 31 years and four months. Advocate Crill, the executor of the will, announced that the legal profession did not deal in small change, so he would receive the sum of £31 precisely

I hope that candidates for election in District No.1 St Helier take the trouble to visit Donald – to have their ear bent. However, I suggest you do not mention that you support GST or are a candidate of the Establishment Party (clue - the ones whose election colours are black and white).

Donald is quite perceptive as to the failure to establish an effective opposition party, much heralded after the last elections. He also recognises that the 2011 elections will be a battle between the Country Party versus the Town Party - an old, old divide with new sociological content.

Part I

Part II

Part III

Lime Grove House – Another triumph for “Positive Politics” by the Council of Millionaires.

Residents may be pleased by the announcement that Lime Grove House will not become a Police Station, given the inevitable noise and impact on the “tone” of  Havre des Pas of "Green Street Barracks".  Where a new Police Station is to be built remains in doubt.

Certainly this is embarrassing outcome for the Council of Ministers and once again raises questions about their competence to manage governmental affairs.

Lime Grove House has been sitting empty for many years, primarily because of the owners’ inept business acumen. It was built just as the focus of financial activity shifted to the Waterfront “City” and was overpriced for then prevailing market conditions. The owners will no doubt be please to get rid of their white elephant. One cannot imagine what sort of financial services business would move there unless the terms were severely discounted. This makes it all the more galling that the Council of Ministers should announce a deal and then for it to fall through.

Egg on faces all round.

The government spin machine dealt with the debacle in a short matter of fact press announcement. Positive politics for Jersey, eh?.

Tragedy at Havre des Pas as steps collapse

That the steps at Falcon House Apartments down to the sea should collapse is no doubt a tragedy for the residents of that particular block. Having been undermined by the sea and with age the steps have given way.

What can be done? Responsibility rests with the owner of the apartments and not with the Parish or public in general. One hopes the apartments have a suitable sinking fund to effect repairs.

Chateau Lataste 2004 - Vintage voter Registration success continues in No1 St Helier

Mounted on a wine crate, it was nothing but the finest oratory in King Street this morning as the voter registration team registered more potential voters for the elections on 19th October.

Ably assisted by a troupe of Chinese acrobats and Deputy Montfort Tadier on his accordion, the team registered another ten voters in St Helier and St Brelade. We met many old friends and supporters who understood it was Time4Change in Jersey.

Not only were islanders registering to vote, there were offers of assistance for Nick Le Cornu's campaign. A young woman volunteered her bilingual language skills to assist in connecting with the Portuguese community, one that is notoriously difficult to reach.

Another successful day! We shall be back.

Remember, you must have returned a completed voter registration form to your Parish Hall by Noon on Monday 5th September.

Chinese acrobats, proceeded by their loudhailer and drums, provided additional colour on King Street

Entre Nous - Deputy Montfort Tadier engages a fellow French speaker

Soapbox oratory & Voter Registration by Consistent Democrats – King Street tomorrow – Saturday 20th August 9.30am – 1.30pm

A voter registration team will be in King Street on Saturday morning to sign up islanders to vote in the forthcoming 19^th October “General Election”.

Deputy Montfort Tadier, Deputy of St Brelade, District No2 and Nick Le Cornu, candidate for Deputy in St Helier, District No.1, will in addition be practicing their oratory in King Street on the proverbial political shoebox.

Overcoming high levels of voter abstention can only be addressed by direct political engagement.  The rich do not have to be told to go and vote to keep things the same; the working people of Jersey require on-going education that their social and economic interests can only be addressed through democratic participation.

After the rather anemic effort by the official government voter registration campaign last week, Consistent Democrats will be in the middle of King Street showing how it should be done.

As they say – let the dog see the rabbit!

Vote, Hedley, Vote! States of Jersey Elections 2011 - video

Ok, so they are trying to engage us.

One of the curious facts about modern blocks of flats, including those costing over half a million pounds, is that they all seem to have wafer thin doors, so that everything that gets said can be heard in the corridor outside.

As a candidate having knocked on a door on one side of the corridor and then patiently waiting for that on the other side to open, one can hear the occupants reaction to one’s call.

Reaction has varied from “That Mister Le Cornu is definitely for the working man” to “Its that T****r Nick Le Cornu standing for election AGAIN!”

The most amusing response was tonight. A thirty year old man who when asked if he wanted to vote, asked if it was compulsory. Having told him it was not, he declined to register and shut the door. There ensued the following conversation inside the flat –

Woman’s voice: “Who was that?”

Man: “Some guy called Nick Le Cornu and the elections”

Woman’s voice: “Elections?”

Man: “This guy Nick Le Cornu wants to be Prime Minister of Jersey. What the **** do I care!”

I am afraid it is going to take quite a lot of education to win that young man to Democracy. Perhaps there should be a penalty imposed for failing to register to vote. A fine might help some citizens to concentrate the mind. Did I hear you say my first proposition in the new House?

Voter abstention can only be addressed with political engagement.

High levels of voter abstention can only be addressed with political engagement. Likewise with voter registration.

This week saw a well intentioned but rather anemic government sponsored voter registration campaign out in King Street. The result was pathetic.

The voter registration team in St Helier No.1 supporting Nick Le Cornu has been targeting specific areas of low registration. Increased registration has been achieved the hard way; by knocking on the doors of the unregistered and winning the argument for voting. Only this direct action is capable of reversing political disengagement.

People want something positive to believe in; their politicians have let them down and they have now lost faith. Regaining that confidence means convincing potential voters that there is a candidate worthy of their trust. – a politician that candidly states they will represent the social and economic interest of working people in the States. That candidate they now realise in NICK LE CORNU.

Below is the latest mobilizing leaflet in the campaign for voter registration. Once identified as an unregistered address, the occupiers are contacted directly. If personal contact is not possible the following warning letter is left for their attention, together with a voter registration form and leaflet explaining why and where to vote.

That campaign is now top priority for the team and will continue up to Noon on Monday 5^th September, the cut off date for registration.

ATTENTION!

Atenção! Uwaga! Atenţi! Внимание!

YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE IS ABOUT TO BE LOST.

This address is currently unregistered for electoral purposes. Your right to vote in the 19^th October General Election will be lost unless you complete a VOTER REGISTRATION FORM and return it to the Town Hall by 5^th September.     

There is no obligation to vote.

However, Article 7, Public Elections (Jersey) Law 2002 imposes a duty on a person entitled to have his or her name included on the electoral register, to apply for registration.

You are entitled to be registered, regardless of Nationality or Citizenship if:

1.     you are at least 16 years of age; AND

2.     ordinarily resident at your current address; AND

3.     EITHER (a) ordinarily resident in Jersey for a period of 2 years OR (b) ordinarily resident in Jersey for a period of at least six months, as well as having been ordinarily resident in Jersey at any time for an additional period (s), that total, at least 5 years. 

COMPLETE THE ATTACHED VOTER REGISTRATION FORM OR DOWLOAD IT AT www.vote.je

Issued by NICK LE CORNU - CANDIDATE FOR DEPUTY – St Helier District No.1.  Election 19^th October 2011. Vote at the TOWN HALL or PRE-POLL at St Pauls Gate, New Street (19^th September – 17^th October).

CONTACT: Home address: 23 Havre des Pas, Flat 4, St Helier;   Blogsite:  district1sthelier.blogspot.com

Voter Registration success in St Helier No1 – 13% increase since 2010

 

The numbers registered to vote in St Helier No1 District has increase by around 13% over 2010.

There is still a further 25 days to register to vote in the elections on 19^th October. The numbers registered to vote as at today’s date is 4912. This is an increase of 588 over the 4324 registered at the time of last years’ Senatorial by-election.

Much of this success must be attributed to the assiduous hard work of the Town Hall team involved in compiling the roll.  There needs to be an Electoral Officer for the whole island dedicated to ensuring the highest level of registration through advertising campaigns and active intervention on foot in large estates and evident "black spots".

 

Election years always see a higher level of registration over non election years and last year was one of those – the by-election being unpredictable. Part of the increase may be attributed to new blocks of flats built and occupied since last year, including Castle Quay, on the Waterfront and St Saviours Place, in St Saviours Road. Ironically these remain heavily unregistered. I shall be addressing this in the next few weeks with personal visits to encourage registration.

Overall this is a promising level of registration. I also predict a significant increase in voter turnout from the stagnant 25% of time immemorial. I attribute this to the deterioration of the economy, increase in prices and continued mismanagement by the Ozouf/Le Sueur/Cohen government. If the electorate could turf them out, they would.

A Jersey worker speaks the truth - "The States is a rich man's club"

Yesterday I was in King Street covering the Greffe voter registration initiative. Here is the interview I conducted with a Parish street cleaner. He was happy to talk to me and makes interesting listening. The BBC and CTV of course only wanted to interview respectable "suits". Ironically they were indifferent or too busy. Lots of people avoided getting in shot of the cameras. What is it with people in Jersey - such paranoia and claustrophobia?

 Our interviewee awaits an election for Constable in St Helier. He may be disappointed. Certainly he conveys the deep disconnect between politicians (i.e. State Members) and the public, especially the working classes. Interestingly he is not afraid to use the term "working class".  Most political discourse by the media and States Members is about "Middle Jersey"  - a nebulous sociological concept that covers everything from genteel pensioner poverty to owners of second homes abroad.

Maybe after the London Riots it is time for the political class to wake up and see who does the real work in society - the invisible people who clean offices and streets.