The announcement earlier this week that former Assembly Member Rhodri Glyn Thomas (Plaid) intends to stand for the St Clears seat in the May council elections is an interesting one, the seat is currently held by Independent Group member Cllr Phillip Hughes (who, I hear you ask? Ah, former member of the executive board during the pension and libel indemnity scandals).
Mr Thomas remarked to the BBC that he wants to challenge the "democratic deficit" where "officials run the council", adding, "We need to ensure elected members run the council."
This is in contrast to the corporate world view adopted by his Plaid colleague and leader of the council Emlyn Dole who, bathed in the warm embrace, or, perhaps, clutches, of Meryl and Mark, has convinced himself, but no one else, that everything is now fine.
Perhaps Mr Thomas noticed that only last month, the 'ruling', and largest group on the council, Plaid Cymru, couldn't even get a Motion on the council table and, worse still, didn't seem to have the bottle to try and assert their authority.
In May, Plaid will be hoping, clearly, to break the grip of Pam's Independents and their cosy relationship with the chief executive, defeat Labour, and assume full control In my view the current Plaid leadership is not helping matters, quite the opposite in fact. Meryl is standing down in May and the chief executive is rumoured to be off at the same time, though whether this rumour is based on anything more than collective wishful thinking we'll have to wait and see. A £20,000 returning officer fee might stall him for a while.
To the observer the Plaid politicians outside the council have been a little more forthright in their views over the years than their councillor colleagues; joining the toxic culture in County Hall rather than defeating it was a bad error of judgement. Maybe Mr Thomas has been brought in to try and pick up the pieces for Plaid...
He is, however, regarded by Mr James as a very unwelcome irritant. He (Mr Thomas, not Mr James, obviously) has consistently supported calls for inquiries into the planning department, most notably in regards to the Breckman case; he has called for the council to be put in special measures over the democratic deficit; called for Mr James to resign over the unlawful payments scandal called for his formal suspension as returning officer and along with Jonathan Edwards MP called for the police to investigate. He has also campaigned for some level of control over chief officer pay and was openly critical over the dodgy payment to the Scarlets and the proposed half a million golden handshake to Mr James.
None of this has endeared him to Mr James, as you can imagine. If elected, it will be interesting to see if he follows up his words with actions, we might even see a leadership challenge to Emlyn Dole, better still would be to see the chief executive finally held to account; if Mr Thomas seriously wants to end the democratic deficit then Mr James has to go.
If nothing else, I can't see our chief executive's bullying tactics, legal posturing and bluff having the desired effect on Mr Thomas.
Interesting times ahead.
Oh, and someone has started a petition, please sign if you wish.
And with that, a Happy New Year to all.
Mr Thomas remarked to the BBC that he wants to challenge the "democratic deficit" where "officials run the council", adding, "We need to ensure elected members run the council."
This is in contrast to the corporate world view adopted by his Plaid colleague and leader of the council Emlyn Dole who, bathed in the warm embrace, or, perhaps, clutches, of Meryl and Mark, has convinced himself, but no one else, that everything is now fine.
Perhaps Mr Thomas noticed that only last month, the 'ruling', and largest group on the council, Plaid Cymru, couldn't even get a Motion on the council table and, worse still, didn't seem to have the bottle to try and assert their authority.
In May, Plaid will be hoping, clearly, to break the grip of Pam's Independents and their cosy relationship with the chief executive, defeat Labour, and assume full control In my view the current Plaid leadership is not helping matters, quite the opposite in fact. Meryl is standing down in May and the chief executive is rumoured to be off at the same time, though whether this rumour is based on anything more than collective wishful thinking we'll have to wait and see. A £20,000 returning officer fee might stall him for a while.
To the observer the Plaid politicians outside the council have been a little more forthright in their views over the years than their councillor colleagues; joining the toxic culture in County Hall rather than defeating it was a bad error of judgement. Maybe Mr Thomas has been brought in to try and pick up the pieces for Plaid...
He is, however, regarded by Mr James as a very unwelcome irritant. He (Mr Thomas, not Mr James, obviously) has consistently supported calls for inquiries into the planning department, most notably in regards to the Breckman case; he has called for the council to be put in special measures over the democratic deficit; called for Mr James to resign over the unlawful payments scandal called for his formal suspension as returning officer and along with Jonathan Edwards MP called for the police to investigate. He has also campaigned for some level of control over chief officer pay and was openly critical over the dodgy payment to the Scarlets and the proposed half a million golden handshake to Mr James.
None of this has endeared him to Mr James, as you can imagine. If elected, it will be interesting to see if he follows up his words with actions, we might even see a leadership challenge to Emlyn Dole, better still would be to see the chief executive finally held to account; if Mr Thomas seriously wants to end the democratic deficit then Mr James has to go.
If nothing else, I can't see our chief executive's bullying tactics, legal posturing and bluff having the desired effect on Mr Thomas.
Interesting times ahead.
Oh, and someone has started a petition, please sign if you wish.
And with that, a Happy New Year to all.
12 comments:
The hours are better than CARDIFF BAY , and of course he gets his pension now they call it public service well done
So RGT wants to return to CCC. are there a few
more female councillors nowadays
I cannot see Rhodri being intimidated in any way by MJ. Emlyn Dole is very bad news for Plaid and his leadersip should be challenged. Hopefully he will go in the not so distant future.
It is of no importance who chooses to stand as councillor in the next election as long as they have integrity and the desire to see democracy returned to the people elected to preserve it.RGT will be just the man to do it.It seems that under the leadership of Emlyn Dole Plaid councillors have carried on the tradition set by Labour---keep quiet and do as M James tells us.
Why on earth has mark James been allowed to stay in post this long a half a million pound golden handshake from a deprived area were savage cuts to the most vulnerable are taking place the man gas no morals or principals he should be thoroughly ashamed of himself
Nice to see you've adopted the 'new year, new me' approach to 2017 - NOT. Any chance you can give us a break?????
POW used to mean "Party of Wales".
In Carmarthenshire it means "Prisoners of War"..
As for Anon requesting a break ...... Take your Laptop (or whatever you use) back to the store.
It should have an ON/OFF switch fitted.
Anon 11-01 You must be more than happy with the way that Carmarthen'S CEO led Council is fast losing any integrity it might at one time had. In a democracy everyone has the right to express a view. This is NOT the case in Carmarthen. Any criticism is faced with legal threats. Not the way it should be . If you are happy to support this behaviour may I suggest you try N.Korea as a destination. You might then well appreciate what you have in the UK.(Carmarthen Council not withstanding)
Emlyn Dole is totally responsible for upholding the lack of democracy in CCC.The process was began by Mark James but he could not continue with his strangle hold without the total support of Emlyn Dole and councillors.
The question is do councillors believe MJ and Linda Rees Jones in all things
or
They don't believe them but are too scared to act.
With a bit of luck Cllr Emlyn Dole will be drawing his namesake after the elections.Interesting times ahead. Keep the faith Jacqui
If the rumours turn out to be true, then Mark James will be long gone by the time RGT steps foot in the Kremlin. Hopefully it will be due to being investigated rather than retirement.
If you want a break, don't read the blog!!!! This blog is one of the few sources of non sanitised Carmarthenshire news that exist, keep it up J, thanks for your service.
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