Letters to the rag - Praise for Frank Walker

[Jason the Maverick]

http://www.thisisjersey.com/2008/09/02/thank-you-chief-minister-you-have-done-an-excellent-job-for-the-island/

I feel I must reply to your correspondent Brian Villette (JEP, 29 August).

What planet is he, and many other like him, on? Has he not been following the news of late? Senator Frank Walker is retiring from the States at these next elections after many years of excellent service to his Island.

The Senator was an excellent chancellor before being elected (yes, elected) to the position of Chief Minister and since then he has continued to serve this Island with dignity and has successfully steered the ministerial ship through some very troubled waters.

May I remind your correspondent and everybody else that the very States Members you and I elected to the States to do a job for the Island elected Senator Walker to the position of Chief Minister. I believe that is called democracy and it works very well in Jersey and how dare anybody claim otherwise.

May I also remind your readers that the election for Chief Minister was conducted by the States Members and ended in a two-horse race between Senator Walker and Senator Syvret.

 Just imagine, for a moment, if Senator Syvret had been elected as Chief Minister. Here we have a bitter man who lost the plot some time ago. He has no respect for his fellow members no respect for the Bailiff or the legal system, he goes crying to the press and UK government if he cannot get his way and he is rude to the extreme.

You only have to read his website to discover that he has contributed nothing in the past three years to the government of the Island and he has consistently voted against propositions brought to the House.

He thinks that by using exaggerated language, he is being clever, but in fact it just shows that he is incapable of conversing in simple English. Is this the conduct required or expected of a person who tops the poll and is thus expected to represent the people? I think not.

If he had been elected by his fellow States Members as Chief Minister this Island would almost certainly be on the path to self-destruction and I am sure the fledgling ministerial government would be in complete turmoil by now.

Thank goodness for the level-headed, politically astute, albeit sometimes controversial, Senator Frank Walker. Thank you Frank for your time in the States and may you enjoy your retirement. You have served the Island well and you can be very proud of everything you have achieved.

(Stuart, have you lost the plot )

[danrok]

Brian Beadle - "I believe that is called democracy and it works very well in Jersey and how dare anybody claim otherwise."

Is this guy completely unaware of the basic principles of a democracy, or is it just a joke letter?

[Eastern correspondent]

It is either a joke letter or to give the author the benefit of the doubt the editor 'edited' it and removed the conclusion.

15000 voters cant be wrong...................correct me if I am wrong someone but didn't Frankie only get a paltry 500 votes???

[Terminator 4]

What the F***!

I think I am going to throw up 

[Razzard]

Watch out Beadles about!

[Terminator 4]

Where do these letter writers come from 

[Conductor]

Thank goodness for the level-headed, politically astute, albeit sometimes controversial, Senator Frank Walker. Thank you Frank for your time in the States and may you enjoy your retirement. You have served the Island well and you can be very proud of everything you have achieved.

P.S. AND I WILL BE AROUND TO STICK MY TONGUE DOWN THE BACK OF YOUR TROUSERS ONCE THIS HAS BEEN PUBLISHED :-x

[Swompy]

Brian Beadle - "I believe that is called democracy and it works very well in Jersey and how dare anybody claim otherwise."

Is this guy completely unaware of the basic principles of a democracy, or is it just a joke letter?

I went to school with Brian Beadle, He was a joke then.
nuf said.

[Stuart Syvret]

Yeah – comical isn’t it?

Though I should thank Brian for giving my blog a plug. The readership continues upwards.

I only ever bother responding to these kinds of irrational and obviously factually wrong diatribes when I need a bit of an entertaining break from doing important work.

Where to begin?

The same syndrome applies to all of Jersey’s political leaders; – back for the last 25 years maybe?

Whether it’s Reg Jueun, Pierre Horsfall or Frank Walker – all are real examples of the ‘emperor’s new clothes syndrome’.

Just because the have achieved high political office – and were able to make themselves appear faintly plausible to some people – the automatic assumption is that they were some kind of Towering Colossuses of Elder Statesmen. 

But – in truth – when you scratch below the surface – actually consider the facts – as opposed to the mythology – they are seen to be every bit as naked as the  apophrycal emperor, who’s new clothes were only visible to the wise.

God knows I had some big run-ins with Reg – but of the three mentioned above, I’d rank him as the least bad. I’d put Frank as second-least bad – and Pierre by a country-mile – quite possibly the worst leader Jersey has ever had.

But to take Frank’s case. Brian asserts this – “The Senator was an excellent chancellor”.

An awful lot of people in Jersey would blindly accept this assertion as fact.

But what is the truth?

Frank was more than just President of the old Finance & Economic Committee  - he was a member of the Committee within a couple of years of getting elected back in 1990 – and remained so until he became President of the old Policy & Resources Committee.

That’s an awful long time to have a direct involvement in Jersey’s economy and public finance.

What were the results of this lengthy tenure?

£49 million pounds worth of capital project over-spends.

A constantly excessive growth in public spending.

A near-complete failure to take proper advantage of the good economic times to see us through when things get rough – as they are now.

A complete failure to impose any – and I mean any – meaningful standards of discipline, professionalism and accountability amongst the senior civil service

In fact a complete inability to ever stand up to civil servants.

Failing to take notice of warnings which were being issued as long ago as 1990 that sooner or later our taxation advantages would be attacked by external agencies, such as the EU and OECD.

The resultant strategic failure to prepare our fiscal systems for the foreseeable problems.

A complete failure to address the obvious unsustanability of the Social Security system as presently structured – which means the States now take approaching £60 million – yes, that’s approaching £60 million – from central taxation – each year – to supplement the scheme.

A “Strategic Reserve” a little over half-a-billion pounds. Say it quickly – it sounds like an awful lot of money. But – it would struggle to meet merely one year’s present public expenditure. The ST fund is pitiful – a joke - when compared to the Sovereign Wealth Funds of other Jurisdictions who actually foresaw problems – and made provision accordingly.

A failure to properly plan for, and make best use of, States of Jersey physical assets – the vast swathes of property the States owns.

A failure to make any meaningful impact on inflation.

A complete failure to tackle the vast river of economic leakage from the island.

The fact that – to this day – the States of Jersey doe not have a capital accounting system. I was asking Frank questions as to why our accounting standards were so poor, to non-existent, when it comes to capital – back in the 1990’s when he was F & E President.

And – the disastrous failure to take early steps to avert, or at least minimise – the public sector pension scheme debts - which to all practical purposes are unpayable. I’m not sure of the recent figures, but my recollection is the PECRS scheme and the Teachers’ Superannuation Fund had a combined debt of around half-a-billion pounds.

So – Brian – Senator Walker – a good Chancellor?

You’re having a laugh, right? 

Always get underneath the mythology – and look at the facts.

Don’t idly accept assumptions – such as, ‘Frank was a good business man – ipso facto – he was a wise and competent Chancellor.

Sorry – but Frank’s involvement in Jersey’s finance and economic governance has been an unmitigated disaster – from beginning to end.

Stuart.

[cyrillem]

Nice letter Brian, and I think for the members of Planet Jersey who don't understand basic principles of democracy, or indeed are just bitter, (maybe both ) that fair enough it may not be democracy to a full extent, but it is infact a republic. This being where us the people, DEMOCRATICALLY elect 53 members into the states. The majority of us vote for people who we believe will do the best job, or damage limitations at least. In turn by doing this we are putting faith into those people to make the decisions such as who should be CM on our behalf. And it is a good thing we do or we might have ended up with someone who acts like they have escaped form a mental asylum running the island, trying to wreck our finance industry , which is jsut about preserving us.

Thankyou Senator Walker for all of your hardwork, I look forward to seeing you in the future, possibly as an executive consultant somewhere? Just to assure us that we still have your wisdom and knowledge in the island.

Cyril

[stoofa]

Off on a tangent slightly, maybe, but i'm not sure where this idea that the chief minister position should be directly elected by the populace, and that we don't is somehow an undermining of the people, arises. i've seen this complained about on a few threads here

Most modern democracies (which as the above poster rightly states, are all in fact republics) elect representatives from which the various positions (including chief minister, prime minister, etc) are chosen by those representatives, the UK being a fair example. Apart from the absence of a clear party system, what is different here?

Irrespective of whether you are in the pro or anti Walker camp (or like myself, somewhere in between), theres nothing particularly un-democratic about Jersey's system or FW's appointment as chief minister.

[cyrillem]

Well said, and why is there not less "uproar" on the mainland where one man was elected as primeminister, yet anothwer one is ruling the country and unwilling to give up his post so that the electorate can decide who they want?