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FLOATING FINKLE'S LEAFLET WATCH
(Being serious for a change)

By Finkle

Part 1: The Liberal Democrats (official o­nes, I think)

First off the mark, a big E for effort !!

Espied Peter Carroll hotfooting it along the road yesterday, large bunch of leaflets in hand & shoving same through letterboxes. Perhaps he had missed the deadline for the local freebie Advertiser, which normally has it along with the Sainsbury & Tesco leaflets (more of an interesting read, some would say)

Interesting to note, he was not knocking o­n doors. Perhaps because the leaflet he was offloading deserves some scrutiny & he would have found it awkward to answer a few points the leaflet raises.

Firstly experience. No mention of what experience he has of elected office, his biography o­n the Liberal Democrats web site, mentions none…not even at Parish level, so what are we to make of that ?

Plenty of enthusiasm, lots of talk of fighting this & fighting that, campaigning for this & campaigning for that, but NO experience of holding any Political Office. It seems he just would like to get straight to Westminster’s Hothouse without first bothering himself with Local Greenhouses.

The leaflet makes great play of “How you voted in 2003�, showing 50% for the Lib Dems & 43% for the Conservatives.

It does not mention that this vote was for the Local Elections when the Liberal Democrats were elected to run Shepway District Council & boy how they ran it !!! ( Naughty naughty should have made that it was the local election)

Are memories so short that that we forget how Peter’s Friends & Allies, closed the Public Toilets, cut cutting the grass in public areas & set a Council Tax Rate so high The Labour government of the day had to step in & slap down the council for it.

It makes no mention of the rather large “revolt in the Lib Dem ranks� that ensued & how the Lib Dems let down their voters & let Shepway slip into the hands of the amazed & delighted Conservatives. Wonder which side of that Lib Dem divide he stands ?. He doesn’t say.

What Liberal Democrat Policies are outlined in the leaflet ? Not o­ne. It’s fighting for this that or the other & all focused o­n Peter Carroll as a person.

No mention of his Party’s policies o­n Local Income Tax to replace Council Tax (how o­n earth will that work & be effective?)

50% Tax rate for those earning over £100,000.00 per annum ( that will knock many an ambition o­n the head won’t it?)

No mention of their Education policies, laudable intentions to cut class sizes, but, & a very big BUT…how will they fund the extra classrooms needed & the extra staff to enable smaller class sizes ?

In conclusion, there is a lot of fighting & campaigning talk, but, lots of liberalism with the truth, in the leaflet.

I gain the impression that Peter Carroll just wants to get into Parliament at any cost. If he does would he be like the 17 Lib Dem M.P.s that decided to stay away( even when they were against the legislation {House Arrest etc.}) when a vital vote was taking place in the House of Commons, that could have defeated the government ?

No, sorry, Peter, based o­n all of the above, my vote won’t be going to you o­n the big day.

Finkle float my vote a bit longer & look forward to the examination of the next political leaflet to fly through my letterbox!!