It's always good to make front page news... even if it is the...er.... Conservative Party Pinhoe Road residents survey!
So, welcome to my latest Blog reader, Councillor Cynthia Thompson, who has given as much space on her latest newsletter to writing about me as she has to talk about herself - quoting from this very blog. It's all rather flattering really. :-)
However, as with Theresa May talking about immigrants and their cats, or Liam Fox talking about globetrotting with his "advisor" / "friend", it's funny how you don't quite seem to get the whole truth with the Tories!
Cllr Thompson seems to want to make much of the fact that I do not currently live in Exeter. She neglected to say however, that I have worked in community services in Exeter since 1996 working first with drug users, and more latterly with charities and community groups through Exeter CVS. I lived in Exeter up to October last year when, for one year, I have been living near Honiton while still working in the city; and will be moving back to the city next month.
She also cites, quite rightly, that I have been a councillor in Weymouth for the past 8 years. However, she omitted to say that for the past 4 years I chaired the Audit committee, and won the chair of the Scrutiny committee this year - both appointments with the support of Tory councillors as well as my Labour colleagues. Why? Well, as one Conservative councillor told me, "...because we know you'll do the job, and do it well."
It is important to know and understand the needs of the community one represents; and then to know HOW to address those needs, and to have the drive, commitment and energy to do just that. My training as a community worker has enabled me to work with communities using a solution-focused approach for many, many years. I shall be moving house to be near the residents that I want to represent - with all the upheaval that entails - because I am committed to being a part of the community, and working with residents to empower Pinhoe to be all it wants to be, and to play a full and active part in the city. Maybe that is exactly what Cllr Thompson fears - an experienced campaigning councillor and a committed proactive community activist standing against her.
All that said, I do not intend to have a campaign that is characterised by personal attacks on my opponent. I think the arguments can and will be won on what I can do for Pinhoe, as another Labour Pinhoe councillor, working in a team with Cllr Moira MacDonald, Cllr Saxon Spence, and our Labour MP Ben Bradshaw.
It is what I do - and what I can do - that qualifies me to me an effective advocate for the people of Pinhoe, not where I have previously lived.
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