At the time of writing 17 people have voted in the most recent poll where the question was Has Sandy Ezekiel brought his office or authority into disrepute 100% of those voted for the very last option And How! The man is a disgrace to Thanet! (Strongly Agree). However (as I mentioned recently) the election of a "leader" for the council descended into shouting and screaming when labour councillors had the gall to suggest Sandy Ezekiel not be elected. The roll of the Labour Party in this situation was, as the "opposition party", to suggest and argue well for an alternative. The fact that the conservatives at the centre of this disgrace did not want to listen suggests to me a party in crisis.

It suggests to me deals that once made could not be broken no matter how stupid they now seemed and how hard the results went against all good sense. It is common for people to see the council as having a hidden agenda (of their own) and these disgraceful actions only serve to reinforce that view. A view that many councillors actually do not seem to be aware of or, when those that do become aware, fully comprehend.

Cllr Mike Harrison recently commented

[...] please dont tar ALL Councillors with the same brush, there are quite a few on both sides of the political spectrum who are hard working, decent people just trying to do their best for the Community they represent and sticking to the principles in the Constitution.

This raises for me such a key and vital point that to do it justice I need a little more space than that offered by the comments. I did not want to take the basic thread too far off topic with a long comment on what would have been a side issue. The subject Cllr Mike Harrison raises is no side issue but possibly the most important issue in Thanet politics today.

Cllr Mike Harrison this post is for you.

Before I go any further I do not want anyone (least of all Cllr Mike Harrison) to think that I am getting at them personally (with one very obvious exception). I wish to explain something that I feel has been hidden from those that seek election locally. What has been hidden is, however, an unpleasant truth and I am not good a sugar coating such things.

From the trenches one soldier, across nomansland, looks very much like another. If one is fine artist, another a humanitarian and a third "the greatest philosopher who ever lived" this does not matter when it comes time to pull the trigger. For must of the people in Thanet it is an us and them situation - The People of Thanet vs Thanet District Council. In any situation where the average citizen feels they must defend themselves from the ruling authority (local or not) all representatives will be seen as wearing the same uniform of "them on the other side trying to kill us". It is for this reason that all councillors are tarred with a single brush.

Individuality is a casualty of war!

Please don't get me wrong I understand with my head the differences between you but at a much more instinctual level (my gut reaction if you wish) I know only the uniform. They say that politics is as much about the hearts and minds of the people as the facts and the figures and it's true. Unfortunately for the council of Thanet the hearts of the people have truly been lost.

I understand on an impersonal and abstract (cold and logical) level that there are people (such as yourself (Cllr Mike Harrison) and a few others) that actually do reply to your fellow Thanetarians and do try to do right by the people. If I think hard about it I can even recognise that this is slowing the rate of decay around here.

However, my instinctual reaction (which I find is often closer to the "man on the street" opinion) makes all Councillors guilty by association. There is an ancient proverb "as the shepherd so too the sheep". What that means is that whatever the agenda of the "leader" might be, whatever path he might choose (or have chosen for him) that is the path that we all must follow. Kicking and screaming if need be.

It is my opinion that there are sufficient numbers of "bad" councillors that they have given all Councillors a bad name. To put it another way: the majority have brought the office of councillor in to disrepute in contravention of the constitution and against the will of the minority. More than that the sum total of the actions and choices of the Council corporately has trickled down to the people that do the actual work in such a way that bad work is heard to be described as "a council job".

Take for example Tony Flaigs blog post here wherein he writes that he discovered that work he had precviousely felt to be unacceptable and described as a pigs breakfast is then decribed as remarkable given that Thanet District Council were found to have been in charge. How did we get to a point whereby public opinion is that if TDC do only a crap jobt hen they have done better than expected?

When the name of one's local council has become a by-word for the worst possible outcome for a group project - not failure but incomprehensible disarray and pointless activity leading to no worthwhile end. When the name of the local authority is used to describe chaotic organisation (so that no one has any idea what is going on); where the result is a joke then there is a problem. Local bloggers talk of a lack of "joined up thinking" but I can tell you that is putting mildly what is said about all councillors (and the council with whom they are synonymous) on the council's own housing estates.

The system is broken and if you are not trying to fix the system, to improve and overcome it then you are seen as supporting the broken state of things. This is not because I or anyone else is being mean but it is because from a few paces back you actions must be bigger to be seen.

When I talk to a friend face to face a tiny gesture communicates a lot of information. On a stage with a large audience I must make my slightest action orders of magnitude bigger just to have a hope of communicating anything to the people past the first few rows. In Thanet only a third of people vote - that's the people in the first few rows the remainder don't see any significant advantage in voting at all.

Take, by way of an example this post by local track worker Tony Flaig - the very first comment and the person writes small wonder poeple will not vote.

Each party, each member has failed to act sufficiently to distinguish themselves in any way in the eyes of those "in the cheap seats" not only from each other but from the failure of past councils and the actions of the most prominent disgraces of the "main gang".

What looks bad from where we (the average voter) stands is that when the most dominant gang start screaming or shouting in session (as has been reported), or the Thanet District Council inexplicably make decisions in favour oft he minority rich and against the interests of the people or when the administrative section screw over a bunch of poor people in need of help not red tape (and they do, regularly - it looks from the outside like using the red tape and letter of the law to close a hole in the benefits budget); When all that happens and no one is seen to take a stand against it then, from the ground, each and every councillor is seen to give silent assent to these actions.

Let me give an example from the blog of local businessman Michael Child. Michael is writting about Thanet Earth and his chance to talk to local farmers. What none of them could understand, is why when the council gets involved in projects on agricultural land don’t they first consult the local farming community?

When ever the paid administration acts, whenever a benefits claim is processed, whenever the administration potentially breaks the law in summoning people to court, whenever it refuses benefit and backdates that so a person goes from debt free to CCJ in a single month; each time a member of staff is rude to someone; each time a document is lost; for each person where the same paperwork must be filed two or three times; for each department with key personnel with a reputation for making people cry (and they exist if you contact me personally I will tell you about it off the record on the condition that you act on what I tell you in a way that leads to results); for every missadministration; for every slight; for every roge staff member (like the one that stalked me for two years); for every failure of administration at every level it is you the elected council person that must carry the guilt in the eyes of the people.

Is it any wonder that I am willing to let things get far far worse before I admit that the only answer is to stand for election myself? The only problem being that I hurt my chances of getting elected by aligning myself with a party and limit the effect I can have by going independent (not to mention having to cover the costs myself).

Thanet is hurting and a large part of that directly caused by Thanet District Council as a corporate whole. People are desperate for someone to bring a solution. You can see the signs of it seeping out as the early warning signs (calls for parish councils, new political parties forming, the unusually high blog count, the very low vote count, other councils pointing and calling our council names; the list is endless.)

When councillors fail to reply when people email or write (especially if they are poor, on benefits and living in an estate which seems to lead tot hem being ignored as a standard policy) it gives the impression that the council as a whole does not give a dam - this view is held up by the actions of many councillors and the inexplicable choices that are made without so much as a decent explanation why. If we count only the councillors for Dane Valley that were representing before the elections and those after we have 6 councillors and I have, to date, written so many letters I could not count them but have only gained a single response from a single councillor one time only. Outside of Dane valley I know of two councillors besides yourself that have deemed me worthy of a reply and they are seen largely as the rouges (such as David Green or Iris Johnson).

We can perhaps add you Cllr Mike Harrison to the tiny short-list of councillors that know how to communicate. This group are the minority though.

In Dane Valley prior to the last elections there were three councillors of both main parties. Of those councillors exactly none at all stood for re-election. Not only is the system burning up the hope of the people it's burning through the available political representatives too.

I started blogging because I could not get so much as a "screw you" from the council at any level and even after I posted photographical evidence of the problem all I managed to get was (1) a ride in an ambulance, (2) a half hearted police investigation that failed to do more than chat to the foreman (twice) and demand I sign off and (3) threatened with eviction due to some "breach" of my tenancy agreement that no one was willing to present the slightest shred of evidence for (as it was entirely fabricated by the building crew that handed me a swift concussion there was no evidence to present).

So as you can see: from the trenches there is nothing that suggests that all councillors (even the few that talk to me and don't think it beneath them) are not a guilty as the next. This is nothing personal, indeed I don't even know a single councillor socially (although I do sometimes sit on a bard or two with a few and they seem nice as individuals), but that's the problem. Until some councillors start making these massive shortcomings in both the system and the perceived attitude of the administration their (personal) problem and act like all life on this planet depends on the outcome no party will gain more than 2% of the estate votes nor the respect of the people at large.

In short Thanet needs a hero, it needs not just action but significant and positive change that is both bold and strong and aimed squarely and directly at improving the life of the average guy on the street. We need someone strong enough to take on the clubs and factions and say that anything short of "excellent" is not good enough. We need to make our constitution in whatever shape it is and hold it as HOLY above all else.

Yes we might need to write a better version but first we must treat it with the highest respect. Or at least some respect.

We need the braver to say that breach of the constitution and moral code by a councillor is something so rare and shocking that resignation would be the only honourable solution.

We need to confess our collective and institutionalised sins, admit that we have systematised the lowest of standards with our self seeking; ask for the forgiveness of the people of Thanet and then do better. Given the votes so far cast in the mini-poll I can assure you that the party that is is seen to rid us of this man will be assured at least 17 more votes in the next elections and probably a lot more.

To summarise quickly and to bring this to an end - it is not I nor the people that have tarred all councillors with the same brush but, without knowing it, the councillors themselves that have done this. The answer to this requires bravery - intra-party loyalty, deals, verbal treaties, friendships and rivalries will all be challenged and this could cost a councillor a lot "both on and off the playing field". With such bravery comes the reward of doing some long term good.

I urge every councillor to buck the party line if need be, to disregard the power plays and deals that might have gotten you "the choicest cuts" in the past and move unstoppably towards a real solution for Thanet. It will be hard, many will disapprove, many will oppose you, some will disown you and maybe some of you will feel the world is against you - but at the end over 100,000 people will benefit and remember.