The lack of effective
opposition from other parties means that town hall bosses think they are
'untouchable' and are given 'carte blanche' to act as they wish.
The situation in Tameside, with its one party rule, could be
changed by employing the self-same tactics that Labour councillors and
prospective replacement candidates adopt at election time.
To have any chance of changing the status quo, the
opposition and their supporters need to specifically target the members of the cabinet and flood
the key areas with concentrated campaigning to remove those career councillors
who make up the body of the inner-circle; the cabal; those who surround the leader.
However, because of the way the councillors are elected and their periods of
office are staggered, it would take a 3 year concerted effort to remove the inner
sanctum.
Nevertheless, there might be a’ chink in their armour’ in
2015. This is when both ‘The Leader’ and the ‘Deputy Leader’ are due to retire
(Up for re-election) along with another executive cabinet member.
This would present a golden opportunity for Tamesiders’ to
take back some control and begin to change the face of the draconian Labour
council.
Presently, nearly all our Labour councillors to a man are cultivating an atmosphere of fear.
A common use of fear occurs when leaders create an "us
versus them" mentality. We have seen this used by political leaders when
they create an atmosphere of fear from threats outside of the group. (e.g.,
every week we read scaremongering stories from Cllr Taylor. This week it the fear of crime
because of economic cuts, fear of reduced services; statements like
"millions being wasted on so-called experts to advise on how we sell-off
our health service).
How often have we heard the phrase "power
corrupts"? Actually, power only corrupts when it is used for self-serving
ends. Often leaders become "intoxicated" by the increased power that
their position gives them. Bad leaders let that power go to their heads and do
things that are in their own best interests without considering the interests
of the collective.
Corporate leaders who ensure that their numbers, allowances
and pensions are secure, while increasing council taxes, freezing employees'
pay or using lay-offs to decrease expenses are also recent examples of the
self-serving use of power.
Although there is nothing wrong with creating "A
teams" of top performers, or favouring your best employees, there is a
delicate balance between creating healthy internal competition and blatantly
playing favourites. Bad leaders, however, reward in-group members not because
they are top performers, but because they show loyalty or
"brown-nose" the leader.
(Husband and wife teams spring readily to
mind; as they’re highly unlikely to disagree with, or take a principled stance
against their spouses.)
Therefore by cultivating their sycophants and placing them
in supporting roles, it makes it difficult for the public to identify poor
leadership, or for talented ‘up-starts’ to dislodge the leader from the
position of power. One only need recall the longevity of tenure of the last
‘Executive Leader’
This is because the in-group members defend the leader and
work to keep them in power. Bad leadership often exist because their underlings
allow them to remain.
So to remove them, one will have to fight fire with fire!
Blommin eck Curmudgeon lad, they'll have you earmarked for the gulag if you keep this up. I suspect I might be joining you there as well as a number of other free thinkers who can see through their master plan of deception.
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