I laughed off the first leaflet which claimed that the Greens can't win in Fant because we haven't got a councillor in Maidstone. That was clearly absurd and people in the ward thought so too. The latest leaflet from them is even very disappointing. No only do they continue the bizarre claim that the Greens can't win, but they go on to claim they are a green party.
They have clearly forgotten that their parliamentary candidate opposed the South East's largest onshore windfarm. They have forgoten that Fremlin Walk was built under their watch. That one of their Fant Ward councillors wanted to knock down Fant Hall, a valuable community resource, and put housing on the site. That they opposed a CO2 reduction target for Maidstone Borough Council. That they refused to hold Kent County Council to account over their U-Turn on traffic calming in Fant. That they refused to make CO2 reduction a priority target across the borough.
They are claiming that LibDem councils across the country are leading green initiatives. Airport expansion in Liverpool, Manchester, Exeter and Norwich. Road building in many places including the M74 and Newbury By-pass. So Green.
They also claim that I came a distant fourth last time. Sure I came fourth, but distant it was not. Con: 679 (33%) - Lib Dem: 572(28%) - Lab: 470(23%) - Green: 326(16%). That looks like a fairly even split to me with all four of us at 25% +/- 9%. There are few places where parties are this close. Distant - my arse!
Please stop telling lies. It simply debases politics, shreds the turnout and destroys trust. How about discussing and debating policy?
I don't want to put a negative leaflet out exposing these lies but I am so tempted...
Green Party campaigner in Kent. Also a nurse, academic, former manager, writer, Druid, husband and father...
6 comments:
I don't think it helps us when we attack the Lib Dems during a campaign, though it can be tempting.
People think its just politics as usual, they are used to seeing the big three doing this all the time.
Keep us the good work, and good luck with the election.
It is so sad when the LibDems do thiskind of thing; an extraordinary contradiction to their claims on the national level to be interested in pursuing clean politics.
See also
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/jun/02/lib-dems-steal-green-votes
and
http://anglobuddhistcombine.blogspot.com/2009/08/citizens-income-or-lib-dems-and-truth-1.html
“Please stop telling lies. It simply debases politics, shreds the turnout and destroys trust. How about discussing and debating policy”
Et Tu! Aren’t you telling a whopper on Exeter Airport.
Yes the Liberal Democrats leapfrogged the Tories and Labour from third place to first and have had minority control of Exeter City Council since 2007.
Yes Regional and City Airports owners of Exeter Airport , announced their expansion plans in 2008.
The only problem is Exeter Airport isn’t in Exeter! It’s in Tory East Devon, Clyst Honiton to be precise.
@David: Clearly the difference between a lie and a mistake is lost on you.
I have stated what I believed to be true about Exeter and if I am wrong then I retract my statement.
Plenty of other airport examples that I can draw on.
Well if the difference between mistakes and lies is lost on me, the difference between opinions and lies is lost on you.
From what I can tell your local Liberals are expressing opinions – opinions you disagree with, opinions that are inconvenient to you, but opinions never the less.
Stewart, it is a good job you are standing for the council and not an internal position in the Green Party.
I really don’t think the Green Party can complain about the campaigning of other parties, after their own internal election got seriously nasty – yet some Green councillors think this was good practice for external elections.
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