Shoalhaven City Council- The Dirt behind the Deputy Mayor deals

The last conversation I had with Gareth Ward- Liberal councillor at Shoalhaven was a telephone conversation in which Gareth said this.."Amanda, we have to do what ever we can to stop Greg Watson getting any power again- we worked so hard at the 2008 election to be rid of him as Mayor we cannot let him rise again". and  "I have had a binding caucus and will support fellow Liberal Andrew Guile as deputy". the reason behind my call to Gareth was to let him know that it was my intention to run as a candidate for Assistant Deputy or Deputy Mayor.

Why does the Deputy Mayor matter- well you get to represent the Mayor when he is unavailable at public meetings...Chair the Ordinary meeting in the absence of the Mayor and if needs be and probably the most powerful thing to use a casting vote to break a deadlock or tied vote. In the past the Deputy Mayor of the last year of a Council term has had a much better chance of winning the position of Mayor at the next election.

Mind you I have a double handicap in Shoalhaven land- firstly I'm a woman and the majority of my peers think I belong in the kitchen and second I'm a passionate Green.

Two weeks later the very same Gareth Ward and his Liberal and Christian Democrats team voted Councillor Greg Watson in as the assistant deputy mayor. The same Greg Watson who the Liberals made mince meat out of during the first year of this Council term- the same Greg Watson that they called for a probity review on- insinuating that his property deals as Mayor were corrupt. The same Greg Watson who was unmentionable because of the waste tender.

At the same time as they supported Greg Watson they rewarded their friends on their voting team with Brumerskji, Bennett and Soames all awarded Chairperson positions.

The deal was struck with Watson and his team voting for Guile as Deputy in exchange for the position of assistant and some extra chairperson positions also given to Watson. Ward and Guile will beg of that any deal was struck- but if the position was reversed a war of words and accusations would have erupted from their mouths as if they had been done the greatest disservice on the planet. Meanwhile their Teflon coated backs won't have any crap stick.

Brumerskji was in show off mode with the pastor of his church there to witness his antics. He laid into me and I had to demand the Mayor Paul Green pull him up over his behaviour and withdraw his comments.

Fergusson and Miller also coped the brunt of the Liberals brutal boot as all three of us were removed from all committees except for the ones that the Liberals thought had no value such as traffic.

It was a very interesting political game that was being played out- left to the end of the meeting so there were no witness's left in the gallery. The joining of the Shoalhaven Independents, Liberals and Christian Democrats in a show of power hungry misogyny.

Drunk on his success Andrew Guile treated staff as second rate citizens, positioned himself on all committees that he thought would be of the most benefit to his personal agenda such as the Southern Councils group, and generally threw his weight around.

But Ive seen it all before-punishment dished out to those who stick their heads up above the trench line...the only crime a desire to make sure that the community get the maximum say on issues... my only desire is that the rest of the community could witness this foul behaviour, and out these people for the real self interested individuals that they are.

So what do you think of this kind of behaviour?

Is it acceptable that Australian politics is driven by self interest?

Do you think the community cares?

Post me you comments.