On 3 Dec 2014 at 4:28pm Voter wrote:
For the Lib Dem Councillors/Activists who read this Forum
I am a labour voter, who once tactically voted for Norman Baker MP . His tag line was 'voting Labour only helps the Tories'
Our support in keeping Mr Baker in a job, was rewarded with a weak, uncritical (until campaigning recently started) career obsessed Lib Dem MP who joined a Tory/Lib-Dem Cabinet and voted in favour of a number of very nasty Tory policies when he did not have to.
I appreciate that the situation was complicated, but it did not exactly fulfil Mr Bakers election slogan, did it?
So despite having conspired with the Tories, instead of Labour, Mr Baker has decided tis time round to erase history and stand on exactly the same tag line again 'voting Labour only helps the Tories '. This alone is so ineptly insulting, and lazy, that I can only wonder what kind of people the local Lib-Dems really are?
Are they so clueless that they couldn't create , or understand the need for a new tag-line, a new promise that might not insult the shocked Labour voters who got a Tory led Govt specifically because Lib Dems like Mr Baker created it?
Or are they just shameless?
This dim-witted ill judged leaflet is a perfect example of why disillusioned voters who are treated like idiots, are, to my horror, turning to parties even worse that the Tories.
Mr Baker has done so little locally, that he has struggled to fill what space is left on the leaflet. I can think of local activists of all 4 main parties who have achieved more.
I have my own clumsy election mantra. 'Since I am likely to get a 'Tory' anyway, I shall vote for a party that deserves my support, and invest in the future of this area'
So, no, the message in your leaflet did not go down well, and if any of you have any sense, you should be asking yourself why your colleagues persuaded you it was a good idea to distribute it.
On 3 Dec 2014 at 5:38pm Old Bloke wrote:
Are you always this boring?
On 3 Dec 2014 at 6:07pm I`m voting Labour. wrote:
Old bloke? Old tw@.
On 3 Dec 2014 at 7:21pm Young Bloke wrote:
yes. we do tell him, but for some reason throwing pointless unamusing insults at complete strangers on a local internet Forum is all he has in life.
On 3 Dec 2014 at 8:02pm Old Ex Lab. voter Bloke wrote:
Not voted Labour since Blair - it`s UKIP as a protest for me from now on
On 4 Dec 2014 at 1:54pm sane voter wrote:
I can't completely condemn you because none of us know what their actual policies are yet, including Mr Farage (see this weeks News)
On 4 Dec 2014 at 2:12pm Clifford wrote:
It's entirely up to you who you vote for Old Ex Lab., but don't you think as an ex-Labour supporter it's odd to be voting for a party largely supported by Tories who think the Tory party isn't right-wing enough under Cameron?
On 4 Dec 2014 at 5:51pm Ed Can Do wrote:
LibDem literature locally has always been excessively negative, focusing almost entirely on how bad everyone else is rather than telling us exactly what the LibDems would do to improve the lives of local people. Their continued failure to understand democracy by insisting that "LABOUR CAN'T WIN HERE" is just dumb and childish and does them no favours. A change in direction with their leaflets is years overdue.
On 4 Dec 2014 at 6:18pm Clifford wrote:
I'm sure you're right Ed, but Labour CAN'T win in Lewes, can they? The Lib Dems may, the Tories may, but Labour, the Greens and Ukip won't.
On 4 Dec 2014 at 6:43pm monnty cute wrote:
Labour CAN win in Lewes. All it needs is for voters to ignore Baker's smears and sneers . . . and vote Labour.
On 4 Dec 2014 at 6:58pm the kronic wrote:
Ok, im totally neutral...verging on the UKIP vote.
Someone, in proper English, persuade me otherwise
On 4 Dec 2014 at 8:35pm Metatron wrote:
Who pays for all the leaflets which they push through the door?
I don't ever get any Labour or Tory ones.
On 4 Dec 2014 at 9:28pm Boris wrote:
Voter I have no sympathy for you. You voted tactically and you got your fingers burnt. Anyone who attended the Lewes hustings last time around would have seen that the Labour party put up a really good candidate who deserved many more votes than he got.
Tactical voting is an abuse of our democracy, hopefully, in this constituency, you've all learnt your lesson.
On 4 Dec 2014 at 9:47pm Voter wrote:
Boris, thank you for your endorsement of the labour candidate. I didn't vote for them, because at the time I had two realistic choices, vote Labour, or what was presented as the next best thing. You wrongly presume that just because I vote Labour, I think Labour is that great. I do not. I am not a fan of any of the parties, so whichever candidate I choose, it is a compromise for me, usually in Labour's favour. It is not an 'abuse of democracy' to vote for someone, whoever they are. What a silly comment. I do hope you are not involved in local politics, because it is comments like that which annoy voters. :-)
On 4 Dec 2014 at 10:08pm Ex-Labour, Ex-Green wrote:
Woah! It's all very subjective. I was at the hustings and thought Labour looked out of their depth and flustered by disagreement from the majority of the audience. Lib Dems made a good account of themselves despite hostility and looked like the only serious party there as far as I could see. Either way I'm never voting Lib Dem again, and I've seen what Labour have done to Brighton through their opposition to the Greens and a left wing agenda, and I've lost faith in Lewes Greens, so I'm not voting for any of them this time around.
On 4 Dec 2014 at 10:55pm Belladonna wrote:
Thank you voter for expressing my thoughts about the awful Lib Dem leaflet. I got the Tory one the same day and found that more persuasive. I voted Labour last time because I always vote for the party that is closest to my beliefs and quite frankly I dont hold with tactical voting. It gives me some pleasure to have been proven right. I will vote Labour or Green this time round - although I find the illiterate Green supporter on this forum rather unrepresentative of what they stand for. I've been quite impressed by what I've seen of the Labour candidate but would like to hear them all on a hustings locally
On 5 Dec 2014 at 7:26am Clifford wrote:
monnty cute wrote: 'Labour CAN win in Lewes.'
Believe it if you want. The 2010 numbers suggest otherwise: Labour 2,508; Tory 18,401; Lib Dem 26,048. Quite a mountain to climb.
On 5 Dec 2014 at 10:11am Belladonna wrote:
Given the Tory/coalition Autumn statement - which will no doubt be supported by Norman Baker- which clearly paves the way for an appalling further 5 years under coalition rule, there is no way I could vote for Baker . A vote for Baker IS a vote for the Tories!
On 5 Dec 2014 at 7:44pm Another Voter wrote:
You can forget all of the local partys as all they do is tell you who cant win in Lewes. I will vote for my local independent again. All they do is work hard for my local community. Nothing else. Thats all I want from my Councillor.
On 5 Dec 2014 at 8:57pm Clifford wrote:
Another Voter: Do you now what your Independent's view is on privatisation of the NHS, the attacks on the unemployed and disabled, further cuts to social security and social care, fracking, nuclear weapons...?
On 5 Dec 2014 at 10:46pm Belladonna wrote:
So who is standing as an independent MP for Lewes constituency ? And what are their policies / beliefs ?
On 5 Dec 2014 at 10:56pm Local Resident wrote:
Well we have seen what our local 'independent' has been up to, and it isn't very impressive. What Another Voter describes is not what has actually been happening.
On 6 Dec 2014 at 10:14pm Peasant wrote:
We had a Christmas card from the UKIP candidate Ray Finch (who he??) posted through the door today, along with a densely-typed list of "Policies for People". Some of them looked quite sensible. Others were leaving the EU and EEA. Do UKIP actually have policies they all agree about now, or are these just Mr Finch's own views?
I did meet a very pleasant young man at a local meeting a couple of months ago, who claimed to be the new Labour candidate. Anything known?
On 7 Dec 2014 at 12:29am Desperate voter wrote:
Who knows? What amazes me is how completely useless our local parties are about engaging with their voters about anything . I was actually asked by one party what I thought of their efforts and when I told them what I thought, and why, they agreed with me.....but have carried on doing the same thing anyway, which is focus continually on international issues rather than anything local voters can relate with and make a decision on. Pragmatic candidates win elections on issues like cleaning up dog poo, and car parks, not the Gaza crisis and abortion practises in Africa, however important they might be.
On 7 Dec 2014 at 8:34am Phfellow2004 wrote:
Peasant mentions that he has received a Christmas Card from the prospective UKIP Candidate, Ray Finch. How on earth could this man expect to be a serious Candidate when already he is an MEP for SE England and a Hampshire County Councillor (within which county he must reside). I doubt if he has any local connections with Lewes or a clue as to how folk feel.
On 7 Dec 2014 at 12:21pm Local resident wrote:
Not exactly a vote of confidence by UKIP in their own local, and recent SE Euro candidate Donna Edmunds, who we are still having to rely on as a District Councillor.
On 8 Dec 2014 at 8:25pm Paul wrote:
Great original post. I too was astonished by the leaflet - as if 2010-14 had never happened - bizarre. Sadly I think Baker will win easily, although UKIP won the most votes in the Euro election here and their support especially in Seaford makes Lewes scrape into their top 30 targets!! The green and labour candidates are both people who grew up in lewes and attended Priory - not that it will do them much good against privately educated Libdem.
On 9 Dec 2014 at 9:34am Taxpayer wrote:
What I think is so shocking, which I suppose is the point of the initial post, is that it is our local Lib Dem activists who are endorsing this campaign. It is hardly surprising that no-one sensible wants to get involved in local Politics, if this is the level of competence/integrity deemed appropriate. There is a contempt of others (voters) that these same local activists would be the first to criticise if they witnessed it in another party or a business. It is possible for any party to campaign with integrity and ingenuity and imagination, and we would all benefit from it. I hope that the rich people in Lewes that the Lib Dems are schmoozing and targeting for fundraising get value for their money, because us plebs certainly don't.