Hamilton East candidates

Since we lost a valuable councillor in Margaret Forsyth a by-election is to be held for the Hamilton East ward. When the nomination was called there were no takers for the vacant seat, but on the closing day of nominations, we had 24 candidates. If one of them is elected it will be only for about one year since council elections are due next year under the new system which will make a big change.

Postal voting papers will arrive soon but we had only one candidates meeting organised by the Labour Party. For the meeting only 15 candidates turned up. If others have no time to attend the meeting to introduce themselves if elected will they get the time to serve the community? Elected city councillors are public servants – if the community does not see them after election they should not be there to collect our rates as remuneration.

Speaking to the community, some of the 24 candidates are not known to the community and they are not involved with the communities. We should vote for the candidate who will listen to the community after electing them and not before the election. And do not vote for candidates who keep their mobile phones on an answer mode for 24 hours and do not return calls.