Gareth Davies has an excellent
post about councillor.info. He's not a fan. Neither am I. The entire project does damages the cause of e-democracy.
It is a ludicrous idea that councillor's should have websites funded by
their local authority. Your authority doesn't fund your election
leaflets or community newsletters so why should it pay for your
website? The problem if you're a councillor that signs up to the
councillor.info project is that it only solves part of your problem. As
it's paid for by your authority you can't use it for normal political
purposes.
In my book that makes it pretty pointless. I'm a LABOUR councillor
because I believe, damn it I KNOW, that Labour Party policies are the
only ones that can possibly deliver a better deal for my constituents.
And that's why I'm a councillor. To play my small part in creating a
better community, a better society, a better country, a better world.
Councillor.info is one of those public sector ideas that was several
years too late in arriving. Councillors shouldn't need any more
assistance to create a website than they should to create a newsletter.
Both require a similar level of IT skills.
If I can't use this blog/website to say how damaging the Leeds Tory/Lib Dem led council's policies and
what Labour would do better then there really is much point.
