Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Domm attacks Clover yet again

Departed Council General Manager Robert Domm has had yet another go at Lord Mayor Clover Moore -- this time in today's Daily Telegraph.

It's mostly the same old stuff about Clover being a part-time Mayor and having her eye off the ball. However Domm has added Clover's appointment of more personal staff to his attack menu. The paper does point out, however, that Council's area has doubled in size since the Sartor days.

Clover is pictured on a Queen of Hearts card with a list of her sins, including her diplomatic handling of the Aboriginal tent embassy in Victoria Park, going to the beach and, (sic) 'was criticised for attacked the use of sniffer dogs to fight crime'.

All this proves little except that Domm truly has it in for Clover, backing up allegations that he had been actively subverting the spirit of council and community decisions. Our council now has the chance to appoint a new GM who will reinforce the mandate of elected councillors.



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read todays article and it is beyond my understanding why the Lord Mayor has a personal staff of seventeen, some of whom have salaries in excess of $135 000.

The council area is much larger than before because of the amalgamation. Naturally the overall staff of the council must increase. But surely these must be under the administration of the General Manager . Why does the Lord Mayor need a seventy percent increase in overall staff?

What could they possibly do any more than the previous Lord Mayor?

1 press secretary
1 private secretary
1 private secretary assistant
1 political adviser
1 appointment secretary/liason with Parliament
1 speech writer
1 chauffeur
1 office manager
1 cook

The Editor said...

Former Mayor Lucy Turnbull did little except act as a mouthpiece for Robert Domm -- other than making blunders such as the Hanan Ashrawi debacle and backing the unsuccessful court bid to grab $8 milion worth of property from the old South Sydney Council, wasting high six-figure sums and providing an opportunity for ex South Sydney Mayor Tony Pooley to trump her during the politics of the forced amalgamation.

And she had a personal staff, I believe, of ten. Don't forget there are now only ten councillors where there were 16. There are nearly twice as many residents per councillor now, and the incoming mail alone is more than any councillor has time to read -- let alone the volume the Mayor is getting. This council was designed by the Carr government to be less representative in this way. Yet access to councillors has now on the whole improved, from where I sit.

You Clover-haters are going to have to find better ammunition if you want these attacks to stick. Tip: she was again spotted having another day off on a beach north of Sydney last long weekend -- TAKING HER DOGS FOR A WALK! This, according to the Telegraph, is a Lord Mayoral crime. Go for it.

Anonymous said...

There were only 7-1 on the last council I believe.

Turnbull
Coulton
The pharmacist (name forgotten)
Robert Ho
Greiner
An ex footballer (name forgotten) " hey guys"

and a retired Sartor

Anonymous said...

Pretty well paid typists replying to letters at $135 000 grand each.

Anonymous said...

Clover unilaterally appointed Domm without any consultation with the other councillors.

The Editor said...

Re the number of councillors -- you've got to add the South Sydney retinue if you are going to count the people they represented. Residents-to-councillor ratio there has gone from 6,666-1 to over 13,000-1.