HOUSING Minister Terry Le Main and Senator Stuart Syvret have both been found to have broken the States Members’ code of conduct for sending offensive e-mails – but neither will face any action.
The Privileges and Procedures Committee have reviewed the complaints, without the input of the two Senators, who refused to attend hearings, and found that both failed to uphold the code.
The reports have been presented to the States exactly a week before the ministerial elections, in which Senator Le Main is likely to be a candidate for Housing Minister again.
He was accused of sending offensive e-mails to two members of the public in October, and Senator Syvret was accused of sending an offensive message to Senator Freddie Cohen in August.
• Picture: Privileges chairman Derek Gray, Constable of St Clement
Article posted on 6th December, 2008 - 9.58am
16 Article Comments
The States have a code of conduct – now there’s a surprise!!!
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“but neither of them will face any action.” So they can do as they please with no repercussions. Interesting… Makes you wonder why they bother having a code of conduct in the first place
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Not that I mean to stir-up trouble, but can somebody please enlighten me … what’s the point of having a “Privileges and Procedures Committee”, who preside over issues such as the conduct of States Senators, if :-
a) It is obviously held in such contempt BY the Senators they attempt to police that neither Senator in this instance had the courtesy to even ATTEND the Hearings ?; and
b) It does not follow-through even when it has decided that a breach of the code of conduct HAS taken place ?
Why not just disband if it it’s ultimately a worthless entity ?
(( it’s ok, I know the answer, I’m just making a point )).
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Well on the face of it two members broke the code of conduct of members. Now i reckon Terry Le Main’s “offence” was far more serious than Stuart’s as it was to members of the public, while Stuart’s was in house so to speak, yet i’ll bet if Stuart was the only one to have commited such a henius crime Le Main and co would have demanded his resignation.
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Shame. I thought there may have been grounds to sack Syvret and get rid of him once and for all.
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Senator Le Main was accused of sending offensive e-mails to two members of the public.
Why on earth is he still in office?
Sending offensive emails to the public, justified or not, is not acceptable.
He should be dealt with!
If the members are not held to account then why bother have rules?
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As I am one of the persons whom Senator Terry Le Main was very rude about in an email and consequently put a complaint into the PPC which they upheld, I feel it is quite disgusting that immediately after the PPC report was made public he saw fit to show complete contempt for the PPC by sending out yet another childish email inclusive of a copy of his original rude email in which he called me ‘That Woman Corby’ and insinuated the I and a number of others were totally Mad.
I have now put in a further official complaint into the PPC about his continuing offensive behaviour, obviously he hasn’t taken any notice what-so-ever of the report from the PPC and has stuck two fingers up at the PPC metaphorically speaking of course, and in doing so is showing contempt for the whole Ministerial system. I have notified the States Members and the media and am waiting to see which ones will reply to me as I feel he has let all concerned down by his behaviour.
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Linda,
Sorry to say, but you forgot the golden rule: When you have the gold (or you get passed enough of it) and you can do what you want with the rules!
Jersey has nice manners to those outside, but treats the populace like dirt. If we had more money, we would be treated far better. After all, Terry Le Suer said that it was immoral to tax the rich any further than the paltry amount already levied, but GST on food and childrens clothes are perfectly acceptable.
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This does not suprise any if we are honest – Linda you are correct he is “showing contempt to the ministerial system” but then so do we all everyday as it is a joke, just look at all the comments whenever there is a stroy relating to the States. Why on earth would an actual minister show any less contempt for a ministry that continually makes bad decisions, never owns up to anything or admits it is wrong, acts without thought for the people that placed them in this position and lastly knows that the same idiots will vote them in next time!!!
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Wow, it seems if you take down a poster its really bad and should be dealt with harshly. if you send emails to offend and refuse to attend the hearing well we will let you off.
MMMMM not sure what that says about our political system.
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We have to wonder how many other toothless tigers there are purring away contentedly within the States machinery, don’t we? What about the Scrutiny system which is meant to provide checks and balances long overdue in our political processes? What about the regulations that govern our finance industry (hi guys,back again!)? Window dressing, all of it? If the States has no effective oversight in terms of the behaviour of its members how can we trust them at all? That last one was rhetorical, obviously. So just exactly when is our politics going to grow up and face its responsibilities? No time soon by the look of it. Meanwhile, a £200/300/400 billion economy (depending on who you believe) is being led by whom? I have a suggestion for a new motto for the States: ‘Cui bono?’ It should be chiseled in big deep letters over the door.
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This is another amazing story-fair enough if Senators want to send impolite emails between themselves but Mr Le Mains emails to the members of the public are inexcusable.I think that he is another example of someone who has become far too comfortable in his seat and needs a good kick up the backside to remind him that the public pays his wage-and a very good one at that.
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Another own goal. States of Jersey gets more like The Football Association every time they do something like this . . . . . . it will be fighting on the terraces next!
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This just makes a mockery of the States and Jersey. In any real democracy there would have been further action. Ah silly me, this isn’t a democratic society! The good old boys pick and choose how, what and when rules apply and to who! Role on the revolution!!
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“In any Real Democracy”
No – I’m afraid the nuances of these issues get lost in the personalisation of particular cases. There are fundamental principles at stake.
I’m going to write something in more detail about this on my blog later:
In “real” democracies – the right to free action and speech on the part of parliamentarians is securely guarded. Were it not – you elected representatives would be under the threat of constant oppression and harassment by the ruling majority.
People lose sight of the fact that politicians are accountable – and answerable – for all of their actions. And the power to examine the performance of politicians – and decide whether they have transgressed any rule in a manner which is unacceptable lays – rightly – with the electorate.
If you want functioning democracy – you need to ensure that any “disciplinary” action against your elected representatives remains in your hands – via the ballot-box.
Stuart
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Whilst I cannot really comment about this result, I do believe many States members put up with a lot of personal insult anyhow. Facebook is a particular battle ground with hostility against members of our Government. Sometimes I just wonder if they are being provoked to lash out sometimes. Linda to me, you may just be provoking Le Main too much. We are after all only human and an angry reply from him to some people maybe justified.
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