ELLON COUNCILLOR CALLS FOR BY-ELECTION
>> 19 October 2009
Reacting to Councillor Debra Storr's comments on announcing that she has joined the Green Party, Ellon & District SNP councillor Rob Merson remarked:
"Having deserted the Liberal Democrats because they were apparently neither Liberal nor Democratic enough for her, it would appear that Cllr. Storr is now attempting to persuade the electorate that she and her colleagues hold the sole command of the moral high ground and seek to portray themselves as the champions of democracy.
"If that is truly the case, then perhaps they would care to follow the very first principle of democracy by offering themselves up for re-election under the banner of their new-found loyalty to the Green Party. As a councillor who only managed to get herself elected at the seventh stage of the election count, with a little over 500 first-preference votes, it would seem to me that Cllr. Storr should welcome the opportunity to seek the support of the electorate for her new-found political loyalties.
"The Green Party has not managed to achieve electoral success in the North east of Scotland to date – little wonder that Patrick Harvie should welcome two new Green councillors through the back door, but it hardly augurs well for his Party's democratic credentials.
"Of course, more astute observers of the local political scene will have deduced many months ago that the orgy of self-publicity which councillors Ford and Storr have deliberately generated by their rabid objection to the Trump International Golf Links Project had an ulterior motive, and I have every confidence that they will in due course announce themselves as parliamentary candidates for the Green Party.
"I would therefore suggest that the starting point of their quest for higher political office would be to step down from the council and offer themselves as Green candidates in a by-election."
