Comment
…. By Don Gordon-Brown
It’s
always tempting, as you watch Team Quirk candidates cheat away with their
copycat council cleat once more, to form the conclusion that they just don’t get it.
That
what is bleedingly obvious to any normal, decent person – that using the
copycat cleat is really, really tacky and wrong –
just doesn’t register with these people.
But I realised a long time ago that they know very well what
they are doing is wrong. They know it would be wrong if they used something that looked
just a little bit like the council’s official branding cleat, let alone
something that looks so much like it that they have never been
able or willing to explain the difference.
They
knew full well they were breaking council rules when they used their copycat council
cleat in 2012 and they know full well they are breaking the same rules by doing
it again now. They are cheating again because they cheated before and it worked
for them. They just can’t help themselves. It’s all about votes.
Personally,
I’d fear for my safety if I ever got between Team Quirk candidates and a vote,
and that certainly applies to Central Ward councillor Vicki Howard.
I
doubt there was anything more that Vicki Howard could have done, back in 2012 when she was just a humble citizen, to
pretend she was already the councillor for the area. In a ward where the long-term councillor was retiring and one with a high percentage of new voters each election cycle anyway, pretending to already be already elected - to give yourself the advantage of incumbency - was a very good idea.
Vicki
smothered herself in the LNP’s copycat council cleat. Signs, leaflets, business cards. Everything. Her campaign car looked
like the city council was trialling some new mini-bus service. Maybe some
people got into it thinking it was a council minibus and tried to tap on?
Of
course she was rarely if ever the LNP’s "candidate" for the election. She was the “representative” for the ward, albeit the LNP’s or the Lord Mayor’s.
Then
there were her election leaflets with the copycat cleat down the left-hand-side
that told people from the very first paragraph about how council was all
about achieving things and then outlining how she’d sprung into action to do
just that!
The
use of the council cleat by Vicki then was red-hot wrong, and remains so. It’s
against council rules. The other touches are pieces of political trickery that
all parties probably engage in. But wouldn’t it have been nice back then if
Vicki had told the LNP that “candidate” was fine by her for that’s what she
was? And had pleaded with the LNP powers-that-be to tone down the leaflets and
maybe use a “if I’m elected” somewhere near the top as a matter of decency and
transparency?
I know little about Vicki Howard and she might be a decent, open and honest person overall. But
engaging in political campaigns in an open, honest and fair way doesn’t appear to be Vicki’s shtick, for
once again, the copycat council cleat is all over her 2016 campaign material like a rash.
Will
she get away with it? Who knows? If she has spent even just half the time and
effort at being a city councillor over the past four years as she did back then
pretending to already be one, she might have a shot.
But I have a different view. You don't deserve to lead if you don't play by the rules. You can't expect the people of Brisbane to obey council rules and bylaws if you don't abide by them yourselves. Leadership brings responsibilities. For what she’s done and for what she’s doing again, I believe she deserves
nothing more than to be turfed out on her ear.
But all would not be lost. Both the Can-Do and Team Quirk administrations have been very good at PR, so I was thinking maybe Vicki could apply for a PR job with the police if she loses on 19 March.
I can see in my mind's eye the letterhead
she could use on her application. There'd be a nice little pattern of blue and white checks across the top that would look a lot like the one at right but knowing Vicki she'll probably change the dimensions of the squares ever so slightly so she'd always be able to stare anyone in the face and declare: "I do not use the police branding!"
Under that, and over on the right, would be a lovely photo of her with bold printing that describes her as
Constable Vicki Howard. It would only be when you look really closely above
the word “constable” you’ll see in very small print size the words “I’m not
really a”.
Her opening paragraph would begin something like this: "Police work can be tough, dangerous and exacting and I know from my own experience that whenever I'm called out....."
