Is it coincidence, or perhaps good
forethought on my part, or just luck, that two days after I posted my
article 'Will
CLARO partner the Partido Popular in Orihuela?' that the RTN
newspaper publishes an article entitled 'Coastal
Isolation' which begins “Former Mayor
of Orihuela Monica Lorente, talking exclusively to RTN this week,
said: “The coast is being politically isolated.” and written by
Louise Clarke who was the personal press officer for Monica Lorente when she
was Mayor.
In
the article the Ex-Mayor said: “CLARO Councillor Bob Houliston is
being ‘humoured’ by the Mayor. Bob is a good person and has the
interests of the coast at heart but is being taken for a ride by the
Mayor and his colleagues.” and
added “Bob is an honourable man: he doesn’t deserve this.”
There
seems to be a lot of back tracking from Ms Lorente in relation to her
previous adverse comments about Bob Houliston and the CLARO party
when she was Mayor.
I
wonder if there isn't a degree of vengeance on the part of both the
interviewee and the interviewer in the writing of this article as
they both lost their positions of power when the Partido Popular
party lead by Monica Lorente was removed from government by the
current tripartite government.
By
this attack on the government and feigned support of Bob Houliston,
Monica Lorente, with the aid of her past press officer, I believe is
looking to tempt Bob into a new bipartite agreement to bring down the
current governing team and reinstate the PP to power in Orihuela and
her as Mayor.
Edit: 31st January 2012.
The CoastRider newspaper has today
published an article written by Mireille Toddington entitled 'Bob
and Mon in talks' in which I am paid the compliment of my weblog
being mentioned.
Funny that you brought this up.
ReplyDeleteAs there is a beautiful article (albeit in German), about a German complaining about a similar issue, in the "WAS und WHO", free issue, about the AGM held by CLARO on 26-11-2011, where in short this particular German is complaining about "false promises" by this BOB from before the elections, and after he became councillor, he NEVER was even trying to fullfill his promises, to the people who actually voted for him!
This particular German now greatly regrets that he ever voted for CLARO, and I personally have met with quite a lot of Brits, who express a similar opinion!!
Also he maintains that he used to be a "diplomat"??? Well, what I have found out since, is that he was never a diplomat, but he did used to work as a "civil servant" in a diplomatic office...well thats something different..yes??
Is that true? Bob Houliston was never a diplomat? If this is true then we have all been misled.
ReplyDeleteThank you Bob Houliston for resigning, this is the best news of 2012
ReplyDeleteIt’s Official – Bob Houliston is a PP Puppet
ReplyDeleteThis week will see Bob Houliston publicly support the opposition Partido Popular in essential government votes that will ultimately lead to the defeat of the coalition government in Orihuela and destroy Orihuela Costa in the process. The naive deputy mayor Antonia Moreno (PSOE) signed a document allowing Bob Houliston to sit on a vital budget committee due to meet on Monday 26 March. This committee needs to approve a plan before next weekend to repay the 20 million euro debt ran up by the last corrupt PP government. The cunning Monica Lorente who still has five counts of corruption levelled against her for her last term in office as do several of her PP colleagues will use Bob to miss the deadline through lack of agreement. This will leave the municipality without money to pay for the services we use. The outcome could ultimately lead to no public lighting, sewage pumping, rubbish collection or wages for our public servants. The town hall would have to close with no staff working, no padrons issued, no licences approved, no public maintenance carried out and the local police will probably disappear as they won’t get paid. The plan is to blackmail the government into bowing to Monica Lorente’s demands. If the government does not bend the knee, how will CLARO pretend then that they exist to improve the coast if we have rubbish piled high on the footpaths, rivers of sewage flowing down our streets to our beautiful blue flag beaches, and rats infesting our urbanisations due to overflowing bins. We could also expect criminals from all over Spain coming to Orihuela Costa for easy pickings if there is no public lighting and no police on the ground. People don’t work for nothing after all. How smug would the CLARO membership look then at the actions of their leader?
CLARO’s reward for backing Monica and causing Orihuela to look like a dump and stink like a sewer will be that they will be discarded like a used cigarette butt long before the next election by their new PP friends. Monica’s PP party have never been interested in the coast and everyone knows it.
Well done Bob. Well done CLARO, “the party for Orihuela Costa”. Every action has a consequence. Your actions this week will ultimately bring misery to the people of Orihuela Costa and their families, not to mention the betrayal of everything you purported to stand for. I hope you get your 30 pieces of silver from Monica in recompense for your disloyalty to the electorate of Orihuela Costa and the coalition government. I also hope the people of the coast never forget your treachery and duplicity.
The 29th of March 2012 will be remembered as an historic day in the lives and politics of all Orihuela. The plenary meeting scheduled for the same day as the general strike was anticipated as the night that Bob Houliston would cross the floor into the hands of the infamous PP since the news releases of last weekend when Houliston and PP’s Monica Lorente announced that they had signed an accord.
ReplyDeleteHouliston’s and Lorente’s press releases ensured a packed house which overflowed into the foyer and adjoining rooms fed by live lead to big screens. Most expected the PP and Bob to vote against the proposed scheme to repay the massive 20 million euro debt owed to suppliers, run up by the PP in the last ten years of government. This expected action would have effectively crippled services in the municipality. Earlier in the day the Orihuela PP were ordered by the PP in Madrid to vote in favour of the proposed repayment scheme.
Bob Houliston was not to disappoint PP supporters of Monica Lorente when he voted with the PP to censure the mayor for allocating three councillors and the mayor himself to run Orihuela Costa for the next three years. Many see this as an excuse designed by Lorente to get Houliston to change sides. Houliston’s own election manifesto called for “several” councillors to work in the Playa Flamenca town hall.
Bob has strenuously denied his intention to ever join with the PP until he and Antonio Cerdan resigned their posts last month vowing to be back soon with Monica Lorente. The same week that they resigned Antonio Cerdan received an “inheritance” of a 70,000€ black range rover, registered to a company that does business with the town hall.
The CLR-CLARO alliance stood primarily on a “no corruption platform”, CLARO in particular have published many newsletters denouncing corruption in Lorente’s PP government. Many CLARO members fervently believe in this platform and were horrified at Bobs published intentions to vote with the PP and against the government.
When Bob voted with the PP at Thursday night’s plenary meeting he was immediately greeted with applause from the ranks of the PP supporters in the meeting, Stefan Pokroppa shouted out “Well done Bob”. What happened next became the highlight of the evening. A prominent CLARO member stood up with a sign reading “Judas” held high, then four more prominent CLARO members stood up and held signs that read “I resign from CLARO” in Spanish and English.
The policia local ushered the five who resigned out of the pleno room amid cheers, hoorays and cries of well done. They were clapped, hugged, kissed, backs slapped and their hands were shook by everybody around. Later people walked up to them in the street saying “Thank You” in English. Another CLARO member who could not get into the filled pleno room also resigned. Those CLARO members who resigned last night were Judith, Richard, Graham, Kath, Terry and Alexandro. In recent months Modesto, Pauline, Haico, Helmut and Renata also resigned making at least 11 strong CLARO activists to resigned over Bob’s support for the PP, his lack of leadership and the absence of democracy in CLARO.
CLARO is not a democratic organisation. Members cannot vote for the leaders individually but must vote for the seven member executive committee en block. Members are faced with a take it or leave it decision. There is no democratic means to censure any executive committee member or to influence party policy. Bob’s decision to “Jump into bed” with the PP only required the approval of Antonio Cerdan and two others. All those who did not want CLARO associated with the PP had no power to influence this unpopular decision so the only way to formally disagree with Bob was to resign in public.
Mr. Bob Houliston, for his own safety was escorted to his car by police, amid jeers and shouts of “Traitor”, “Judas” and “Corrupt”. This is the same man who was greeted with open arms by the people of Orihuela a mere nine months ago. Will British politicians ever be trusted in Orihuela again?
Bob Houliston do you think that we are all fools on Orihuela Costa? You did not do the job you were elected and paid well to do. It is a disgrace that you did not pay the Red Cross the money that they were owed for the invaluable service they performed. You were councillor for the coast and beaches in the summer of 2011. Your PP pals were in charge for the 2 summers prior to that. Why did you not make sure that they were paid? Why did you not contract the Red Cross for Easter? Why did you leave the public open to danger on the beaches of Orihuela Costa?
ReplyDeleteBob Houliston, it is clear that you did practically nothing to help the people of Orihuela Costa; you are all talk and no action. You constantly complained about your competencies to distract us all from your in-competencies. You have the audacity to blame the very people doing the job that you skulked away from because you are incompetent. You have become the master of blaming, moaning, whinging, crying and finger pointing. Resign and let someone who is able, and knows what to do, get on with the work. You are a disgrace to the British people you claim to represent.
John Carroll
03189 Orihuela Costa