The Greens and Rotation ... A noble aspiration?

Thanks to "keyser soze" over on Politics.ie for this post http://www.politics.ie/green-party/125407-gormley-confirms-existance-rotation-green-nec-5.html#post2524555


"The Greens and Rotation, such a noble aspiration

So where to start?
Trevor Sargent went on a solo run at the party’s 2005 Annual Convention when he announced, not to the membership or to his parliamentary party, but to the media, that he would not go into Government with Fianna Fáil.

Why would a party leader make such a major statement yet leave it out of his leader’s speech? Because it was a strategic vote shoring exercise announced for purely strategic Dublin North constituency reasons.

There was consternation within the parliamentary party, of course. Gormley and Ryan knew the announcement threw a major spanner in the works. So the Greens decided to change tack, calling for a change of Government with a careful play on words. In other words, PDs out, Greens in.

Now take a look at the three amigos who negotiated the Programme for Government, Dan Boyle, devastated after losing his seat and clinging on for his political life, a career administrator General Secretary and a gagging Gormley. It was inevitable given this scenario that this trio would negotiate a weak Programme. Why? 95% of the negotiations were spent on ‘jobs for the boys’ to ensure that the parliamentary party and those closely associated with it were provided with a big pay day. Put simply, to keep all onside, it was a deal done with an ‘everyone must get something’ arrangement with the proviso that the parliamentary party ‘sell the deal’ to the membership. This they did with missionary deal.

Gormley, Sargent, Ryan, Boyle et al traded key policy positions for the spoils of office.

Now you know why White and De Burca were so eager to be their attack dogs, why Gogarty stomached massive education cuts and why Cuffe voted for the decimation of the Equality Authority, Combat Poverty Agency, the blasphemy clause etc…etc…..etc….

Sargent, of course, checkmated by his own self-seeking hasty pronouncement on FF coalition, not only co-signed the Programme with Bertie, proclaiming emotionally that it was the proudest day of his life, but was ultimately complicit in the ‘jobs for the boys’ carve-up and knowingly withheld crucial deal information from the National Executive and the party membership.

Of course, the party’s National Executive Council makes for interesting reading as so many have a conflict of interest as a board of directors charged with protecting the integrity of the organisation – Gormley, White and Boyle are members who withheld the rotation while Kearney, Nutty, Davidson and Hackett are either employed directly or indirectly or have been appointed to quangos or both.

This leaves the ruthlessly ambitious Ryan brutally exposed and who disputed suggestions that he had agreed not to contest the leadership when Sargent stepped down stating….’No, my recollection is of having a real sense of responsibility at taking on a ministerial role’. He insisted that his elevation was not part of a deal. ‘I don’t think there was any mention of that’ (Irish Times Thursday March 11th)

Meanwhile we are left with the vision of the unelected but irrepressible attention seeking twitterer Dan Boyle, running as fast as his little green legs could carry him down Molesworth Street, eager to avoid questions on the noble green principle of rotation, a principle Ryan has somehow managed to avoid."

I don't need to add anything to that as it expresses how I feel about the Green Party and their lust for office at any cost perfectly.