Non-bragging politicians???

[PeterGustafsson]

Hi!


I recently saw this in the local paper:

The county of Bromölla, an industrial town hard hit by recent layoffs (pop. 20,000 or so, IIRC) , has had county budget deficiences for several years running. They have been so bad so that several leaders of the local Social Democratic party declined to run for chairman of the county govt. board. Since that party has had 50+% of the local electoral support for decades, being elected to local party leader is tantamount to becoming mayor.

Last time over (a few years ago), there were (according to the paper) no takers among the old hands, and the relatively inexperienced county board member Åke Hammarstedt had a go at it and became mayor.

So, what happened? About at the same time as he took over, the county started showing - lo and behold! - budget surpluses. Not only that, for this fiscal year, the latest calculations show that the year-end surplus will be even higher than what was expected when the budget was voted upon.

The local paper interviewed him, and wanted to know what had gone right. They asked him what he had done right, where the painful big budget cuts had been, etc. His answer: "Actually, no, that is not the way it is. The budget is going well, but apart from minor things on the margin, that is entirely due to factors beyond our control, international boom cycle, national policy decissions, etc. We have done somethings right that we could affect, but the big bulk of the budget improvement is due to stuff entirely out of my control."

How is that? Some humility is good for change!


Have a nice time!

Peter Gustafsson

[Inquartata]

The guy has no future in politics.

[RoninX]

No future in US politics, however that does not seem to be an issue for him.

[Phaeton]

In any form of government that involves electing representatives the politicians have to sell themselves (in more ways than one) to the public in order to get the public to vote for them. Bragging is a neccesity. Fellow won't be elected for much again.

[PeterGustafsson]

Hi!

In any form of government that involves electing representatives the politicians have to sell themselves (in more ways than one) to the public in order to get the public to vote for them. Bragging is a neccesity. Fellow won't be elected for much again.

Well, since his party has traditionally had an absolute majority in that county, and he has so far not done any real howlers, my hunch is otherwise.

I will keep you posted for the 2010 general elections.


Have a nice time!

Peter Gustafsson