Why Gordon McKenzie won't be a good MSP for Ayr.

With the Scottish elections 7 weeks away, i wanted to write about the candidates for my hometown of Ayr ahead of the election on May 5th.

This post is dedicated to the Labour candidate for Ayr: Gordon McKenzie. McKenzie is a former provost of South Ayrshire council so he undoubtedly will have respect amongst the communities that make up the Ayr constituency. I can, therefore understand why Labour chose him as their candidate in this seat but from his press in the local paper, I will not be voting for him because he is quite simply the wrong man for the job.

Here is my explanation why he is the worst candidate:

Chic Brodie, the SNP candidate invited him to a hustings on February 15th, McKenzie's response was: "Why would I waste my time debating a budget with Chic Brodie that, in the words of John Swinney MSP, “aims to support economic recovery and growth,” when in fact it will cost jobs in the private and public sectors throughout Scotland and lead to more misery for Scottish families."

The whole point of the debate Mr McKenzie was so you could put that point to Mr Brodie & Mr Scott (Conservative) & the public could decide who they agreed with. Now i wonder if there is an SNP government returned will Mr McKenzie think it a "waste of time" to turn up and debate things like cuts with the SNP or will he just be a Labour lackey? 

I personally don't think debating with other candidates in an open debate with the public is ever a waste of time.

The other reason why I do not support Mr McKenzie & think he'll do a bad job for Ayr is because of this article from the Ayrshire Post where it quotes him as saying:

“As the Labour candidate, I will not be responding to any invitations from the two parties responsible for the cuts being imposed on Scotland.

I will be standing up for fairness for all our people; fighting cuts in services; supporting dignity in retirement; campaigning for more apprenticeships and Labour’s Living Wage."

Now that all sounds well and good but I have a problem with it. He is not willing to debate or discuss with the Conservative or SNP candidate & presumably the LibDem candidate if we had one. My problem is this, he is far too tribal, unable to work in a team unless its a Labour team & till May 2012, i have a minority Tory council with the SNP as the 2nd largest party. 

If Mr McKenzie is elected, will he be rallying the public outside the council buildings or rolling up his sleeves & negotiating a better deal for Ayr? I suspect he will be doing the former.

On the second paragraph of the above quote I believe in all of it so whats my problem with it i hear you ask. He says he is going to fight the cuts in services and i'm sure no candidate wants to see vital public services cut but if he is elected & a Labour government is returned (which i'm sure he is hoping for & campaigning for) then he will be implementing cuts so its misleading to the people of Ayr.

Of course, I know what his response will be if i were to put this to him personally. His response would be that he will cut services in a way that is fair & protects services. 

Again my problem is that every candidate that wants to get elected will say that. What i need to know is what do you mean by fair? I need more details on how you will cut.

So if your a member of the Ayr constituency please don't give Mr McKenzie your vote.