Will the dance teaching Tory, Katy Bourne, turn the "thin blue line" into "thin blue line dancing"?

Postal votes for the Police and Crime Commissioner elections should be plopping through your letter boxes for the PCC elections on Thursday 15th November. Alternatively you can contain your excitement and vote in person at your regular polling station.

Only the Tories believe that Police Authorities should be scrapped and replaced with a single commissioner on an £85,000 salary. So instead of having 17 people from across East and West Sussex representing local communities and holding the Sussex Police to account the task will fall on the shoulders of one person. This hasn’t been tested and hardly anyone thinks it’s a good idea.

So what you may say. Well, the elections are going ahead and we need to ensure that we get the most qualified person elected. This brings me on to the main point. The Tories regard this as a coronation for their candidate Katy Bourne. OF ALL THE CANDIDATES STANDING FOR ELECTION, KATY BOURNE IS THE LEAST QUALIFIED AND WE SHOULD NOT VOTE FOR HER.

Prove it you say. Easy I say, just do a bit of digging around her website:

(1) Katy’s business experience is over hyped: According to her website she says she has been described as a “serial business builder” Katy has admitted that this phrase was “coined a few years ago” by a colleague. In other words this statement was not made by a serious business leader but by a mate.

(2) Katy Bourne actually only ran a company from 1999 to 2005 when it was sold. She will not release any details about the size of that company or how many people she actually employed. She gave dance classes – so is this a case of turning the “thin blue line” into “thin blue line dancing”?

(3) Since 2005 she has made a few investments in start up companies but her website fails to tell you that of these investments only one appears to be going anywhere (although precisely where is unclear). The electric transportation company wasn’t actually successful in its bid yet remains on her website as indication of her business acumen.

(4) Katy is not a director of any of the companies in which she has made an investment and is an “arms length investor”. In other words since 2005 all she has done is lent some money to some businesses but not been involved in them.

(5) Katy's charitable work is over hyped. I have to say that I would never sky dive and I would run a marathon with some difficulty. But there are plenty of people in our communities (and I have to say one or two who are standing in these elections) who have done considerably more in charity fund raising. Is this all Katy has to offer?

(6) Katy's public office experience is over hyped. She has been a District Councillor on Mid Sussex District Council for just over 1 year. Not exactly a great deal of time to build up a reputation for being a political heavy weight. A District Councillor hardly compares with the workload of the County Councillor or Police Authority member. And just how does being a School Governor count as a qualification for this difficult role?

(7) The Tory leaflet perhaps should be renamed from “In Touch” to “In Touched Up”

But don’t worry, word on the street is that she intends to appoint others (presumably at our expense) to carry out most of the role of Police and Crime Commissioner on her behalf. That way she can get all the credit if things go well and have people to blame if they don’t

The fact is that Katy Bourne is a novice and for the sake of policing in East and West Sussex we need to ensure that the election on Thursday 15th November is not a simple Tory coronation.

Oh and one bit of irony in the election itself. Remember how the Tories campaigned so hard in the Referendum on changing the voting system? Remember how they said we shouldn’t tamper with “first past the post”? Well on Thursday 15th November you get two votes. First past the post doesn’t apply to this election – what hypocrisy!

Please vote on Thursday 15th November and for the sake of Sussex vote for anyone but Katy Bourne.

Here are the websites for all the candidates
Tony Armstrong - http://www.pccsussex.co.uk/
Katy Bourne - http://www.katybourne.com/
Ian Chisnall - http://www.ian4pcc.com/
Godfrey Daniel - http://www.godfreydaniel.org.uk/
David Rogers - http://www.david4safersussex.com/


Got an opinion on this story? Leave a comment below.....
When was Katy last in the centre of a major town when it kicked off after the pubs closed?
How will she stop Nicholas Soames from habitually breaking the law?
How many staff did she employ in her business? What were its revenues?
What direct experience does Katy have of working with police prior to this year?
Does she know the RT alphabet (which includes F - Foxtrot and T - Tango)?