George Lee resigns from Fine Gael and Dail!!!

Red_Marauder

Deleted User wrote: »

FG have just shown them selves up as a microcosm of how this country is run.
Too much selfishness and absolutely zero joined up thinking.
They're a disgrace.

If FG promoted a former journalist/ celebrity to any significant shadow portfolio they would quite rightly be accused of opportunistic parachuting. You cannot expect a TD to walk in off the streets and be appointed to a high level position at a time of such grave political importance.

I'm quite impressed that FG don't work on that very superficial level.

murpho999

hallelujajordan wrote: »

He comes across as being childish . . and incredibly arrogant

I don't find that, he sounds like he's very honest to me and was not being offered anything by Fine Gael.

I think as more of this story comes out that it will be very damaging to Enda for recruiting a high profile economist to the party, getting him elected and then not using him to his full potential.

George also says he was used by the party to go to meetings around the country that would attract crowds and publiciity but had no influence!

Ally Dick

yop wrote: »

As a potential leader Enda makes me cringe!!!

Enda won't last much longer

Gallagher5

Can't believe it. In the long-term I think this is a loss to FG, even though he didn't make any drastic developments in the past 9months I think he could have made a difference.

duvlinia

Seems to me that George is a little bit of a pansy.

I am not a fan of FG at the moment. Im a member bt not a fan. But if George really wanted to act for change he whoudl stick it through. He is now coming across as a cry baby who didnt get what he wanted.

Made a great name for himself in the process though.

peasant

I for one take my hat off to George.

That took guts and integrity ...I wish we had more politicians like him.


Let's face it, George Lee never would have been any old TD, happy to quietly sit on the backbenches, cash in on his TD perks and otherwise shut up and toe the line.

He had an immensly big public profile when he got asked to stand for FG and it is only normal for him to think that he would be asked to use that profile to effect some change.

Ever since he got elected I was wondering when FG would finally roll him out in big style to a) swing the I told you so hammer at the governement and b) promote a sound economic alternative to NAMA and the banking crisis.

With George correctly used as the "economic messiah", FG should have been able to overtrow the governement a long time ago.

Instead he was sidelined and largely ignored.

I firmly believe George Lee wanted to do good for the country and thought FG wanted the same.

I think it's only good and proper of him to call it a day when he realised that that wasn't happening.

Pittens

I dont get the negative anti-Lee comments here. He presumably wanted to join FG to shape their economic policy. He didnt get that. He left.

All the other bollocks - leaving constituents down - is malarky. If people vote for Lee thinking he would be at every fecki funeral then they voted for the wrong man.

Seems to be a man of integrity.

1) Joined a party, presumably by their request, and presumably because they indicated he could lead economic policy.
2) Got elected.
3) Didnt get to influence policy.
4) Resigned and didnt wait for the TD pension to kick in.


faced with a politican of integrity we are whining about him being arrogant, or childish.

mike65

He is a precious ding-bat. He'll have to leave the country by the end of this.

I hope people are listening to Liveline.

Red_Marauder

Kenny offered Lee a front bench position when he was given an ultimatum by Lee this week and George Lee refused.

If he really wanted to do the best for the country, believing that he had an important role to play, why did he turn this down? It comes across as a major sulk and an ego trip becasue he had not being offered anything 9 months ago.

murpho999

George is really getting annoyed with Margaret on the radio now and shouting her down...perhaps not Dail material after all!

Great radio though!

jmayo

Deise Tom wrote: »

The economic Climate did not come about as a result of people running to the banks looking for money that they knew there was a chance sometime in the next twenty or thirty years they could not pay back. I did not have any bank manager running to me asking if i wanted money for anything. Anyone that went in nearly always got one. These people have a part to play and a huge one. Charlie Haughy 30 years ago when he said we all live beyond our means. I think he is been proven right now, but some people are too stupid to see this or to admit it.

A pity cj didn't take his own advise,it might have saved us all a few hundred million in tribunals :rolleyes:
As for never been approached by banks, I find that to believe ?
I got letters from BOI/EBS enquiring if I wanted €20,000 loan for home improvement, new car, round the world trip.
All I had to do was sign the form and sent it back and hey presto away you go.

hallelujajordan wrote: »

The whole "he could have just taken the money and done nothing" argument is a red herring. .

He will probably go back to RTE on his previous (higher) salary and also keep a TD's pension (which he will add to his public sector salary when he leaves RTE) . . This is not a financially noble gesture.

AFAIK he isn't in long enough to get pension and his old eocnomics editor job in RTE has been filled.
Also would be very hard for him to come across with any objectivity.

yop wrote: »

He sounds like a spoilt child, threw his toys out of the pram.

Would Enda have felt threatened by him?

Why, there was probably shag all chance he would have become leader.
He is a favourite of the public, that doesn't mean he necessarily is of his fellow parliamentary colleagues.
He would probably not be political enough to swing it, after all to make it in politics he have to be willing to conceed, ofter compromises etc.
Not sure if he was into that ?

I have always admired Lee for his honest opinions even when it might have been more beneficial to follow the majority mindset ala our great economy of the last 10 years :rolleyes:

But this move I find a bit, well basically stupid.
If he was unhappy that the FG ship wasn't for him and he couldn't voice all his opinions then fair enough resign form the party, but why did he resign his seat ?
Also it is being defeatist, and I will admit I didn't think he woudl do that.
He could have stuck it out and just become a maverick stirring the sh** at every opportunity. He could have been the Shane Ross of the Dáil.

gandalf

jhegarty wrote: »

FG have the highest poll rating in the history of the party. Why do you think the leader is in trouble ?

Because Lee was his new pet and he's turned around and bit the hand that fed him. Enda should have made sure GL was in for the long haul.

Because after ousting a key FF seat (admittedly partially because FF ran a weak candidate hoping the family name and sympathy would bring him home) they have now either handed it back to FF or to Labour because the people of that area don't tolerate being sold a pup (I grew up there).

I have given Enda the benefit of the doubt up to this but FG's rating would probably be higher if they had a different leader like Richard Bruton (who is probably the reason that George threw his toys out of the pram!).

Laminations

hallelujajordan wrote: »

T

He will probably go back to RTE on his previous (higher) salary and also keep a TD's pension (which he will add to his public sector salary when he leaves RTE) . . This is not a financially noble gesture.

For someone who constantly defends behaviours by stating you are waiting for tribunal reports you are very quick to speculate on the future here.

He went in naive, realised he couldn't affect change as quick as he would have liked (he was not promised any position beforehand) and he left sticking to his guns. I understand he wanted to play a big role but there are others who have worked there way up and easily equal him in terms of economic prowess (e.g. Richard Bruton). He left his Dail seat so it doesn't just show a problem with FG but disillusionment with the slow workings of politics in general. He has integrity because he didnt just use the threat of resignation as leverage to get what he wanted (like the Greens), instead he made the decision and stuck to it.

peasant

Red_Marauder wrote: »

You cannot expect a TD to walk in off the streets and be appointed to a high level position at a time of such grave political importance.

If said TD was an expert in their field (not just another clueless teacher/lawyer/son of an ex-politician) who just gave up a good career to work for their country that is exactly what I would expect !
Especially in times of grave political importance ...we've been at the mercy of clueless career politicians long enough

Pittens

I'm quite impressed that FG don't work on that very superficial level.

The superficial level of actually using a trained economist - who was correct on the bubble - to shape economic policy, leaving it instead to publicans and teachers?

Lee joined to influence things. He wasnt given influence. He resigned. Didnt take a pension.

Tenure means nothing in the Dail. The longest tenured are often there because they have a solid backing vote of people who have seen them at funerals etc. If new blood is smarter it should be made more powerful immediately. Shadow cabinet.

Pretty sure that has happened before ( Alan Dukes?) - although I think that was after a general election.

thebaldsoprano

Deise Tom wrote: »

I did not have any bank manager running to me asking if i wanted money for anything.

Did you emigrate for the 'boom' years or something? I certainly did, and several friends even had their whole estates inundated with flyers from banks offering cheap loans. And the first thing FF/FG do is protect the elite who caused this mess while screwing the rest of us (Credit Institutions Financial Support Bill 2008).

While George Lee's motives may be slightly dubious, at least he's done something to throw a spanner in the works - fair play to him.

Amhran Nua

peasant wrote: »

Ever since he got elected I was wondering when FG would finally roll him out in big style to a) swing the I told you so hammer at the governement and b) promote a sound economic alternative to NAMA and the banking crisis.

With George correctly used as the "economic messiah", FG should have been able to overtrow the governement a long time ago.

Instead he was sidelined and largely ignored.

Well said, but if you replace "incompetence" with "unwilling to allow anyone whose relatives weren't in the party for two generations have any real say", I think you might be closer to the reality. Its this lack of meritocracy, approaching an actual aristocracy, that has the country in the mess it is in today.

Red_Marauder

George Lee has applied to go back to RTE News - George Lee, Liveline

Jip

peasant wrote: »

I for one take my hat off to George.

That took guts and integrity ...I wish we had more politicians like him.

He's no longer a politician. And he took the easy way out, how can someone expect to walk into a job, where he has had no experience, and expect to go right to the top and fix the economy from a back bench party ?

gizmo555

Red_Marauder wrote: »

If FG promoted a former journalist/ celebrity to any significant shadow portfolio they would quite rightly be accused of opportunistic parachuting. You cannot expect a TD to walk in off the streets and be appointed to a high level position at a time of such grave political importance.

On the contrary, we the people can and should expect this. It's only in the interests of careerist parochial parish pump politicians who've come up the usual way via toothless local authorities that this doesn't happen.

Lee was better qualified for a high level position than most of the Fine Gael parliamentary party. The impression was certainly given at the time of the bye election he ran in that this was why the party had head hunted him.

BeeDI

Red_Marauder wrote: »

George Lee has applied to go back to RTE News - George Lee, Liveline

Joe, asks "are you on the dole now" :rolleyes::rolleyes::D

flanzer

Has George Lee not told a big porky....I'm nearly sure when he went into politics, he resigned from RTE?? And cut all ties??

And now we hearing he's still staff at RTE??

JonathanAnon

He said a second ago that he was offered a Cabinet position when he told Enda that he was going to resign. This is really really bad for Kenny in particular, and also for the party as a whole.

Red_Marauder

gizmo555 wrote: »

On the contrary, we the people can and should expect this. It's only in the interests of careerist parochial parish pump politicians who've come up the usual way via toothless local authorities that this doesn't happen.

Lee was better qualified for a high level position than most of the Fine Gael parliamentary party. The impression was certainly given at the time of the bye election he ran in that this was why the party had head hunted him.

So why didn't Lee take the front bench position he was offered this week?

Lets get real, Lee got his ego bruised because he wasn't offered anything last Summer, then chairing the economic committee wasn't enough, and finally he just threw everything out of the pram this morning.

Laminations

peasant wrote: »

If said TD was an expert in their field (not just another clueless teacher/lawyer/son of an ex-politician) who just gave up a good career to work for their country that is exactly what I would expect !
Especially in times of grave political importance ...we've been at the mercy of clueless career politicians long enough

They have Richard Bruton, he has been working his ass off for years, if Lee had hung on and had patience he may have got to realise the change he wanted. It just didn't work out. If he had left accusing FG of corruption or nepotism or insane economic policies then there'd be a proper story here. He left because it wasn't what he thought it was going to be like, thats all.

Pittens

And now we hearing he's still staff at RTE??

Maybe there was a hiatus when he was in the dail. Teachers get that. Their job waits for them.

BeeDI

flanzer wrote: »

Has George Lee not told a big porky....I'm nearly sure when he went into politics, he resigned from RTE?? And cut all ties??

And now we hearing he's still staff at RTE??

Nah, he was promised a role in "Faircity", if he came back!

Pittens

So why didn't Lee take the front bench position he was offered this week?

Is there any source for that besides this thread? And what job?

Deise Tom

Ally Dick wrote: »

Enda won't last much longer

Get John Deasy in. Rub it in big time on Enda.

onq

George Lee gone - that is a disgrace.

His Fine Gael leanings were obvious from his reporting, but like many another opinionated journo, he had nothing constructive to offer in place of the FF/Green strategy, more's the pity.

Now he has apparently turned his back on his electorate by not serving his full term and has probably damaged his own credibility and that of the Fine Gael Party.

I wonder what immediate effect this apparent desertion will have in the polls?

The unsinkable Vincent Brown sails on...

ONQ.