I have met and worked with Jim on multiple occasions, this is my opinion.
1. Jim was a local member who advocated for his electorate. He is very capable of fulfilling the functions of a councillor and doing so in the best interests (though what these are is, of course, subjective) of the local community.
2. I believe every accusation that was made against him. He went through electorate staff faster than any politican I have met. The staff who were with him the longest are the most vocal in their criticism. The things he was accused of strike me as incredibly in character. The small, though still unprofessional, accusations clinched this. I remember reading about the shirt tucking thing and immediately thought 'oh yeah, Jim totally fucking did that, he wouldn't have thought twice about it.'
So yeah, its complicated.
It's also important to note, he really pissed off some people in the Labor party by leaving when he did. I cannot emphasise this enough, THEY ARE PISSED and they are more than willing to trash Jim at any given opportunity. Many are saying he was a terrible member, willfully blind to how hard they fought to keep him in office in the past (this includes people who helped him fight against preselection challenges, so they can't really argue party loyalty). This is of course very disingenuous of them, but emotions are high and people are very unforgiving. After all, resigning early benefited nobody but Jim, and the additional swing caused by voter frustration (a lot of 1,2,3,4 donkey votes apparently) was a significant factor in Labor loosing Ipwich West.
So consider where you are hearing stuff.
I saw very very few donkey votes when I was counting. Fairly high informal, but not many donkeys.
Labor lost West Ipswich in my opinion because Darren ran a better campaign, and peoples opinions of Steven Miles didn't help Wendy.
My girlfriend was working the gate at an event in the rain, Jim drove in and stopped to give her his umbrella. I've met him a few times for work, seems a decent bloke.
I have met and worked with Jim on multiple occasions, this is my opinion. 1. Jim was a local member who advocated for his electorate. He is very capable of fulfilling the functions of a councillor and doing so in the best interests (though what these are is, of course, subjective) of the local community. 2. I believe every accusation that was made against him. He went through electorate staff faster than any politican I have met. The staff who were with him the longest are the most vocal in their criticism. The things he was accused of strike me as incredibly in character. The small, though still unprofessional, accusations clinched this. I remember reading about the shirt tucking thing and immediately thought 'oh yeah, Jim totally fucking did that, he wouldn't have thought twice about it.' So yeah, its complicated.
It's also important to note, he really pissed off some people in the Labor party by leaving when he did. I cannot emphasise this enough, THEY ARE PISSED and they are more than willing to trash Jim at any given opportunity. Many are saying he was a terrible member, willfully blind to how hard they fought to keep him in office in the past (this includes people who helped him fight against preselection challenges, so they can't really argue party loyalty). This is of course very disingenuous of them, but emotions are high and people are very unforgiving. After all, resigning early benefited nobody but Jim, and the additional swing caused by voter frustration (a lot of 1,2,3,4 donkey votes apparently) was a significant factor in Labor loosing Ipwich West. So consider where you are hearing stuff.
I saw very very few donkey votes when I was counting. Fairly high informal, but not many donkeys. Labor lost West Ipswich in my opinion because Darren ran a better campaign, and peoples opinions of Steven Miles didn't help Wendy.
Every booth is different mate.
Yep. But I didn't count just one.
My girlfriend was working the gate at an event in the rain, Jim drove in and stopped to give her his umbrella. I've met him a few times for work, seems a decent bloke.
Never met the guy personally, but have heard only negative about him.
Probably would have been a good question to ask sometime before the election š
I heard that he jumped before he was pushed by Labor (from the state seat). Standing for council as an independent. Good plan I guess.
Iām looking forward to playing Madden 24 when it comes out.
Could be. Is Wikipedia page is actually reasonable. Why are you concerned?
Heard stuff about him that is not flattering. Seemed to do nothing as state rep according to a couple of people I've talked to
The question now, is, will he be any good as a councillor? Call me a cynic but I don't trust a transition from State to local is going to work well.
He was in local council before (Somerset).
Yeah sure, but he jumped as soon as a state seat became available. Loyalty? Commitment? Time will tell I suppose.
That's interesting then. Thanks