7th Think Post: Finding Your Candidates Online

Below is my 7th Thinkaboutit.eu post. I have posted it in full so dont forget to rate it on the competition website!

A problem for me during the last European Elections in 2004 was finding out about candidates running for  election. Although I couldn't vote and was sitting my Leaving Certificate I was interested in who was running and finding out more about the candidates in my constituency. In my constituency, Ireland South, there were ten candidates running for three seats. Of the ten, four were independents and not all of them campaigned in Cork so it was hard to find out much about them.

This year elections will be different thanks to two websites based and set up in Ireland. The first is Eurvote, which is just aimed at Irish voters. Eurvote have pages on all the candidates in the Irish Constituencies. Of course they are a bit behind as they already are missing Sean Kelly from the list for Ireland South, but they do have Declan Ganley on the list for Ireland North-West. Eurvote has a page on each candidate (here's Marian Harkin's (Ireland North-West) page as an example) with a link to their website which is handy. They also plan on doing events and are looking for constituents to write analysis in each constituency. Unfortunately I don't know who runs EurVote.org, as their about page is blank!

The second website is miCandidate.eu, which hasn't launched yet, but will in the next month. This is based on the MyCandidate.ie website which ran during the 2007 General Election here in Ireland, that website now redirects to miCandidate. MyCandidate.ie was described as "an exciting and crucial addition to democracy by putting useful information at the fingertips of citizens young and old." by Joe Zefran a News Editor with RTE.ie (received via email), so they are hoping that their European venture will have a big impact. MiCandidate.eu are currently putting together their database on candidates in all 27 member states, but not all seams to be right with them. According to Suzy of Mamanpoulet miCandidate.eu are putting pressure on candidates to sign up and pay up to have their information on this website. This is an example of an email sent to candidates.

We are very concerned that you are one of only a few remaining candidates who has not completed the information form that we sent you. Your profile will appear across dozens of Ireland’s busiest websites from RTE to the Irish Times. Failing to return this form to us in the next 48 hours may result in your profile being entirely empty. Given that candidates profiles were viewed nearly 4 million times in 2007 on RTE and the Irish Times you are giving your competitors in your constituency a huge advantage over you.

This is a free service, but we cannot stress the urgency that we need you to fill out your details. Seats are won and lost by a handful of votes, your competitors profiles will be viewed tens of thousands of times. Your profile will be empty.

Will the web have this type of impact on the European Elections? I don't think so. So should miCandidate be the top of your priority, probably not. Of course there is a paid version, which the Irish Green Party have signed up to for their candidates. Will it be worth the mone only time will tell and I hope that Fine Gael candidates wont spend money which could be spent on leaflets, which as Suzy points out can have the url to your blog/twitter/whatever and get people that can actually vote for you to engage with you. miCandidate are hyping up the net a bit too much in my opinion.

So there you have two websites one free and one free for us the voter, but possible not for the candidate, trying to inform us about the elections. Will they succeed? Will they actually inform people and get them to vote in the European Elections? Will they have an big impact or will they just be link farms to candidates websites, blogs, facebook/bebo pages and twitter accounts? Only time will tell.


Dont forget to rate it!

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5th Think Post - "What Women Want"

Image by stephen.spillane via Flickr

Well I seam to be getting used to blogging over on the thinkaboutit.eu blog becuase I just published my 5th post on it! Its on women and European politics.

Eurobarometer recently did a Flash survey on Women and Politics in the EU. It found that 79% of Irish Women and 78% of women in the United Kingdom think that politics is male dominated.

Read Full Post, dont forget to rate it!

Taoiseach Answers Our Questions

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Well, Brian Cowen did answer some of the questions posed by the public to him in his online Q&A, try and keep your eyes open during the video's. I think that is the harder task, I didn't realise he was that boring, and people give out to me that Enda is boring (he is but Cowen is worse in these videos). And if you are wondering, he didn't answer my "loaded" question. The videos are all below.

Welcome and Thanks


The Economy


The Pension Levy


The Political Situation


The Smart Economy


Are you still awake? Fair play? I wonder will they try this again?

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FG Ard Fheis

The Fine Gael Ard Fheis will be taking place on the 3rd-4th of April in City West in Dublin and as I said on twitter last week, Bloggers will be given Media Accreditation. I have no information about who to contact specifically at the moment about it, but when I do I will post it. All I can suggest is calling the Fine Gael HQ at (01) 6198444 and asking them about it.

I found out via the National Youth Officer on Thursday Night as she was attending a YFG AGM in UCC (which I have a post in draft about which (hopefully) will be done by the by end of week)

i have booked the time off work for Ard Fheis so hopefully will be there!

(PS Blogging has been light as himself is up!)

Simon Harris - asking for Volunteers online

The above is a video by Simon Harris (FG Candidate for Greystones Town Council) asking for volunteers in Greystones to help out with his campaign. Would love to know how many sign up due to a video on youtube.

Would it make you call him up and volunteer? I wouldnt, from the video alone.

Also that Vote Harris number one sticker looks mightily familiar, I believe I wore one of those back in 2004 in Ballina when he ran for YFG Vice Presidency (Which he didnt win).

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Gender Parity? What about voters choice?

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The Labour Party published its Electoral (Gender Parity) Bill today (See RTÉ for details) which will cut state funding to party who dont put forward a certain percentage of female candidates. From what I see from my expeirence in political parties, that when women put themselevs forward for candidature they invariable get selected, not because women vote for them but because men vote for them! I attended conventions for three electoral areas for the upcoming local elections and a woman did not put herself forward for election.

Its not for lack of support within Fine Gael, there is a strong womens group within Fine Gael and there is a large number of female officers on the various boards in Cork FIne Gael (As well as two female Councillors on Cork City Council) so to me there is very little political opposition to women candidates. The biggest downfall for women candidates is actually the female vote. Women dont vote for women, according to a study I read before Older Men are more likely to vote for women then women are!

Gender quota's wont work, they lead to token women candidates who have no opportunity to get elected. Also bringing in a bill like this challenges how parties select candidates. For example in Fine Gael, it is members in the constituency that get to vote and choose the candidate, this bill will take that power away from locals and put in the hands of head office. Something which hasn't worked to great effect for Fianna Fail.

Any gender parity is a no hoper in my opinion.

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Is it right that a Political Party Owns LGBT.ie???

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I was contacted after a tweet by Mark Coughlan about the ownership of a .ie domain. The Domain in is LGBT.ie and it is, according to the IE Domain Registry owned by the Irish Labour Party and is registered as a "Discretionary Name"

If you visit the site you get redirected to Labours homepage? Now is it right that a political party owns this and redirects it to their site? I don't think so? I am not saying that as a party political hack (what use would Fine Gael or Fianna Fail have for that site) but as a former Gay Activist (I've toned it down an awful lot, most of my activism is by me for me now a days). No political party should own that domain.

While I agree Labour LGBT and the Labour Party in general have been a fantastic supporter of the Gay Community and Gay Rights, but does it give them the right to this domain? I don't think so!

GLEN or the NGLF or some sort of Gay community or a website to co-ordinate all the other ones should be on that domain. It should not be a redirect to the Labour Home Page!

PS: You can follow me on Twitter here

Indo Poll Results

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There is an IMS Poll in the Indo tomorrow and the Results are quite interesting. The headline figures are: Fine Gael are on 30%, Fianna Fail are on 25%, Labour are on 22%, Greens are on 5%, Sinn Fein are on 7% and Independents are on 10%.

In terms of Government satisfaction only 10% of respondents are satisfied compared with 86% dissatisfied with the Government.

On the question of a General Election 52% of people want an election while 40% do not one.

This is the first IMS poll to show FG ahead and the 6th poll to show FG in the lead. More interesting times ahead.

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More Politicians tweeting and one not...

So since I did my post about Fine Gaelers on twitter I have come across some more on Twitter!

One is a Senator and the other two are councillors. Fist up is the Senator Jerry Buttimer who is FG's spokesperson on Community, Rural and Gaeltach Affairs. Cork City Councillor Laura McGonigle is also on twitter, she represent the Cork South West Ward in the city. The other Councillor is Cavan County Councillor (and FG National Executive member) Seán McKiernan (his tweets are protected but he might let you follow).

The Polictcian not tweet is Graham Watson an English MEP who Tom Harris MP tells us does not twitter! But in fact his wife does!!! Should we unfollow politicians who do this? Well really those admit to doing this?

Do you know more Irish Politicians on twitter??? Let me know! Either in the comments or on twitter or via email stephen(dot)spillane(at)gmail(dot)com

I shall leave you with a Video from a Local Election Candidate who is embracing social media (sic??) and whom I mentioned in the previous post...

First Th!nk Post

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Well my first post is up on the Th!nk about it blog. It is on "How do we make Europe Sexy?". Please read, comment and vote!

Heres an excerpt from it:

One of the issues that kept coming up during the Launch event last week in Brussels was how do we make Europe Sexy? By Europe I mean the European Union. This is something that I have spent much time thinking about since getting back to Ireland.

I cannot think of any country in the world where politics is considered sexy except in the USA where Obama reinvigorated politics, but how can that work in a disconnected Europe?

Read the full post

Thanks
Steve

Latest Opinion Poll and a bit of a Lisbon Rant

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Its been awhile since the last poll, but RTÉ report on a poll being Published in tomorrow's Sunday Business Post.

The headline figures are:

Fine Gael 33% (-2)
Fianna Fail 28% (-2
Labour 14% (NC)
Greens 8% (+3)
Sinn Fein 9% (+1)
Ind/Others 8% (NC)

The opinion poll also asked a question on the Lisbon Treaty. 58% of people back the treaty according to the poll. 28% are against and 14% don't now.

It is strange that in a week that some leading no campaigners claimed the treaty was flawed due to a case being LODGED against the treaty in Germany that the majority in Ireland come out for in it in a poll.

Yes you read that right the lodging of a case means something is flawed according to the Peoples Movement (PDF). That is like saying that if someone is charged with a crime then they are guilty without trial! At least let Lisbon go to a hearing before passing judgement Madam McKenna. No one can predict when the Court will give a verdict, after the Maastricht case it was the day after the hearing, will it be the same for Lisbon? Will the Court the cases separately? Nobody knows but as usual the Peoples Movement try to rush in and try to misinform people again.

Anyway back to the poll, Fianna Fail remain five points behind Fine Gael while the Greens seam to be on the up and are avoiding being tainted by this Government it seams. For a change the Fianna Fail tactic of blaming the smaller party doesn't seam to be working, and they are suffering.

The results of the Local and European Elections will be very interesting this year!

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EU Election Stuff

One of the great things about this Think About It Competition is that I find out about some really cool websites and Campaigns for the European Elections this coming June. This post is about two of these.

First up is the the European Parliaments own page about the Elections. This has lots of material on the elections. The picture above is in fact the English Logo from the campaign. I has links to the main groupings in the Parliament so you can find out more. It has fact sheets on each member state (heres Irelands). It also gives ten reasons why you should vote in Elections. It has a few pages on news articles from General ones to ones from National Angles. Overall an interesting site, maybe the layout could be a bit better, found they were putting too much on one page, buts thats just me.

The other Website is from Café Babel. Their website is EU Debate 2009. This webiste is trying to create a debate about Europe. It has interesting videos, like this one on how we can save money. It has interesting blogs where you can creat your own!. EUDebate also want to hear about any proposals you may have! Of course they link to the forums over on CaféBabel.com for a more interactive debate! This could be an interesting website as the campaign really gets under way, but it does need fixing. A few of the videos dont work and the main forum is down at the moment. Then agains this isnt properly launched yet, so maybe my expectations are too high, who knows?

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Politics Social Network

I came across a social network for political activists, its called "Politics Network" (Very imaginitive, no?).

It seams like a great tool for making contacts in the political world. Currently though I am the only Irish Member! I wonder will it take off here?

If you want you can add me!

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New Element Discovered - Governmentium

Got this in an email and I had to post it.

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science.

The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2- 6 years. It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of morons promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.

When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Very Funny!

Conservative Ads

Image via WikipediaThe Conservative Party in the UK have launched a new Advertising campaign on "Labour's Debt Crisis". According to the Conservatives Shadow Chancellor each child born in Britain will owe £17,000. I must say it is a fantastic campaign. It really hits the point on UK Debt. I agree with John over on Semper-Idem that FG need to be developing campaigns like this. The Budget campaign that they did before Christmas is something that could easily be further developed into this. Anyway check out the videos below.

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First Canvass of 09

Image via WikipediaWell I am home after my first night canvassing in 2009. I was out canvassing for Emmet O'Halloran a candidate (for Fine Gael, in case you didn't know) in Cork South Central Ward for Cork City Council. We were canvassing near where I went to secondary school in Deerpark. It had been awhile since I had been out canvassing door to door (last time was the generals in 07) but it didn't take me long to get back into the swing of things and peoples reaction did help alot.

There was alot of anti-FF on the doors tonight. More so then towards the end of the General Election Campaign in 2007. I personally would not like to be a Fianna Fail canvasser this time round. Alot of people were saying never again would they vote for Fianna Fail. The budget, Beverly Cooper-Flynn and Government inaction on the jobs front featured heavily as well as local issues.

Language was an issue I came across tonight. Under EU law all EU Nationals have to right to vote in Local and European Elections, so it is worth my while knocking on the door and hoping they speak English. In a few houses I knocked on, there was an obvious language barrier, which was very annoying for me as I didn't know if the person understood me at all!

Overall I really enjoyed being back on the canvass and I suppose the reaction helped majorly, especially as it was so cold! Looking forward to many more, considering its a good few weeks to June!

So if you live in Cork South Central, very soon you could have me knocking on your door!

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Some tips for Brian Cowen

Image by friendly-fire via FlickrFionnan Sheahan had an excellent column in yesterdays Indo on how Cowen et al could actually pass Lisbon the 2nd time round. I have to agree with him on most of his points.

1 Read the "bloody" Treaty.
This was a major one. Something I came across on the canvass and considering I actually read the treaty, its not impossible. But of course Cowen is not the only one, Mary Coughlan also needs classes on EU basics, especially the commission.

2 The Green Party, the IFA and SIPTU need to back the treaty from the start.
The Green Party because they are in Government! The IFA will probably back it because of the pork debacle and that. SIPTU need to be given reassurances on their issues, but it needs to be done behind the scenes not in public.

3 The same blood, sweat and tears put into a general election is needed to canvass for votes in this referendum.
That is something that every party is at fault for. Labout putting up posters with small yes'. FG putting focus on Enda and the MEPs. FF for not doing much canvassing. All sides need to convince their supporters and make sure they are well briefed to deal with questions.

4 Give people a reason to vote Yes
Anyone could write reams on why to vote no, but the yes arguments never stuck. This is something they need to work on.

5 It's the economy, stupid
Europe is in a recession, can we face it better as a group which might lessen the effects of that terrible budget? Its a "twin-edged sword" which is mainly the fault of the Government.

6 Run your own campaign has to be the message for the political parties.
FF and FG should not be co-operating too much in the public eye. FF and Greens working together and FG and Labour working together is natural. But all the parties doing a united campaign won't wash it.

7 Tighten up funding laws
This will lower the hassle after the vote if another "libertas" type group crops up.

8 No own goals
Can the government stop making stupid moves? I don't know. But it will be critical if the Government want to get this passed.

9 Challenge the No camp claims
A lot of time was spent trying dispel "myths". Try challenging them to back up their claims and people will see the truth.

10 A coherent Yes campaign wouldn't actually go astray
Okay so dont work in public but work together behind the scene. No point in replicating work, and that it just wastes time and resources.

11 Reach out to reassure specific groups
Certain groups had certain issues, no harm in targetting them.

12 Stop patronising people
Convince them! Dont tell them what to do.

13 Speak plain language
In other words, dont tell Brsin go off on his trip to jargon-land. The EU is confusing enough, with out using obscure and strange terminology.

Anything else you add?

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Political junkie website!

Well I have found a new website to keep the political junkie in me happy! The website is Ballotpedia.org which is a wiki! There is some really useful information on it. Have a sconce around it! You might see some posts arising from it! Though it is all US stuff still interesting for anyone interested in direct democracy.

A possible solution?

Again and again Lisbon raises it head. I was at an FG Branch meeting last week when an idea for a solution to Lisbon was aired. Split in three was the suggestion. The three sections would be:

1. The institutional reform part of the treaty

2. The Charter for Fundamental Rights

3. The Common Foreign and Security Policy

Now that should make things a bit easier and you split the argument in 3 and means those who know the EU needs reforming but who have doubts on CFSP and on the Charter can vote no to them. The UK and Poland have secured opt-outs on the Charter and Denmark has long held opt-outs (from Amsterdam or Maastricht) on CFSP.

Of course I would vote Yes to all 3 and would be encouraging people to vote YES-YES-YES.

Decisions are going to have to be made soon and if the Government put the same question again, I wont be supporting it.


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Lisbon Round II? No Thanks!

Och Aye, PolScot is up and Running (well nearly)

Well most people who have read this blog know I used to play an online game called PolUK well i guess what? I stopped ages back! Well now I have started playing a new one started by a few players from that game its Politics Scotland! I've signed up as a SNP MSP! Check it out!

Oh and this time I used the name Stephen Spillane so no confusing names on MSN!

PS the game should get under way soon enough!