What does a mayor do when he or she is no longer mayor? Much depends on why the tenure finishes. In more extreme cases, a mayor ends up in jail, if particular naughtiness has been engaged in: Andratx with Eugenio Hidalgo is an example. A mayor may also move up the political food chain, either by design or by accident.
José Ramón Bauzá used his Marratxi mayoral credentials to launch himself on a largely unsuspecting Partido Popular and Balearic society and become the islands' president. Alternatively, the mayor's job is retained while pursuing higher things. Astonishing though it may seem, but Maria Munar was mayor of Costitx all the time she was minister for education and then president of the Council of Mallorca. It's safe to assume that she is not planning a return to Costitx town hall.
Miquel Ferrer, an Alcudia mayor for some years, was an accidental beneficiary of promotion. While Munar's Unió Mallorquina was crumbling under the mounting mountain of corruption evidence, he resigned as mayor in order to become tourism minister. It was almost a case of last man standing, i.e. a senior figure in the party who wasn't banged up or en route to being so. Alas for Miquel his ministerial tenure was brief, and he hasn't been seen in town hall circles ever since he and the remaining members of the UM were ejected from the Antich "pact" of government.
Otherwise, unless because of retirement or the offer of something better, a mayor ceases to be mayor because of election defeat. Does this mark the moment to move onto other things? Sometimes but certainly not always. The ranks of town halls' councillors are littered with ex-mayors, biding their time for the next election and their return to once more wield the mayoral wand: the PP's Rafel Torres in Inca is a case in point. There are, therefore, former mayors in a state of constant rotation and on the comeback trail. One election comes along, out they go; the next one, and in they step again.
But there is a further reason why a mayor is no longer, and this is the consequence of the "pact". It doesn't happen in all instances by any means. There are plenty of town hall coalitions at present which don't envisage any mid-term mayoral change, but there are some. Where Santa Margalida is concerned, for example, the handing-over has already occurred, a mere eighteen months into the four-year period. More logically it takes place after two years, which is what will happen in Palma.
José Hila will step down in June. After he does, what will he do? One would assume that he will remain a councillor and become one of the array of deputy mayors. But it isn't as simple as that. Whether he stays or whether he goes (and going would be because staying would represent something of a humiliation), does one anticipate his spending the remaining two years plotting his comeback as mayor in 2019? Almost certainly yes, but Palma doesn't operate like mostly any other municipality. There are higher authorities who have their input, say and decisions when it comes to candidates for mayor.
Palma is its own mini-government. This status is why the position of mayor is of such critical importance to the political parties. Prior to the last election there were all the machinations to ensure that Mateu Isern was unable to stand again for the PP. And with the next election some two years or so away, the jockeying for positions are already beginning, with PSOE manoeuvring towards the starter's tape.
In an apparent reversal of promotion upwards (to government), it is understood that President Armengol has her man lined up to be candidate - the employment, trade and industry minister Iago Negueruela. This wouldn't of course be like a demotion because of Palma's mini-government pretensions. It would be a plum job. But why Negueruela?
In addition to being from good (Galician) socialist stock, he has been something of a safe pair of hands at the ministry, capable of announcing a load of statistics and initiatives to combat labour fraud. He wasn't actually elected as one of the 59 parliamentary deputies, but a background in employment inspection was what landed him the appointment. None of this, though, is a good reason for him to be mayor. However, Armengol is determined to have her man for the simple reason that Hila wasn't her choice last time and there are still gaping wounds among PSOE in Palma because of the infighting that was the prelude to Hila's election.
Whether Negueruela, a "foreigner", would be the one to unite factions seems unlikely, so when it finally comes to the choice of candidates for 2019, Hila will have lined himself up for another go and for a comeback. The battle for Palma has already begun.
Index for January 2017
Airport policy - 11 January 2017
Associations: too many - 12 January 2017
Big Data and tourism - 27 January 2017
CIA files, Joan March and Nazis - 30 January 2017
Culture, tourist tax and top stories from 2016 - 1 January 2017
Floods, drought and olive ebola - 29 January 2017
GOB and tourism - 10 January 2017
Goigs and Sant Antoni - 14 January 2017
Holiday rentals - 6 January 2017, 16 January 2017, 21 January 2017, 25 January 2017
Hotels and virtual reality - 18 January 2017
Illustrious sons and daughters - 2 January 2017
Mariano Rajoy - 3 January 2017
Mayors and their comebacks - 31 January 2017
Ministers and travel - 26 January 2017
Musical theatre - 22 January 2017
News and repetitious messages - 20 January 2017
Podemos tensions - 8 January 2017, 15 January 2017, 17 January 2017, 23 January 2017
Sant Antoni and tourism - 5 January 2017
Sant Julià - 7 January 2017
Sant Sebastià - 24 January 2017
Satire: demons and Kings - 9 January 2017
Tourism promotion - 13 January 2017
Tourismphobia - 19 January 2017
Tourist tax - 4 January 2017, 28 January 2017
Showing posts with label José Hila. Show all posts
Showing posts with label José Hila. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Friday, August 05, 2016
Mayors Who May Not Be Mayors
Here's a conundrum. Why is it that mayors may not be mayors? Is it because they are not allowed to be? How can that be, if they are already mayors? The question's illogical. Ah but, what if mayors may not be mayors because, despite appearances which indicate that they are, in reality they aren't? Does that clarify things? Tell you what, let's have an example.
It is the Partido Popular's Marga Duran who has let the cat out of the bag. She isn't a mayor, though she would have liked to have been. She lost out in Palma because the three-way alliance (?) between PSOE, Més and the Podemos Palma branch (Som Palma) blocked her way. As such, it might be expected that she would be less than glowing in her praise of the mayor who denied her the opportunity. So is it all sour grapes? One rather suspects that it isn't. In fact, one pretty much knows that it isn't. The cat left the bag long ago and has been been stroked benignly and smilingly ever since. By whom? By a mayor who may not be a mayor. José Hila, the mayor of Palma.
There's the title right enough, but otherwise ... ? Marga confirmed, if confirmation were required, the reality. In essence, Hila performs an honorary role. He appears when it is necessary for him to appear, smiles nicely, tells everyone that there's consensus and dialogue and then disappears to his honorary office. He may appear to be the mayor but he isn't. In Marga's damning words, he carries no authority. Instead, his town hall is governed by three factions, one of them his own - PSOE - from which some mutterings have emanated regarding his effectiveness. They have not been expressed loudly but they rumble lowly nevertheless in the seventeenth-century corridors of the old town hall.
Which is a bit of a shame. Hila seems to be a perfectly pleasant and decent bloke. One might disagree with some of his politics, but what's there to dislike? Smartly turned out, a ready smile, always there to offer supportive words. Perfect. But if all he's doing is performing an honorary function, then you would hope for all of this.
Is it really his fault? Up to a point it is. He was after all party to the three-party alliance of which he and PSOE are a part. The question mark following alliance above indicates that this alliance (aka pact) is not all that it may appear or wish to appear. Hila is thus a hostage to the misfortunes of PSOE in needing to establish pacts. Without them, they wouldn't be setting foot in the corridors of power, be they those of the town hall, regional government or the Council of Mallorca.
PSOE can generally only operate in alliance. It's been like this for some time in Mallorca, but until recently the dice were loaded in its favour. Since the elections last year, the dice have rolled differently. Where PSOE ostensibly lead, there are powers behind the thrones. Leaders, e.g. Hila, are therefore relegated to honorary roles. Grace and favour, bestowed on them by those who wield the real power, not because those others gained more votes but because without them PSOE would be nowhere.
President Armengol is similarly a hostage to misfortune. Her honorary function isn't, however, quite as tenuous as Hila's (not yet anyway). The mayor was only ever half a mayor anyway. Under the deal with Més and Som Palma, he'll be stepping aside next year. By August 2017 he will no longer be mayor. He's already, therefore, on his way out, though it is questionable whether he's ever been in. He will be succeeded by Antoni Noguera of Més. So sure was he of the prize that awaits him, that he was given (or more likely gave himself) the grand responsibility for the "model of the city". Blimey, it doesn't get more mayoral (in-waiting or already in practice) than that. He has the whole city in his hands. Unlike Hila.
Pacts, coalitions, alliances - call them what you like - can only work if there genuinely is consensus and not a stream of consciousness which seeks to confirm that there is. What one gets is what one has in Palma and the regional government. (The Council of Mallorca is rather different and that's largely due to Miquel Ensenyat.) Marga Duran is correct in referring to the "three governments" in Palma, the three parties each with their own domains, pursuing their own agendas. Oh, they'll say otherwise, and not just Hila, but is anyone really convinced?
Armengol, meanwhile, appears so in thrall to the model she presides over that she is wishing it on Pedro Sánchez, PSOE nationally and therefore Spain. But it is for appearance. She would hardly say anything else, given that she was taken hostage by Més and Podemos. Presidents as well as mayors may not be presidents.
It is the Partido Popular's Marga Duran who has let the cat out of the bag. She isn't a mayor, though she would have liked to have been. She lost out in Palma because the three-way alliance (?) between PSOE, Més and the Podemos Palma branch (Som Palma) blocked her way. As such, it might be expected that she would be less than glowing in her praise of the mayor who denied her the opportunity. So is it all sour grapes? One rather suspects that it isn't. In fact, one pretty much knows that it isn't. The cat left the bag long ago and has been been stroked benignly and smilingly ever since. By whom? By a mayor who may not be a mayor. José Hila, the mayor of Palma.
There's the title right enough, but otherwise ... ? Marga confirmed, if confirmation were required, the reality. In essence, Hila performs an honorary role. He appears when it is necessary for him to appear, smiles nicely, tells everyone that there's consensus and dialogue and then disappears to his honorary office. He may appear to be the mayor but he isn't. In Marga's damning words, he carries no authority. Instead, his town hall is governed by three factions, one of them his own - PSOE - from which some mutterings have emanated regarding his effectiveness. They have not been expressed loudly but they rumble lowly nevertheless in the seventeenth-century corridors of the old town hall.
Which is a bit of a shame. Hila seems to be a perfectly pleasant and decent bloke. One might disagree with some of his politics, but what's there to dislike? Smartly turned out, a ready smile, always there to offer supportive words. Perfect. But if all he's doing is performing an honorary function, then you would hope for all of this.
Is it really his fault? Up to a point it is. He was after all party to the three-party alliance of which he and PSOE are a part. The question mark following alliance above indicates that this alliance (aka pact) is not all that it may appear or wish to appear. Hila is thus a hostage to the misfortunes of PSOE in needing to establish pacts. Without them, they wouldn't be setting foot in the corridors of power, be they those of the town hall, regional government or the Council of Mallorca.
PSOE can generally only operate in alliance. It's been like this for some time in Mallorca, but until recently the dice were loaded in its favour. Since the elections last year, the dice have rolled differently. Where PSOE ostensibly lead, there are powers behind the thrones. Leaders, e.g. Hila, are therefore relegated to honorary roles. Grace and favour, bestowed on them by those who wield the real power, not because those others gained more votes but because without them PSOE would be nowhere.
President Armengol is similarly a hostage to misfortune. Her honorary function isn't, however, quite as tenuous as Hila's (not yet anyway). The mayor was only ever half a mayor anyway. Under the deal with Més and Som Palma, he'll be stepping aside next year. By August 2017 he will no longer be mayor. He's already, therefore, on his way out, though it is questionable whether he's ever been in. He will be succeeded by Antoni Noguera of Més. So sure was he of the prize that awaits him, that he was given (or more likely gave himself) the grand responsibility for the "model of the city". Blimey, it doesn't get more mayoral (in-waiting or already in practice) than that. He has the whole city in his hands. Unlike Hila.
Pacts, coalitions, alliances - call them what you like - can only work if there genuinely is consensus and not a stream of consciousness which seeks to confirm that there is. What one gets is what one has in Palma and the regional government. (The Council of Mallorca is rather different and that's largely due to Miquel Ensenyat.) Marga Duran is correct in referring to the "three governments" in Palma, the three parties each with their own domains, pursuing their own agendas. Oh, they'll say otherwise, and not just Hila, but is anyone really convinced?
Armengol, meanwhile, appears so in thrall to the model she presides over that she is wishing it on Pedro Sánchez, PSOE nationally and therefore Spain. But it is for appearance. She would hardly say anything else, given that she was taken hostage by Més and Podemos. Presidents as well as mayors may not be presidents.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
The Intrigues Of Palma
Palma is a hotbed of intrigue. Here is a capital that has its own government as well as it being the location for actual government - of the Balearics and of Mallorca - the latter in the form of the Council of Mallorca. Its town hall has a name that resonates with government - Cort, or Corte in Castellano. The corte of legislature, as with the Cortes Generales of Spain, the lower and upper houses of parliament, rather than the corte of the department store: El Corte Inglés means the English cut, as in the cut of a tailor, reflecting its humble origins.
When Mariano Rajoy inadvertently referred to the "island of Palma", he wasn't totally inaccurate. Palma is its own island, its own affair, divorced from the rest of Mallorca and the Balearics, the consequence of its economic, governmental and inhabitant dominance, as well as of its pomposity and the self-importance that its politicians display. Of these, many are of course imported, shipped in to the palaces of government, be they those of parliament, the presidential headquarters or the Council.
But then there are those who are more homegrown, the Palma political elite, the cadres, the factions. Palma's intrigues are intriguing as much as they are something of which the rest of Mallorca and the Balearics are despairing and have despaired. They attract so much attention, as do the controversies that these politicians inspire. Palacios, terraces, monuments for demolition: they are Palma's affairs, not anyone else's. And yet the rest of Mallorca is dragged into the orbit of these controversies through the sheer power of attraction of the city, despite wishing that they were not. "That's Palma for you" will be a typical comment, accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders and a smile of resignation, as it was when an Alcudia politician once said to me that the corruption (of the old Unió Mallorquina) was all just a Palma affair. Generally speaking, he was correct in this observation.
The intrigues are such that they carry into the forthcoming general election. The Partido Popular, no longer ruling the city, has shifted the focus of the intrigues that led to the ousting of Mateo Isern, or at least to his not being put forward as candidate for mayor last May. Isern senses delicious revenge over the "Rodriguistas" of José María Rodríguez, intriguer-in-chief or so it can seem. Alvaro Gijón, formerly Isern's number two, will be running against his old boss: Rodriguista versus non-Rodriguista, albeit that Gijón prefers not to style himself such.
While Isern will probably triumph, especially because the party members away from Palma despair so much of the guard that the Rodriguistas formed around the now despised Bauzá, PSOE has already made up its mind who will head its candidate list for election to Congress. Ramon Socias is that candidate, the former national government delegate to the Balearics who observed in 2008 that politicians should not see politics as something to depend upon and that they should be politicians for a "determined period" (he was talking against the background of corruption).
Socias keeps reappearing. He was in the running to be PSOE's candidate for mayor in Palma in May. He didn't make it. And why didn't he? Ah well, maybe it was all some intrigue. Or perhaps it was all to do with froth and image. PSOE in Palma selected José Hila, and he is now mayor, a leader with a perpetual grin: the amiable, genial, personable Hila, whose sentences are never knowingly spoken without reference to consensus and dialogue. He epitomises current-day, image-conscious, ultra-modern PSOE, a product of the Palma camp led by ex-mayor Aina Calvo, she who failed to win leadership of PSOE in the Balearics despite her promotional campaign that borrowed Macklemore's "Can't Hold Us" dance anthem.
Socias, by contrast, is of the dull PSOE camp of Francina Armengol. Image-wise, that is. Candidacy for Congress carries less image weight than being Palma's mayor, it would seem. There seems less intrigue than there was when the mayoral candidates were being sized up. Had Socias won, the party in Palma would have been split in much the same way that the PP under Isern was fractured. He didn't win because Hila, with Calvo's support, also had his wife to help him: Maria Angeles Fernandez Valiente, who has now been promoted to a senior post with the Mallorca Institute of Social Affairs (within the Council of Mallorca). Hila and his wife had backed Calvo against Armengol for the party's leadership. Was this solely an image issue? Perhaps it was. Politically, Calvo wasn't necessarily about to ally herself to the new age of Podemos, and yet Hila's wife, it was revealed six months before the mayoral election in Palma, appeared to be a Podemos supporter. Her name was on a Facebook page among some 1,400 classed as supporters.
Intriguing.
When Mariano Rajoy inadvertently referred to the "island of Palma", he wasn't totally inaccurate. Palma is its own island, its own affair, divorced from the rest of Mallorca and the Balearics, the consequence of its economic, governmental and inhabitant dominance, as well as of its pomposity and the self-importance that its politicians display. Of these, many are of course imported, shipped in to the palaces of government, be they those of parliament, the presidential headquarters or the Council.
But then there are those who are more homegrown, the Palma political elite, the cadres, the factions. Palma's intrigues are intriguing as much as they are something of which the rest of Mallorca and the Balearics are despairing and have despaired. They attract so much attention, as do the controversies that these politicians inspire. Palacios, terraces, monuments for demolition: they are Palma's affairs, not anyone else's. And yet the rest of Mallorca is dragged into the orbit of these controversies through the sheer power of attraction of the city, despite wishing that they were not. "That's Palma for you" will be a typical comment, accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders and a smile of resignation, as it was when an Alcudia politician once said to me that the corruption (of the old Unió Mallorquina) was all just a Palma affair. Generally speaking, he was correct in this observation.
The intrigues are such that they carry into the forthcoming general election. The Partido Popular, no longer ruling the city, has shifted the focus of the intrigues that led to the ousting of Mateo Isern, or at least to his not being put forward as candidate for mayor last May. Isern senses delicious revenge over the "Rodriguistas" of José María Rodríguez, intriguer-in-chief or so it can seem. Alvaro Gijón, formerly Isern's number two, will be running against his old boss: Rodriguista versus non-Rodriguista, albeit that Gijón prefers not to style himself such.
While Isern will probably triumph, especially because the party members away from Palma despair so much of the guard that the Rodriguistas formed around the now despised Bauzá, PSOE has already made up its mind who will head its candidate list for election to Congress. Ramon Socias is that candidate, the former national government delegate to the Balearics who observed in 2008 that politicians should not see politics as something to depend upon and that they should be politicians for a "determined period" (he was talking against the background of corruption).
Socias keeps reappearing. He was in the running to be PSOE's candidate for mayor in Palma in May. He didn't make it. And why didn't he? Ah well, maybe it was all some intrigue. Or perhaps it was all to do with froth and image. PSOE in Palma selected José Hila, and he is now mayor, a leader with a perpetual grin: the amiable, genial, personable Hila, whose sentences are never knowingly spoken without reference to consensus and dialogue. He epitomises current-day, image-conscious, ultra-modern PSOE, a product of the Palma camp led by ex-mayor Aina Calvo, she who failed to win leadership of PSOE in the Balearics despite her promotional campaign that borrowed Macklemore's "Can't Hold Us" dance anthem.
Socias, by contrast, is of the dull PSOE camp of Francina Armengol. Image-wise, that is. Candidacy for Congress carries less image weight than being Palma's mayor, it would seem. There seems less intrigue than there was when the mayoral candidates were being sized up. Had Socias won, the party in Palma would have been split in much the same way that the PP under Isern was fractured. He didn't win because Hila, with Calvo's support, also had his wife to help him: Maria Angeles Fernandez Valiente, who has now been promoted to a senior post with the Mallorca Institute of Social Affairs (within the Council of Mallorca). Hila and his wife had backed Calvo against Armengol for the party's leadership. Was this solely an image issue? Perhaps it was. Politically, Calvo wasn't necessarily about to ally herself to the new age of Podemos, and yet Hila's wife, it was revealed six months before the mayoral election in Palma, appeared to be a Podemos supporter. Her name was on a Facebook page among some 1,400 classed as supporters.
Intriguing.
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