Each of the 15 Senatorial Candidates took time out of their campaign to speak to BBC Radio Jersey's Home Affairs Producer Hamish Marett-Crosby about their election platform and what they would do if they were elected. Name: Jerry Dorey
Party: Independent Read a transcript of the interview with Jerry Dorey below or listen to it using Real Player. Why are you seeking an island mandate? Well I have, of course, sought an island mandate before, but the crucial thing for me is that I feel that it isn’t a matter of personally ambition, titles just don’t mean anything to me, but I do want to have as much influence as possible over the big changes that are going to be happening Jersey over the next few years. I feel that my voice, and the voice of the community through me, will have far more impact. I really would like to speak with more authority in the States and the best way to do that is with an island wide mandate. Ok then let’s take it one stage further, what are the main planks that you are espousing, why vote Jerry Dorey? I think the essence of my politics is that it’s about consensus, and getting people to work together for the best interest of the community. What we have seen over the last few years, to my mind, is more and more polarized, aggressive politics, and I feel that we as politicians can do far more if we try to work together more than if we are just continually trying to score points off each other, as seems to be the case over the last few years. So while I hold particular views on particular issues, the core of my politics is about trying to get the best out of all people, and to reach a solution to each problem without preconceptions and without painting oneself into a corner – a solution to each problem that best reflects the consensus. But there must be some particular causes close to your heart which you will be pushing? There are a lot of causes close to my heart which I think, to be honest, I and we have made some progress in over the years. There is a particular issue in terms of childcare where I think I can say without boasting that I had a significant effect in getting moves made towards building up the Childcare Trust. There is a huge job to be done in terms of ensuring the security in terms of standards and maintenance of States rental housing, and I’m working on that at this very moment with officers at the Housing Department and Treasury to produce a new policy which would protect the standards of States rental housing in to the medium and long term. The aspect of the job which is closest to my heart, if you like, is one which for some strange reason isn’t very popular with many States members at all, which is the genuine scrutiny of draft legislation. It has always struck me as odd that the States of Jersey is first and foremost a legislature and yet very few of my colleagues take any interest in draft legislation, they say it’s boring, and it’s difficult to read, but it’s and essential part of our job and somebody has to take an interest in that area. What do you think the main problems are that the States will be facing when they reassemble? There will be clearly a major learning curve for all of us in terms of the future system of government, and it’s a great pity that so few of the current crop of States members have taken the opportunity offered by the shadow scrutiny period to learn about the scrutiny process, because it is a job that will be having to do in future and too many of them have no experience of it. In practical terms we don’t yet know how it’s going to work on a day to day basis - a ministerial government with scrutiny. Things like the uncertainty of how decisions will be recorded, I’m extremely worried about, ok a very good idea to lose the committee system of government which is ponderous and unaccountable, but what we replace it with has to be clearly accountable. We have to have a system in place which accurately records decisions so that there is a paper trail and you can work out who said what when. So the practical process of sorting out the relationship between scrutiny and the executive is the most vital element of what we have to do over the next few years. Finally, when you reassemble in December your first task will be to choose a Chief Minister, have you any thoughts on that, and if so, what are they? I’m looking for somebody who can unite rather than divide. Obviously I will have to choose from people who have actually been elected and are actually in the States at the time, and I’m not going to commit myself to any particular candidate at the moment. The last thing that we want in this new system of government is somebody who tends to be divisive and who tends to polarise things further. | 
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