The post you are reporting:
Just in for immediate release...
*************************************
Taxpayer funding of candidates for PCC - Inherently wrong
The rules of the PCC election have been laid out for many months. Independent candidates entering the race did so knowing that there would be no free delivery; for independent candidates now to claim that this is somehow unfair is disingenuous.
The cost to the Kent taxpayer of a Kent-wide free election address distribution could be in the order of £1.2 million, enough to pay for 40 front-line police officers.
The facts of the PCC election
These are effectively an expansion of a local election for local authority councillors - the purpose is to elect a local person to be the local representative to cut crime; it is not about forming a government. There has never been a free election delivery for local election candidates, and nor should there be one.
To allow a free election delivery across the 900,000 households in Kent for a "modest" £5,000 deposit entry could allow bizarre and extremist candidates to get their message spread at public expense. Remember "Miss Whiplash" using the election address to promote her activities and website. Many candidates could emerge with no intention or desire to get elected, but simply to use the election as an opportunity for very cheap publicity.
The realities of political parties
Political parties are, in essence, a group of people with similar ideals. The Conservative Party is a broad church of different views, but with sufficient commonality to come together to advance a common thread of values. My own position is one of strong independent thought. If elected, I would not be in Westminster's pocket. I would use the mandate to benefit the people of Kent. Kent Conservatives are funded by supporters and activists making donations and enjoying social fundraising. This is how we will be financing the PCC election in Kent - not from public funds. With that goodwill, we shall have local party members and supporters distributing literature and getting involved. Contrast this with the unhealthy reliance by Labour on funding by the unions.
So-called 'Independents'
If 'independent' candidates are incapable of getting support from local people to do the same, it should not be the taxpayer who picks up the enormous bill for what may be a personal publicity or ego trip.
We note that Mrs Barnes has put herself at the forefront of demanding Kent taxpayers fund her campaign. This is the same candidate who, through various publicly-funded quangos she has been involved in and drawn a generous taxpayer-funded salary from, has campaigned vociferously against the whole concept of PCCs on grounds of cost. The reality is that the office of PCC will be far slimmer and efficient, financially and operationally, than the police authorities that they replace.
It would appear that many declared 'Independents' are far from being so. I note that there is no Lib-Dem candidate for Kent, perhaps because their popularity in Kent is at an all-time low. I make no obvious connection at this stage but, given that Mrs Barnes' campaign team is substantially made up of LibDems, with a campaign manager who has stood unsuccessfully three times in Parliamentary general elections for the LibDems, and various press statements made whilst campaigning against PCCs linked to LibDem peers and LibDem blogsites, I shall let the public decide whether Kent LibDems have found their true candidate hidden behind an 'Independent' façade and are now expecting Kent taxpayers to spread their message.
CRAIG MACKINLAY CONSERVATIVE CANIDATE FOR PCC- KENT