NESNO walking into punch after punch

No campaigners 'quango addicts'
Sep 18 2004
By Ross Smith, The Journal

Campaigners against a regional assembly were yesterday accused of being quango addicts and opposing devolution out of self-interest.

Former Euro-MP Alan Donnelly launched the stinging attack on North-East Says No council members at a `yes' campaign meeting in South Shields.

He claimed the opposition stemmed from the fact that an assembly would take charge of several functions currently run by appointed boards on which some `No' campaigners have sat.

But Nesno members last night insisted they only wanted what was best for the region and accused Mr Donnelly of "shooting the messenger".
Mr Donnelly said: "It seems to be basically a very strange group of people. Many of them are quango addicts.
"It's not surprising many of them wouldn't want a regional assembly because it would mean the end of the cushy jobs they've had for themselves for 10 or 20 years."
Yes4theNorthEast campaign director Ross Forbes said Mr Donnelly's view was not one officially held by the organisation. But he conceded that many Nesno members had sat on quangos.

They include chairman John Elliott, a former director of County Durham Business Link and Wear Valley Development Agency.
But Mr Elliott vehemently denied Mr Donnelly's claim.
He said: "I've never gained a penny financially from sitting on these bodies. In fact it's cost me money, but I'm not objecting to that because I did it to put something back into the community.
"If anybody on our campaign is in it for any other reason than the good of the North-East, I'd be amazed.
"Let's talk about what's on offer. Let's talk about the assembly and what powers it has and hasn't got. That's the issue, not shooting the messenger."

Fellow Nesno member Ian Dormer, director of Rosh Engineering, said he was never paid during his time as chairman of Tyne and Wear Business Link, but did it to put something back into society.
"An awful lot of effort goes into this for no personal gain. It sounds old-fashioned but most people who volunteer for these bodies do so because they believe in the North-East passionately," he said.
"It's not the status quo we are after but what we are being offered is not good enough, frankly. It's not going to deliver the results we need in the North-East, it's not going to control or have additional funding - it's going to give politicians more jobs and that's what we object to."

And Lord Vinson, chairman of the North-East Civic Trust until 2001, said it was a case of "the pot calling the kettle black".
"My work was entirely voluntary. If there is one clear example of self-interest it comes from (regional development agency) One NorthEast, which is one of the major thrusts of the `Yes' campaign.
"We will see democratic representation stretched and regional representatives who people will neither know nor see."