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Rob Callister


La Colombe

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Reading some of the comments that have been posted over the last 72 hours, I cannot believe that I am seriously being criticised for over engaging with the people that elected me to the House of Keys three years ago today.....
 
That has to be a first for the Isle of Man because most MHKs are usually criticised for a clear lack of engagement once they are elected to public office. 
 
I don’t think the wider public in Onchan or across the island care what a couple “trolls” on here actually think, but you do seriously have to question their motives - is it political or personal?
 
Unfortunately, many of the comments are once again factually incorrect, but I’m happy to set the record straight. 
 
Prior to me being elected in April 2012 as an Onchan Commissioner there was a clear lack of engagement from many of our elected Commissioners / Councillors and MHKs across the island. 
 
I promised myself back then that if I was ever elected to public office then I would try to engage fully with my Constituents, a promise that I have kept for over seven years now.....
 
As for my Blog, I can only repeat my previous comments. 
 
Regarding the sponsored post comments, as MHKs we have a raft of options available to us in order to engage with constituents including face to face, phone, newsletters, general e-mails or through social media etc. 
 
The Area Plan for the East is probably one of the biggest topics that will seriously affect Onchan Constituents over the next few years. 
 
An “open night” relating to the Area Plan has had a change of venue and a change of date in recent weeks, but NO information has been put into the public press so far...
 
Over the past couple of months I have spent a considerable amount of time, postage and shoe leather on this particular topic, and the open night will actually give Onchan Constituents an opportunity to have their say on various issues including certain developments and Infrastructure around our village. 
 
I needed to reach the biggest audience possible in the shortest amount of time, so I selected a FB ad, which I paid for personally. 
 
Again, I have used sponsored posts in the past to send out vital information, but I certainly have not sent out my Blog via a sponsored ad....
 
I haven’t broken any rules and I certainly haven’t asked anyone to like the post or my MHK page during this particular post, but Onchan residents are more than welcome to do so... 
 

 

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13 minutes ago, Rob Callister said:
Reading some of the comments that have been posted over the last 72 hours, I cannot believe that I am seriously being criticised for over engaging with the people that elected me to the House of Keys three years ago today.....
 
That has to be a first for the Isle of Man because most MHKs are usually criticised for a clear lack of engagement once they are elected to public office. 

Rob - for your own good take the blinkers off - sometimes you are very wrong and some humility might go a long way.

It is not the actual blog or attempts to reach the public that people are critical of - it is the inane repetitive dross it contains and the repetitive belligerent sharing of same.

Nobody wants to have their noses rubbed in it looking at your holiday snaps whilst IOM standards of living are dropping - and you trot out a shiny shiny shiny everything's great weekly tome.

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11 minutes ago, Mr Helmut Fromage said:

Rob - for your own good take the blinkers off - sometimes you are very wrong and some humility might go a long way.

It is not the actual blog or attempts to reach the public that people are critical of - it is the inane repetitive dross it contains and the repetitive belligerent sharing of same.

Nobody wants to have their noses rubbed in it looking at your holiday snaps whilst IOM standards of living are dropping - and you trot out a shiny shiny shiny everything's great weekly tome.

Yes, I accept that.... thank you Mr Helmut Fromage 

However, my holiday photos are only available on own my personal Facebook page, and they are certainly not available on my MHK page.... 

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2 hours ago, Rob Callister said:
Reading some of the comments that have been posted over the last 72 hours, I cannot believe that I am seriously being criticised for over engaging with the people that elected me to the House of Keys three years ago today.....
 
That has to be a first for the Isle of Man because most MHKs are usually criticised for a clear lack of engagement once they are elected to public office. 
 
I don’t think the wider public in Onchan or across the island care what a couple “trolls” on here actually think, but you do seriously have to question their motives - is it political or personal?
 

i do wonder if you actually have the ability to read,  or at least possess the cognitive ability to understand written English? Nevertheless I suppose that yet again it’s a good excuse to come on here and try to play the victim as seems to be your usual modus operandi. You are not being trolled, neither is anything political or personal against you which also seems to be your usual (and completely unfounded) default claim. In fact some Onchan people are concerned as apparently it’s already been raised with you at a public meeting according to another poster [ecobob] but that’s another matter. 

As several of the posts were mine though I would state again that there has been little criticism of you on that point as you would well know (assuming you do possess the above abilities) other than using your recent paid for Facebook antics as a classic example of something that Tynwald needs to look at and review before the next election. The issue actually being debated was MHKs (any MHK) paying for paid for social media content to big themselves up on social media and should those costs be required to be made public. Also is it a good idea to allow MHKs to specifically target IOM residents through paid for Facebook campaigns and then bombard folk with content they didn’t ask for. That was it. Having now clarified that (again) I assume that you now understand that point? And that you also understand why people might want to debate that point? I assume that you also now understand that while your silly expense account spamming activities were used as an example the comments (mine at least) were not totally about you or directed at you? I know that you seem to think that everything on social media revolves around you and your apparent need to spam people with unasked for and unwanted content about yourself but there are wider issues about paid for social media media campaigns being discussed.

And rightly so .. 

Edited by thesultanofsheight
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2 hours ago, Cheesy Wheezy said:

The new poster sounds not very well. Angry, shouty, and a persistent confrontational needler returning to the same old tired arguments. 

I'm not sure anyone has been shouty or angry other than SoS perhaps.  Then, surprisingly, when challenged, you pop up with this sort of stuff accusing me of being ill?

If all we ever have is people like you posting bitter agenda driven snipes/lies etc without challenge then everyone will soon find boredom creeping in.  Wouldn't you agree?

Rushed Spy - next you'll be accusing me of being TJ.

Edited by The Dog's Dangly Bits
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21 minutes ago, The Dog's Dangly Bits said:

I'm not sure anyone has been shouty or angry other than SoS perhaps.  Then, surprisingly, when challenged, you pop up with this sort of stuff accusing me of being ill?

If all we ever have is people like you posting bitter agenda driven snipes/lies etc without challenge then everyone people will soon find boredom creeping in.  Wouldn't you agree?

Rushed Spy - next you'll be accusing me of being TJ.

Welcome to MF

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17 hours ago, Grounds Keeper Willy said:

I would hope that people don’t regard politics as a product nowadays? There are 9,000 people in Onchan I think. Odd that anyone would feel that they needed to pay to reach an audience that a bit of shoe leather would deliver to them for free. 

Oh yes Mr Callister is - like all other politicians - very much a product whose particular benefits have to be communicated to the voter in the hope that they'll 'buy' at the general election

Reaching out to them can be achieved through a variety of methods, but - as you say - they do have to expand shoe leather in the Manx tradition in the run up to the GE if they wish to be elected

It is only Mr Hampton who has become close to being elected without spending time touring the constituency to meet voters in their homes, I believe

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17 hours ago, Kopek said:

Would any money spent on self-promotion be counted as ''Election Expenses''?

One MHK spends a good lump of his yearly expenses allowance on newsletters. Is that informing his constituents or electioneering?

I think candidates are allowed an amount to spend on self-promotion at general election times - is it about £2000 (which they have to cough up themselves) ?

They get one or two free mailshots too I think

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