Name and address withheld.
I HAVE become extremely frustrated over the past weeks when reading about the behaviour of our States Members, particularly as I am an employee of the States of Jersey and have to abide by a policy of standards and behaviour or face disciplinary action.
We have two Members facing charges of breaking the law, we have others exchanging insults, using foul language and making accusations against each other (JEP, 11 March), and now we have Senator Perchard making incredible comments to Senator Syvret to take his own life, and also admitting (after being caught out) that he lied in the Chamber. On top of this we have the Chief Minister saying the matter is now closed.
The States of Jersey have a bullying and harassment policy and employees have to behave in a certain way towards each other. Clearly by my points above it seems that our Members think they can break the law (because they did not agree with it), use foul language and make threatening comments to each other and generally ignore the policies that they put in place for their employees, who are of course expected to abide by them.
How can anyone have any respect for these Members? Is it any wonder that we have such difficulty in attracting people to vote? These Members should be facing disciplinary action from Privileges and Procedures, and in Senator Perchard’s case he must resign. How can we believe anything this man ever says again?
As a States employee, I have no doubt that if I had broken the law or acted towards my colleagues in the manner that these Members have, I would be facing disciplinary action.
The behaviour of some Members shows just how the standard of behaviour in our society has diminished over the years. They should be setting an example not only to States employees who have to abide by policies of standards and behaviour, but to the rest of the Island. For the Chief Minister to take no action implies that he condones this behaviour and has set a dangerous precedent for other States employees to ignore policies.
