Mr Connell’s Graceless Exit
6th September 2008

There is both irony and pathos in the photograph in last Saturday’s Ashburton Guardian that shows Brian Connell leaping for joy as he closes his office and departs his political career. To the uninformed this could seem to be a leap of triumph, a celebration of a distinguished and successful career. However, we know this is not the case, so what is the leap about?

The caption – I Survived! – hints at what is really on Mr Connell’s mind. This is the leap of the errant schoolboy who has served his detention, of the remand prisoner whose case has been thrown out of court on a technicality. Mr Connell is pleased to have survived his sentence in politics.

Who committed Mr Connell to the punishment he obviously believes his time in politics to have been? Clearly it was us, the voters of Rakaia electorate. Mr Connell’s message, in both the photograph and the accompanying article, is that he is glad to be rid of us. Unable to reflect upon success he instead uses his final hurrah to lambast party politics, the people of Canterbury, the Resource Management Act and New Zealanders in general. In an attempt to salvage his pride he manages to be as graceless in his departure as he was for most of his tenure.

Mr Connell belatedly reveals (oh, why could he not have admitted this to the candidate selection panel six years ago?) that he’s never believed in politics. In itself, this is not an insurmountable handicap to a successful political career. I know a clergyman or two who struggle to believe in God and yet minister successfully to their flocks.

Mr Connell’s real failure is that he obviously never understood politics. This is evident in his pride at not following the party line, speaking when he should have stayed silent and, above all, remaining his own man.

If Mr Connell had understood parliamentary democracy he may have realised that there are very good reasons for managing the affairs of society through well disciplined political parties. His judgements should not persuade us that our political system is weakened by not allowing a ‘maverick’ such as him to do as he pleases. Political systems that allow ego to flourish unchecked never produce good results for their societies. For better, not worse, we choose to mediate individual pride, ambition and extremist views through the mechanism of political parties.

Mr Connell’s insistence upon speaking his mind may have been simply naïve but it was ultimately selfish because in doing so he sacrificed the interests of his constituents to his ego. Principles and ideals are fine but parliament does not exist to serve members’ personal views. In a democratic society politics is the art of the possible. It requires discipline, compromise and patience. In his refusal to cultivate these qualities Mr Connell let us down. We did not fail him – he failed us.

Mr Connell is obviously an energetic and capable man. But as our MP he has been a flop. How disappointing then that his final words to us are so mean-spirited. If I had written his script for last weekend’s interview I’d have advised him to say ‘thank you’ and ‘sorry’. Thank you to the local National Party supporters who backed his candidacy and worked hard to make his term successful. Thank you to the people who showed faith in him with their votes.

And sorry for not being up to the job.