"I challenge them to a public debate whenever they want if they have what they have to have. Don't be false and negative." This is how the mayor of Tinajo, Jesús Machín, tried to address this Wednesday the new controversy that has been generated after the Socialist Group of his municipality sent a harsh press release to the media in which they criticize the dismissal of a councilor from the governing group.
The first to attack had been the socialists of the municipality, who refused to attend the extraordinary and urgent plenary session held last Tuesday to correct the situation of some land that will be used for the construction of a health center and to approve the dismissal of one of the councilors of the governing group. In their harsh writing, the representatives of the PSC criticize this dismissal, expressing their "most resounding and absolute indignation at the ways of understanding the public life of the governing group of this municipality." They therefore reject "as absurd and immoral" that in a municipality like Tinajo another councilor is dismissed again, "and there are already five." "Such impudence only occurs to irresponsible people like those who govern, who with their absurd and manipulative propaganda, when not false, only do harm and counteract real possibilities in other matters so lacking in our town," they add in their writing, stating that "politics and institutions cannot be a place to put anyone who does not want to work hard, and some find no better solution than to dismiss more councilors as if Tinajo needed so many dismissed, when we all know that those who get the work done are the technicians and workers of the City Council, although they are not recognized for the work they do."
In another paragraph, the Socialist Group of Tinajo explains that its councilors decided not to attend Tuesday's plenary session as a sign of rejection "of these ways of acting." "To add insult to injury, they took the dismissal to a plenary session of an extraordinary and urgent nature, which shows that lately there is a lot of rush for many things, especially because it does not hurt their pockets when it comes to the money we pay in our taxes."
Speaking of the councilor, they say that it is Antonio Morales, whom they consider that "he had been looking for a place to settle for some time, because the idea of returning to his old job did not appeal to him at all." "If we also add to this what he will earn from now on, it will be perfectly understood what he was looking for. Let the mayor say what he will earn because he has lost his shame for some time and will have no problem airing it to the four winds. Mr. Mayor, people like you are not only not dangerous for the general interests of the municipality but also make politics a sum of particular interests that distort the objective of those who govern and accommodate citizens in public life, discrediting everything that surrounds municipal life," they state, concluding with the warning that there is still time to reverse course by convening a new plenary session in which "such a great outrage" is revoked.
The mayor's response
"The truth is that I am surprised that people are so false and so lying. Whoever wrote that does not know what he has written. They are not conscious or reasonable people." The mayor of Tinajo expressed himself with notable bitterness during his intervention in the radio program Buenos Días Lanzarote, where he regretted that they said that Antonio Morales "had not worked hard." "Antonio Morales has been working for the City Council of Tinajo from the beginning of the legislature until now. What he has done is recognized by the whole town, and he has even changed his day shift to night shift in his company, which is Urbaser, to dedicate more time to the City Council without charging," he said.
He would like them to have explained that the councilor will charge 240,000 pesetas (1,443 euros) "with exclusive dedication." "Why don't they say what others charged when they had a position of responsibility, a responsibility that was disastrous and negative for the municipality, why don't they talk about what some gentlemen who said they were not coming to live off politics charged, why don't they criticize that this mayor spent two years without charging a peseta, why don't they explain what the mayor of Tinajo currently charges, which is 300,000 pesetas (1,800 euros), why don't they explain who is the party that plugs in all kinds of relatives in Lanzarote, why don't they explain that some charge 800,000 pesetas (4,810 euros) without doing anything?", he asked quite angrily.
Machín recalled that both he and his Corporation colleagues dedicate 24 hours a day to the residents, even giving their phone number so they can call them. "The people of Tinajo, who are intelligent and will continue to be so, will know in the next elections who they have to vote for, and if they decide that they can vote for this type of character, let them vote for them," he asserted, recalling what "Tinajo has changed" since he came to govern and what will continue to change in the future. "Why don't these gentlemen explain that the councilors of the governing group of Tinajo have been the only ones who have renounced to charge allowances when they travel outside?", he asked again, responding immediately that they will not answer anything because they have no arguments, especially because they did not have the courage to go to the plenary session to say the same thing they have written to the faces of the councilors.
