ELECTED MAYOR

THE main arguments advanced on your pages against an elected mayor for Darlington seem to hinge on the obvious excellence of a hallowed tradition of anointing an elderly councillor for the splendid (often sole) achievement of failing to die before his or her turn came up - rather than for any merit or skill. The self-perpetuating Guilds choose the Lord Mayor of London in a similar way.

Not for the likes of us, then, an "undemocratic" system of direct election - such as that used to ensure that Ken Livingstone is in his second term as the people's choice for Mayor of London. Thus far, the sky has not fallen over the Metropolis, as we are assured it would over our own town under an elected mayor. Odd, that.

So are we to understand that Frank Robson (HAS, Page 11, Sept 7) and others believe the popular election of their socialist brother in London is a catastrophic blunder (to be reversed as soon as possible) and that the secretive machinations of the Tory City of London Corporation - where ordinary people count for nothing - are a model of perfection for Darlington?

New Labour remains full of surprises. - Donald Jameson, Hurworth.

BRIAN Fiske (HAS, Page 10, Sept 10) would be expected to vote "No" in the Darlington mayoral referendum.

He is toeing the line of his Liberal Democrat Party which is even opposed to people having a choice through a referendum. As a failed LibDem council candidate he should know the people of Darlington voted Tory by a big majority in the May elections.

That we have a Labour council is a result of not having councillors proportional to votes their party receives. The LibDems themselves would have had more councillors, as well as the Tories, if "representative" really meant what it says in "representative democracy".

We will be most likely to have a Tory mayor if the last council election is anything to go on. However, my ambition is that the voters decide the outcome and not a small number of politicians.

"Independent" is more a frame of mind than a label. All parties have talented individuals who think independently. Parties hoping to win any election for mayor will increase their chances by picking a candidate who will forge a cabinet from the best councillors of all parties rather than the one with the most councillors, but not the most votes. - Stuart Hill, Secretary, Mayor For Darlington "Yes" Campaign.

ON Thursday, September 27, we will have a referendum in Darlington to decide if we have a directly-elected mayor - a so-called people's mayor.

Many Darlingtonians don't like politicians or politics. They should remember that in Hartlepool and Middlesbrough the people have elected mayors from outside party politics.

The candidates for the three traditional political parties did very badly in both the Middlesbrough and Hartlepool mayoral elections. People voted for the candidates instead of the party.

In Middlesbrough, Ray Mallon was a police officer. In Hartlepool, Stuart Drummond was just a local man who worked in a call centre.

They were both elected and have since been re-elected by the voters in their towns. The number of votes for Stuart Drummond doubled in his second election. So I guess Mr Mallon and Mr Drummond are doing something right. This is a chance for Darlington to make a new start, too, and take party politics out of local government.

Vote yes on September 27. Vote for a people's mayor. - Nigel Boddy, Darlington.