Continuing influence of the SDA union on SA politics.

[AtD]

This thread is a good work out for my scroll wheel.

[ricecrackers]

i welcome stumpjumper's keen eye on the workings behind the people in charge
we need more of this as currently they are all riding roughshod over our rights whilst telling us they're doing it for our own good

[rogue]

Me too. By coincidence, these articles were in today’s InDaily…

FRIDAY, 21 JANUARY 2011

Weatherill v Rau Factor

DES RYAN : ANALYSIS

THE “preferred” next SA Labor leader, according to different straw polls and his own wishful thinking, is said to be Jay Weatherill, who has almost no chance because he is in the wrong faction.

His power base is the Left. Yet the Right controls the numbers, which is how come John Rau, of the Right, has been anointed as the person to succeed Mike Rann, sooner or later.

It must be galling for Weatherill. He presumably rates himself, otherwise he would not have tried unsuccessfully to knock off Kevin Foley as Treasurer following the last state election, an inevitable failure against the might of the Right.

Weatherill was doing the hard yards in the ministry while Rau sat for eight years on the backbench, treating parliament like a library where he could catch up on his private reading while the surrounding hullabaloo carried on without him.

The question is, to fulfil his thwarted ambition, why doesn’t Weatherill simply change factions?

Others have done it. Last year Infrastructure Minister Patrick Conlon quit the Left to become unaligned – a faction of one, by himself. Not that Conlon is positioning himself for a tilt at the leadership – though who ever really knows? – but unaligned seems to be a pretty powerful place from which to launch a leadership bid.

Recent Labor Premiers, including Dunstan, Bannon and Rann, have also been unaligned.

By default it’s a handy position to be in, should the Left-Right be unable to agree between themselves and then need to resort to a compromise candidate.

What difference does it make to Weatherill whether he is Left or Right? Is it an ideological difference? What ideology, one might ask?

To the average mug voter, the Labor Party is the Labor Party and the Left-Right divide is all but meaningless tosh.

Many Labor members themselves would be hard-put to explain what the Left and the Right each stands for in ideological terms.

Whatever their origins in Labor history, the factions these days exist simply to assert authority, impose discipline and divvy up the spoils, especially when it comes to pre-selections.

Ideology? Scarcely.

From time to time, a veteran Labor warhorse will mutter that the factions are killing the party and how they should be reformed. Ho-hum, as the struggle for control continues regardless.

The fact is, the existence of one faction inevitably results in the creation of an opposed faction, or even sub-factions. Once in SA, there was the Bolkus Left and the Duncan Left, named respectively after the ex-Senator and now political lobbyist and the former SA Attorney-General and later federal MP, and an even more extreme Wally World Left.

It is impossible to see how Jay Weatherill can exert his political pre-eminence, short of quitting the Left. But since the Right probably wouldn’t have a bar of him, it raises the what-if prospect of an unaligned Weatherill-Conlon leadership ticket.

Now we’re just being ridiculous

FRIDAY, 21 JANUARY 2011

Heirs apparent

STATE POLITICS TOM RICHARDSON

SUCH a model of ruthless efficiency is the Australian Labor Party, we know who our new Deputy Premier and Treasurer will be even before the existing one has even quit.

Kevin Foley must have allowed himself a rueful smile when news filtered through to LA or Fiji or wherever he had fetched up on Wednesday night that his alleged late-night assailant had been arrested and would face court within the month. Whatever else happens, that incident certainly hastened Foley’s political demise.

But, of course, Foley is no stranger to brutality; he is a veteran of the Labor Right.

The faction has now, tenuously and after no small amount of internal white-anting, revealed its “Dream Team”, of sorts, in the form of John Rau and Jack Snelling.

Foley might allow himself another rueful grin with the realisation his shadow is so long it took two of his colleagues to follow in it.

Rau is now, amusingly, being branded as the Premier-in-Waiting, the standard bearer for the Labor Right, technocracy with a human face. The fact he languished on the backbench for the past eight years, his faction unwilling to endorse him for promotion ahead of some of the go-getters from recent Rann cabinets, appears to have been conveniently forgotten by both sides, not to mention the media at large.

While Jack Snelling presided as Speaker over the raucous Question Time sessions of the last parliament, Rau would sit quietly leafing through whatever book he had in the chamber on any given day.

We know he has a passion for the law and is wont to go on double-dates with Kevin Foley. By allowing him to remain as Attorney-General, his imminent elevation will enable him to continue exercising the former passion (and, presumably, the latter one as well).

Meanwhile, Snelling, an arch-conservative from the Catholic Right famous for his graphic denunciations of abortion back in university days, appears to have adopted his predecessor’s habit of giving lengthy interviews to national newspapers when he’s supposed to be on leave. As a PR tactic, it’s an interesting way to make friends and influence people, but it does tend to emphasise how redundant Labor’s much-lambasted media unit has become in recent weeks, with some press secretaries evidently not even bothering to pass on media interview requests to relevant ministers before refusing on their behalf. The clear message from senior ministers is: if you want an actual response, as opposed to an official rebuff, simply bypass the media flunkies and call us directly. Duly noted.

Not that Rau is much better: he refused to front any cameras after details of the factional deal were widely leaked, but bravely announced his ambitions during a cosy morning radio chat. And who said Labor was full of “faceless men”?

Though all this, the factionally unaligned Premier Mike Rann has appeared about as relevant as Martin Hamilton-Smith at a Liberal Party strategy meeting. He’s endorsed Foley to stay on in cabinet (on the same day Foley endorsed himself to stay on in cabinet) and insisted that he, and only he, would get the final word on portfolio allocations within his government (only hours before Labor Unity powerbrokers told him who his new Treasurer would be).

The two contenders have now been anointed as Rann’s heirs apparent, despite whatever vain aspirations the Left may have for Jay Weatherill, overwhelmingly the people’s preferred premier. Many in the Labor Right would rather be in Opposition, than in Government with a Left-winger as Premier, popular or not.

The spoils of Foley’s office were relatively painless to divide, despite the fevered backroom deals and covert power plays. But there will be no such amicable resolution when it comes to the top job; it is all or nothing. From now until Rann jumps, or is pushed, Rau and Snelling will be auditioning to take over his role. In this, Snelling has potentially the better hand from this week’s deal. Despite media attempts to paint Rau as a shoo-in, by dint of his seniority as Deputy Premier in Waiting, his promotion is mere window dressing; his role in the Government will not change overmuch, and he has hardly been a prominent Attorney-General.

The fact is, the deputy leadership has little intrinsic value without the Treasury portfolio attached to it. Anyone recall who was deputy PM under Hawke throughout the 1980s? If you said “Lionel Bowen”, full marks, go to the top of the class. If you said “Paul Keating”, you were mistaken – he was treasurer.

What about deputy PM under Howard? He had three, actually: Tim Fischer, John Anderson and Mark Vaile. He only had one treasurer, though – and everyone remembers Peter Costello (many with a shudder!).

In effect, the deputy leadership is a totemic position that simply makes Rau Ronny to Rann’s Nancy, Sonny to his Cher, Ringo to his Rest Of The Beatles. Treasury, on the other hand, is an eminently more high-profile role and, if handled adeptly, a better springboard for leadership aspirants. Foley’s horror budget of last September was not designed to presage a term of economic misery. Indeed, it was intended as a blueprint for a return to surplus, a recovery for which Snelling can now take the plaudits (assuming Foley’s sums stack up).

For many observers, it was only ever a matter of time before the Government got its act together, had a cosmetic (and to some degree ideological) makeover and re-established itself as an electoral force over the hapless Libs. After all, for all the Opposition claims being bandied about unchecked suggesting it’s had the Government on the ropes for the last 12 months, the truth is no one is to blame for Labor’s recent travails but Labor itself.

By rights, the Liberals’ third term in Opposition never should have gotten off the ground after the mess they made of their own deputy leadership ballot; they only got away with it because of Labor’s navel-gazing.

Compare and contrast this week with that one, Labor’s meticulous backroom deals with the Libs’ quaint public implosion. There is no doubt which party is better structured for the nasty business of politics.

But one hint of caution. For all the false bonhomie that is sure to follow in coming weeks, the guff about a dignified exit for Foley and an amicable arrangement between Rau and Snelling, this deal betrays the large cracks emerging within Labor, and not just between factions, but within them.

If even Labor Unity cannot maintain a united front, this Government is destined for stormy seas, with or without Rann.

[stumpjumper]

It all makes you wonder where 'The People' come into all this jostling for chauffeurs, impressive offices and influence. This is from 'The Australian' letters today:

The Labor Party’s problem is that it has ceased to be a political party and has became merely a machine for winning elections. Now all parties want to do that but usually for reasons to do with the ideas that drive them - not just to win. This leaves Labor's leaders as appendages to the machine, and don't they sound like it. They say nothing because they have nothing to say. Any displayed belief in anything might upset someone and endanger votes. Oddly, I don't find any support for this in the community. Most people I meet are desperate to hear a politician say something with meaning. It doesn't happen - just games playing. Has there ever been a bigger gap between the people and those who are supposed to represent them?

Not that the Libs are a lot better. Whether keeping their heads down while Labor's factions (and intra-factional factions) fight remains to be seen. Oh for a politician who just speaks without waiting for a focus group report. 'So, do you think it might rain?' 'Oh, look, Kerry, I'm not going to speculate...'

Atd: Get a Mac - no more scrolling, just a flick of two fingers on the pad!

[stumpjumper]

Further on my theory that SA is the victim (I use the word advisedly) of a 'slow motion coup' by the SDA:

There will be a big celebration at South Australia's seat of government on Fullarton Road at Kent Town today (sorry, I mean at the headquarters of the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association at Kent Town - silly me).

Don Farrell's decision to elevate SDA MP John Rau to Deputy Premier and the SDA's Jack Snelling to Treasurer was reason enough to celebrate, but the appointment to Cabinet by Farrell of relatively youthful Bernard Finnegan (ex-SDA secretary) and Tom Kenyon (ex-SDA organiser) will go a long way to cementing the dominant position of conservative Catholic Right of the Labor Party, ie the SDA, for the future.

Chloe Fox (another SDA parliamentarian) is likely to pick up as ministry. Both Finnigan and Fox have had a few stumbles, probably due to their inexperience, but all is forgiven now.

Note that none of these appointments is on merit - all are politically expedient. In SA we are governed by the SDA, remember, not some institute for business efficiency and economy.

Finnegin, a devout Catholic, has to date voted against euthanasia and gay rights, and more is in store from the SDA as its power increases.

Provided that Farrell allows Rann to continue in his puppet 'premier' role, the SDA or Catholic Right will continue to govern the state with the former SDA treasurer Foley remaining in Cabinet as an enforcer. Foley underlined his Catholicism faith in an interview this morning.

The SDA - the 'Shoppies Union' - has come a long way since as the Shop Assistants and Warehouse Employees Union it disaffiliated from the ALP in 1955 when the Catholic arm of the Labor Party (the Democratic Labor Party or DLP) split from the ALP over the issue of communism.

The split is said to have kept the ALP out of power until 1972.

In 1984, Bob Hawke, a pragmatic man, saw how important it was to have the Shoppies back in the fold and re-affiliated the union. Since 1984 the SDA has gone from strength to strength in SA and nationally, helped by the high turnover of staff in retail (with union members not interested in union politics) and the SDA's unique system whereby the rank and file do not elect the union's executive, who are elected by the few long-term members at branch level. In turn, the executive tends to appoint the branch officials. Thus SA boss Don Farrell and federal head Joe de Bruyn have led the union for around 30 years without opposition.

Informed opinion suggests that once Rann has gone, the SDA will achieve for the first time simultaneous control of ALP pre-selection and numerical dominance in Cabinet. Ideally, with Rau as 'premier', Don Farrell will have no effective opposition within the government to his plans.

If that happens, the immediate future of SA will be defined by the conservative Catholic Right wing of the Labor Party, as interpreted by the state's supreme authority, Don Farrell.

Totally undemocratic? Certainly. Highly unlikely? Time and the strength of the Liberal opposition will tell.

[stumpjumper]

From today's InDaily:

The one clear outcome, now that Labor’s political jostles are temporarily coming to an end, is the Good Ship South Australia remains under the firm grip of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association at the helm.

But the shoppies’ work is not done yet – a Rann succession has still to be organised.

At a national level, the Shoppies are going from strength to strength. SA SDA boss and now senator Don Farrell and his old employee from the SDA, Water Minister Tony Burke have gained control of the nation's water policy, and are busy building their own powerful 'Advisory Committee' alongside the Murray Darling Basin Authority. They have replaced the chair of the MDBA, Mike Taylor, and the deputy under-secretary for water, Dr James Horne with SDA-friendly appointees who will put farmers' demands above the river system's environmental needs.

It's ironic that although Farrell is nominally a senator from South Australia, the Advisory Committee is committed to putting economics before the environment reversing the 'no healthy economy without a healthy river' motto of the old MDBA with 'no healthy river without a healthy economy'. Farrell and Burke's replacement for environmentalist Mike Taylor as chair of the MBDA is Brian Knowles, who wasted no time in correcting his predecessor's 'misinterpretation' of the legislation. Knowles stresses that the financial health of upriver farmers must take precedence over the river system's environmental requirements.

From the Australian:

Tony Burke has called in former NSW Labor minister and Right faction stalwart Craig Knowles as he seeks to douse the political furore surrounding the Murray-Darling Basin rescue plan, paving the way for an easing of the water buyback targets that sparked revolts in rural communities.

Former chairman Mike Taylor, who resigned last month, clashed with the government, arguing the Water Act dictated that environmental flows could not be compromised to mitigate social or economic impacts.

[Will]

A classic case in reaction formation

From the Advertiser:

Backroom MP Bernard Finnigan's rapid rise and fall

Penelope Debelle From: The Advertiser April 22, 2011 12:00AM Increase Text SizeDecrease Text SizePrintEmail Share



Bernard Finningan, centre, stands with Premier Mike Rann and new deputy premier John Rau on the day he was sworn into cabinet in February. Source: The Advertiser

LOW-PROFILE minister Bernard Finnigan was an ALP rising factional star until he quit yesterday.

When the acting Police Minister resigned his portfolios, he was prominent in the party but still a virtual unknown in the broader electorate.

Don Pegler, an Independent MP from the South-East where Mr Finnigan grew up, said the young Legislative Councillor was not well known even in his home town.

"There is no doubt it would have rocked the Labor Party that he has resigned so suddenly," Mr Pegler said.

"As far as the effect on the South-East, I don't know it will have much effect at all. I wouldn't say he was well-known."

Finnigan, 39, overweight and single, was a backroom politician who owed his position to the patronage of others.

He joined the Legislative Council in May, 2006, following the death of former Aboriginal Affairs minister Terry Roberts.

In last year's election, he was third on the ALP ticket, which guaranteed him a position through Labor votes without having to face electors in a personal campaign.

Despite his unproven electoral appeal, he had the support of those who mattered. Until yesterday, he was one of the youngbloods destined to be part of new Labor after the departure of leader Mike Rann.

His big break came in February when he was included in a so-called renewal of Cabinet after Kevin Foley's decision to stand down as Treasurer and allow the Party's powerful Right to elevate their potential new leadership team of John Rau and Jack Snelling. He was a minister for less than three months - 72 days to be exact.

Mr Finnigan came into Labor politics through an unusual route. Born in 1972 in Mt Gambier, he was raised on a family dairy farm at Eight Mile Creek and attended school in Mt Gambier. Aged 20, he joined the ALP and three years later began work as a union official for the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association, Australia's largest trade union.

He was passionate about the union and its cause.

"I am an SDA man through and through," he told Parliament in 2006, arguing his union background had prepared him for life as an MP.

His association with the SDA's national president, Don Farrell - now a Senator and national Right powerbroker - sealed his ticket into Parliament and during his maiden speech he thanked Senator Farrell for his support.

His other great allegiance was to God.

He is an ardent Catholic and his inclusion in the February ministry was seen by commentators as evidence of the new influence in Cabinet of the Christian Right.

In his maiden speech, he identified his parents as the source of his Catholic faith.

"I thank them for passing that light of faith to me," he told Parliament.

"I would like to acknowledge that, despite my stumbles along the way and however imperfect my efforts, I am a servant of Christ and subject of His reign in history."

During five years in Parliament, he has shown himself to be socially conservative.

In June, 2008, he voted with Family First to defeat an amendment to give same sex couples legal access to gestational surrogacy - a procedure in which a fertilised egg is implanted in a surrogate.

As a young Catholic, he took a conservative line by protesting against entertainment-oriented Masses that were intended to attract young people back to the church.

"Those already absorbed by today's condom culture will view the trendy liturgical turned on for their benefit as pitiful and passe," he wrote in 1995.

Although unmarried, he grew up as one of 12 children, many of whom live and work in the state's South-East. "It is essential that people like myself, who do not have children, accept their role in subsidising the welfare of families and the provision of services," he said.

In 2009 Mr Finnigan became convener of the Parliamentary Right, taking over from Tom Koutsantonis when he joined the Ministry. He was identified then as one of the most influential figures in Parliament and a likely future minister.

Mr Rann yesterday allocated Mr Finnigan's major portfolios of Industrial Relations and State and Local Government Relations to the experienced Pat Conlon.

Mr Finnigan remains a member of the Legislative Council and is not due to face re-election until 2018

[metro]

deleted post(s)?

[peas_and_corn]

deleted post(s)?

Potentially defamatory, I understand why.

[Pollywaffle]

It will be interesting to see who replaces Finnigan in the Cabinet. The SDA will have to be careful with its selection. There could be a backlash this time if someone is elevated without any discernible merit.

[stumpjumper]

The SDA certainly does have trouble in the Legislative Council too. Gago is the only government minister there, and she's from the Left faction (the SDA/Rann government is Right (Labor Unity) faction to its bootstraps).

For years, the ALP has used the LC as a dumping ground for its less talented members and a peaceful pasture for long-serving or well-connected union hacks, perhaps in an effort to weaken it. The chooks are now coming home to roost, because Nurses Federation hack Gago is struggling with her workload and the choice of Labor LC members to help out is thin.

Labor only has four members in the LC who will not be up for re-election in 2014: Finnegan (Right faction), Wortley (Right faction), Zollo (Right faction), and Gago (Left faction). Finnegan's out of it, Zollo's already been dropped from her minor ministry and Russell Wortley, a TWU hack and husband of federal senator Dana Wortley has drifted from faction to faction but is presently aligned with the Right has few supporters.

There are far more deserving candidates than Wortley around, and of the Right faction, but to create a casual vacancy among the continuing Right members would be hard - Zollo is angry about being benched and x is unlikely to resign his seat before his court case - and in any case to make a new member filling a casual vacancy a minister straight up would be stretching things too far.

So it looks as though Mr Wortley will land, through no fault of his own, in ministerial position no-one would ever have expected for him.

It's sad that our system, polluted by factionalism, cannot appoint people to parliamentary positions on merit.

It's ironic - SA is important enough to have its own Minister for Defence, the jobs of members are hard enough to require pay and perks parity with Australian federal politicians and the business of government is conducted shrouded in confidentiality, yet it's ok to see talent wasted and seat-warmers rewarded because of the factional system.

But then, we don't really have a representative government in SA. What we have, or have had for years, is an arrogant gang of macho pro-development bullies orbiting a now less luminous Premier Mike Rann. You have to except Paul Holloway from the general description. While even his detractors in the Labor Party acknowledge that he’s a good bloke who tried to do the right thing, it’s obvious the staff his hard right colleagues packed around him have done nothing to cover him while they crawl obsequiously up the bums of developers and miners.

This government is plagued by the sorts of Labor apparatchiks and appointees who have the strange belief that they are as good at the business of doing business as the businessmen they are supposed to govern. If the hacks were any good at business, you’d think they’d be out making their own money. But they strut about the state, and the world, like bantam roosters, oblivious to the fact that the entire state budget of South Australia is smaller than the Brisbane City Council’s. Our gross state product of about $80 billion is about the same size as the gross product of Manchester, UK (governed by 10 elected members).

So it's probably no wonder that they're such an underwhelming lot.

To finish my whinge on a comic note - serial bashing victim and State Minister for Defence Kevin Foley (not former election genius Rann, he's only been bashed once and had his office firebombed) should be believed when he says of the late night thumping still before the courts that his alleged attacker's claims are 'completely untrue'. Hmm. Here's a man who would not lie - after all, remember this?

Treasurer Kevin Foley now says he was wrong to seek a permanent new grandstand.

He says the Opposition bill would have trampled on the interests of people living near Victoria Park.

"If you want a member for Adelaide who will trample over the people of Adelaide you vote for Martin Hamilton-Smith, the leader of the Liberal Party. Simple choice," he said. - from ABC News http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008 ... 232598.htm

Remember the 'silvertails who open their drawing room curtains' to gaze out on 'their' Park Lands? You have to laugh.

The reason for Foley's change of mind is obvious. Labor was worried about polling they'd had which showed that Lomax-Smith was vulnerable in the seat of Adelaide at the looming election. 'Whatever it takes', remember?

[Pollywaffle]

I think if Wortley was going to be elevated to the ministry it would have happened by now. The Right seemed stunned this week when Gago was anointed Upper House leader and no new minister came in.

Meanwhile former Minister Finnigan's staff continue to function as though they have acting ministers, maintaining the full trappings of office.

The Left now has 4 members out of 7 in the Legco. Don't be surprised if Holloway leaves during the winter recess and someone gets parachuted in.

Word is that the SDA is sounding out prospective candidates for their views on euthanasia.

[stumpjumper]

I wonder if they'll be knocking on my door?

I think you're right about Wortley.

[rev]

I'm surprised Stump isn't all over this one yet..

Premier Mike Rann told to stand down

* Nigel Hunt
* From: Sunday Mail (SA)
* July 30, 2011 5:28PM

THE leadership of Premier Mike Rann is in turmoil after he has been formally told his reign is over.

The much anticipated move on Mr Rann was made late Friday when he was given an ultimatum by two senior members of the Right faction - stand down or be removed.

In a meeting in his State Administration Centre office the pair, Right faction powerbroker Peter Malinauskas and Treasurer Jack Snelling, told Mr Rann the factions had agreed on a new leadership ticket that would see Education Minister Jay Weatherill installed as Premier and existing Deputy Premier John Rau continue in the role.

Mr Rann was told the factions wanted the new leadership team in place prior to the start of the Spring parliamentary session on September 13 and that he must stand down during the winter break.

The factional deal means that if Mr Rann opts not to stand aside and forces a leadership ballot, he would lose if members vote along factional lines.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.

End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.

Senior party sources today said Mr Rann reacted in "an extremely hostile manner" when given the ultimatum and told the pair he would not stand down.

"Needless to say, Mike was not impresssed," one senior source said.

"He was angry, extremely angry and made all sorts of threats.

"He may of been a little calmer this morning, but I am not sure by how much.

"It is definitely game on now, there is no turning back from this action. Either Mike steps down gracefully or he will force the issue to a ballot which he has little chance of winning now the deal has finally been brokered."

Mr Rann was also angry he had been confronted with the ultimatum on the eve of a week-long trip to India. He flew out of Adelaide at 9am.

Sources said the Left and Right factions had finally decided on a Weatherill/Rau leadership ticket after several months of negotiations.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/premier-m ... 6104998748

[stumpjumper]

Why the need to comment?

Don Farrell (ex-officio premier of SA) is in town. Farrell and his local SDA replacement Peter Manilauskas had a meeting with Rann, which I am told Rann expected, hence Rann's pre-planned immediate departure for India.

The script goes as follows:

- Farrell to tell Peter Manilauskas to tell Rann that his time is up. He must resign as he no longer has the numbers to be Premier.

- Rann cries.

- SDA to vote to formalize the 'selection' of popular Weatherill (popular mainly because people don't know him) from the Left.

- Rann responds publicly saying he has no intention of resigning etc... But he can't stay once the ultimate authority on which government in SA rests, Don Farrell, has spoken.

- Rann will return from India requesting 'guidance' from the party, and will announce that in the interests of the state he will stand aside to allow even greater successes after generational change results in the best people for the job, across the factions, forming government for us lucky South Australians.

Then it;'s back to business as usual for Labor.

The choice of Weatherill despite his membership of the Left faction is necessary because the Right has no other contender who might beat the Libs, and while the Right has the numbers, the Left has the money (for fighting elections etc).

Anyway, political philosophy - Left or Right - doesn't matter at all when an election win is at stake. Whatever it takes, is the mantra of New Labor. As peter Garrett says - 'We'll say what we need to to get in, then we'll change everything.'

If Labor wins the next election, we can expect the usual redistribution of highly-paid and powerful ministerial and committee positions. This process is based on faction membership, seniority, payback/reward and, er, oh yeah, merit, if it ever comes down to that.




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