– That type of visit is probably not something you shout about along the coast. Such visits can probably have the opposite effect, he fears. – The salmon tax has caused a lot of opposition and unrest along the coast. It is the livelihood of people we are talking about. At Hitra, we have had a few years of positive development. But then people become uncertain. Here, it’s not just about going round the corner and finding new work if the job disappears, he says. Ole Laurits Haugen has been mayor of Hitra municipality in Trøndelag for 16 years and also leads a large network of coastal municipalities. But this autumn it’s over. That is why he now chooses to talk about what he calls “the misery in the Labor Party” – and say openly what many other Labor people news has spoken to this winter only say when the microphone is turned off: The party leadership is too poor to listen to its own local teams and party people around the country. This applies in matters such as municipal dissolution, salmon tax, power tax and various local matters, such as urban growth agreements where applicable. Labor mayors who are popular locally are now beginning to fear that visits from the capital will backfire and cost them power and positions. Ap currently has over 140 mayors. Many of them are far more popular than the national politicians ahead of this autumn’s local elections. Last week, the mayors gathered for meetings in Oslo, at an internal Ap forum and at a summit organized by KS. Several of the mayors have expressed that visits from the leadership in the election campaign can be a problem rather than an advantage for popular local politicians. And the criticism of the top management has been harsh from some: Ringebu mayor Arne Fossmo recently advocated replacing deputy leader Bjørnar Skjæran and party secretary Kjersti Stenseng. – Must listen Haugen is also the leader of the Network for Fjord and Coastal Municipalities (NFKK), which includes 78 Norwegian aquaculture municipalities. There in the farm there has been great frustration over the government’s salmon tax – not only that it came, but also the way it came. – Then the Labor leadership becomes concerned with being tough and harsh and standing in the storm. But when you push people away in this way, it can be difficult to win them back in. They don’t understand the everyday life of most people around the country, says Haugen about the Ap summits. Because the opinion polls are deplorable reading for the Ap people. A turnout of 17.2 percent so far in March and 18.5 in February, according to the website Poll of polls, is a historic low. – We all understand that Norway and Europe are in the middle of war and misery. But this is about those who sit at the top with responsibility having to have good enough listening posts and advisors. They don’t have that today. They have not listened to their own, we who are out in the field, says the Hitra mayor. Another Ap mayor, who asks to remain anonymous, shares the opinion that the party leadership listens to the local teams very little. A life-threatening path to follow, he believes. Haugen says this is also about how the listening posts around the country are used. – Today, the coast is not used at all. There is a forest of advisers, but there are not very many the management surrounds themselves with who have attended the school of life, he says. There is also unrest at Ap’s government partner Sp. Steinar Aspli, group leader of Trøndelag Sp and mayoral candidate in Nærøysund, asks the government to keep the income from the salmon tax at a level as promised, just under 4 billion. – If this is an arrangement that gives a completely different size, my prediction is that it will be very difficult to run an election campaign for SP in our coastal municipalities, he writes in an article in Namdalsavisa. SALMON TAX: Many Ap mayors have had the industry on their necks because the government wants to introduce a new basic rent tax on aquaculture. Photo: Steffen Kalås Skjæran likes to visit the Labor Party’s deputy leader Bjørnar Skjæran, who is also the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, says the party has many capable mayors who are popular and enjoy strong local trust. – We are in challenging times, and we have bad opinion polls. Therefore, we now have a lot of work ahead of us, and we will work hard to ensure that the Labor Party has its hands on the steering wheel in the municipalities around the country, also after the election, says Skjæran to news. – We have many talented mayors who are both popular and highly trusted in their local communities, I am happy about that. If there is a major shake-up in the Ap leadership, it could also have consequences for Bjørnar Skjæran’s position as deputy leader. THE TOPS: Deputy leader Bjørnar Skjæran and party leader Jonas Gahr Støre recently visited the research ship FF Crown Prince Haakon in Tromsø. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB Skjæran, for his part, is keen to pay tribute to AP’s elected officials locally – and specifically singles out Ole Laurits Haugen from Hitra. – Our local politicians work hard every single day to strengthen the communities they live in, I would like to praise them for that, says Skjæran. – I myself was at Hitra last autumn and know how strong Ole is. His wise input has guided my work with fisheries and aquaculture. I hope I can come back during the election campaign, to contribute my part. Skjæran says this autumn’s local elections are a directional election that is about the immediate issues: safe care for our elderly, good schools and kindergartens for our children, and local communities where everyone has equal opportunities regardless of where you live and the size of your wallet. – It is something we have to go ashore together, as the team we are, he says. – Feigt It is clear that there will be changes in the Ap leadership at this spring’s national meeting. A number of county associations now support the Minister of Knowledge Tonje Brenna becoming the new deputy leader. But opinions are divided as to whether there is also a need for other changes. Rogaland Ap has proposed Hadia Tajik as the new deputy leader, and Oslo Ap wants “changes in the party leadership and the central board”. Both Skjæran and party secretary Kjersti Stenseng want re-election. At the same time, both party leader Jonas Gahr Støre and the election committee’s leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik have advocated renewal in the central government. But so far only three members have announced that they will not stand for re-election. Haugen acknowledges that his statements are a criticism of the party leadership, but will not directly demand changes in the top management. – Now the election committee will do its job, so I hope that it will end up in a good way. This is not the time to chop off the leader’s head. I support Tonje Brenna joining the Ap leadership. Haugen is also critical of the many Labor colleagues he knows are “just as critical” of what is happening, but who do not dare to speak out. – I think it will be too cowardly, he says. – A fellow mayor in Nordland said when he was asked to be “tough in the debate” that “I am first and foremost the mayor of my own municipality, my job is not to support the party centrally.” I can certainly get behind that.
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– They don’t understand the everyday life of most people – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
