Pot calling kettle an apparatchik

Peter Farago
MEMBER for South Barwon Michael Crutchfield’s mauling of a rookie Geelong councillor over calls for a new dam in the Otways needs to be put into some context.
The over-the-top slamming of new Deakin ward councillor Andrew Katos on the front page of last week’s Geelong Independent was a massive case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Cr Katos was addressing an issue of interest to many Geelong people without attacking any member of government, especially the parliamentary secretary for water.
Yet Mr Crutchfield saw fit to tee off, swapping the golf ball with Mr Katos’s head.
But it was the nature of Mr Crutchfield’s retort that shone a spotlight on his background.
Mr Crutchfield called Cr Katos a “Liberal apparatchik” and accused him of bringing Liberal party politics to council.
Well, excuse us all, Mr Crutchfield, if we spray our coffee across the kitchen table.
Mr Crutchfield is no lily-white when it comes to politicising council office.
He made it an art form.
And his use of the term “apparatchik” is like an apple falling very close to his own tree.
In the dictionary, an apparatchik (a Russian word) is defined as a member of a Communist apparatus or, as according to more-popular Australian definition, an unquestioningly loyal subordinate, especially of a political leader or organisation.
Mr Crutchfield’s political history followed a tried-and-true ALP-union route to parliament that many “apparatchiks” have used and others at Geelong are still trying today.
His was a spectacular one.
After winning favour, the former teacher, career firefighter and union delegate was elected to Geelong’s council and eventually became mayor in 2000.
While that was his biggest claim to fame, he made his name throwing grenades at the Liberal Kennett Government.
His reward was Labor preselection in South Barwon.
So Mr Crutchfield’s accusation of “poor form” on Cr Katos’s behalf was simply laughable.
But what Mr Crutchfield might really have been peeved about was that Cr Katos was the first elected Liberal at any level of government to publicly advocate for a new dam in the Otways.
It’s a proposal many residents believe is a better answer to our water woes than a costly pipeline they will pay for through exorbitant water rates.
Cr Katos has also shown up Mr Crutchfield’s inner-apparatchik – blindly following the government’s costly water mantra without consideration of any other reasonable proposal.