Charles Gomez :: Independent who hopes to become "the voice of the people"
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05 October, 2007 08:00
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For too long, spin, propaganda and fear have swathed the Rock in a thick Levanter of political silence, depriving the ordinary Gibraltarian of a voice - either to question or to criticise. And, standing as an independent candidate in next Thursday's general election, local lawyer Charles Gomez hopes to become that voice.
A seventh generation Gibraltarian, Gomez fits none of the moulds that mark the Rock's "patrician" legal or political families. On both counts (as VOX has remarked previously) he is essentially cut from the cloth of Kipling's cat which walked alone: unlike the work of the Rock's big name law firms, financial matters make up little of the work of the chambers he set up in 1988.
"The firm lives comfortably dealing with people and their problems," he explains. It's an approach at times verging on the philanthropic. Gomez was the driving force behind the free advice clinic set up in conjunction Henry Pinna, Gibraltar's first Ombudsman, and while his politics may appear maverick in Gibraltar's compartmentalised political climate he believes that "people, not politics should come first."
"Gibraltar has six or seven social or political songs - and as long as you sing them, you're a hero...but that's not my approach. I also believe that for Gibraltar to continue to progress and be successful we must take a pugnacious approach to skullduggery," he told VOX in an interview last year.
UNPRETENTIOUS BUT PROVOCATIVE
And in his manifesto published yesterday - an unpretentious but provocative four-page document very different from the glossy productions of the three main parties - Gomez in a sense echoes the view when he writes: "The political parties pretend to be adversaries but, when it comes to business connections and aspirations, they have very much in common."
And under the banner call: Wake up Gibraltar! You are being taken for a ride" he continues "...politics has become a circus - to distract the people whilst Gibraltar is sold off cheap to a very small group of shrewd businessmen (the same people who always win at your expense).
"Our families are condemned to living in an unfriendly concrete jungle. Thousands have already left our noisy, smelly city seeking a better quality of life."
So far when seeing an empty plot of land, every government has adopted a policy of "build...let's sell the land and build," Gomez amplifies his arguments. "I believe that Gibraltar could do with more open spaces, and that before any permissions are given for property development projects, careful thought should be given as to whether or not building has long-term advantages for the people of Gibraltar. Compared to what has been happening, this is a revolutionary concept...but it's an important one."
PROFIT-HUNGRY DEVELOPERS
And the rape of the Rock by profit-hungry developers remains high on his list of concerns - particularly where the question of land allocations which have been made over the past eight years is concerned. These have never been fully questioned in Parliament he told VOX this week, adding that he's determined to raise the issue if he is elected.
"It needs to be explained why each decision was taken," he argues. "And there should be special emphasis in looking at those deals where there hasn't been a tender process. Developers have been allowed to erect buildings which in the longer term are not of sustainable use.
"We also need a law stipulating that no minister or public official may hear, sit or be involved in any application in which a relative, personal friend or business acquaintance has any interest."
Gomez sees his political views and philosophy as closely akin to those of Europe's Social Democrats, but though he established a party - New Gibraltar Democracy with its rising sun emblem - which at one stage intended to put up a full ticket for "the next general election", he is not standing under the NGD banner.
"The restructuring of Parliament, though still falling short of the democratic ideal, has made it possible for the first time for an independent to become an MP and I decided that rather than dilute the message it would be best for Gibraltar if I stood for election alone," he explained to VOX.
As an independent Gomez wants "to create a new vision for politics in Gibraltar" and to incorporate "new ideas for, in political terms, there has been nothing new in Gibraltar for a generation."
His basic philosophy is that Gibraltar must become "a sustainable, user-friendly place" for all its citizens. "If it isn't that, it is nothing," he insists; and it's an argument that many will share. "However, the policies of successive governments over the past 20 years have taken no account of ‘quality of life' issues - mainly because there has been a lack of imagination among those attracted to politics," he adds.
"Clearly good governance requires a sound economic base - but quality of life and the well-being of the people must not be ignored in achieving it," he insists. "For example, ships' bunkering is fine in the sense that it yields a lot to the operators and some more to the exchequer, but if it becomes dangerous, bunkerage must either be made safe or closed down all together,
"In the same way, polluting industrial plants such as the generating station in the Docks must be made safe or closed down ..."
And Gomez takes a similarly draconian approach towards businesses that sell [alcoholic] drinks to children...these, too, should be "closed down." "In other words, people who want to do business here must respect the people who live here," he explains.
For almost 20 years, Gomez who has been interested in public affairs - and hence, in a sense, in politics - found an outlet for his political thoughts in the columns of Vox where he wrote regularly for the late Eddie Campello under the pen-name "Uno". It was a relationship that began when Gomez was a stripling 18-year-old with a nascent interest in the law, reporting on cases in the courts for the journalistic mentor who became a close friend.
The frontier was still closed when, in 1977, Gomez left school and decided to obtain a university degree. Like many of his friends, all he wanted was to get away from the Rock for a while.
"In those days law as a career was still regarded as the preserve of a few professional families...in fact, I opted for law because I couldn't think of anything else and I had been told that a legal degree was a good basis for other things. This, of course, proved incorrect," he smiles, then chuckles at the recollection. "The thinking was that one could take a law degree as a preparation...and then take a decision and choose a profession later.
"That's quite wrong. All a law degree prepares one for is to be a lawyer." Again the smile and chuckle.
Gomez gained his law degree from the University of London and qualified at the Inner Temple before joining a London law firm where he "specialised" in criminal cases. He returned to Gibraltar and was admitted to the bar here in 1982 joining Benady & Benady.
SOCIAL INJUSTICES
An earlier interest in public affairs - when he was 16 Gomez joined the Partido Socialistas, a Trotskyite group concerned, among other things, with social injustices - was rekindled soon after his return to the Rock, when he realised "that Gibraltar was in a terrible state."
"I could either sit back and allow things to go on as they were, or I could take a stand..."
He spoke out...and has been speaking his mind ever since. Nor, unlike some of the Rock's other ‘maverick' professionals, has this damaged his professional career, He has acted for the successful parties in several high-profile cases, including a major extradition case, winning a record payment of damages for his client in a case of clinical negligence, and the notorious "Gibraltar Gold Coin" case in which the Court of Appeal compared the Government's behaviour to that of "the mad Emperor Calligula." Currently he is acting for fellow lawyer and wife of Gibraltar's suspended Chief Justice, Mrs Anne Schofield in her action for libel against the Bar Council Chairman James Neish QC.
URGENTLY NEEDED ECONOMIC PLAN
In his manifesto, Gomez rightly calls for an urgently needed economic plan to look at the Rock's longer-term future.
"The political parties are falling over each other to make promises," he writes. "Not one of them has bothered to explain to you where the money is going to come from to pay for pensions now and in the future, rental housing and general ongoing expenditure. Peter Caruana recklessly bases his economic model on income from on-line gaming (an industry in decline) and Joe Bossano keeps his cards close to his chest as if engaged in a game of poker...If elected I will promote a cross-party policy think tank including the trades unions, employers bodies and international expertise to ensure that Gibraltar's assets are exploited in a measured way to ensure long term prosperity...."
But can Gomez win a seat? And, if he does, can he make the difference he hopes to?
The results of the VOX poll give Gomez a slight lead on Keith Azopardi's PDP, and if that translates into votes the maverick lawyer could gain a seat and become an equally maverick politician - the sort of gad-fly irritant that could irk either of the bigger parties in government...and, perhaps, even prompt them to listen to "the voice of the people..."
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