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Kurt Sansone and Matthew Vella
Labour candidate John Attard Montalto is leaving no stone unturned in his quest to be elected to the European Parliament and in his latest campaign venture he has secured airtime during an afternoon tele-shopping spot hosted by Nancy of ‘Grilioso’ fame, on Super One TV.
Mid-way through a cooking ‘spree’ to promote kitchen equipment, Attard Montalto is interviewed for a couple of minutes by Nancy on matters related to the EU.
But targeting the traditional housewife, typical of Nancy’s audience, is only one aspect of Attard Montalto’s multi-faceted campaign.
The Labour MP has also recruited former MP Rita Law, best known for her lacklustre interventions during parliamentary debates, and botched EP candidate Sharon Ellul Bonici to form part of his campaign office.
The two women are popular in the more euro-sceptic south where Attard Montalto has no political base and is looked upon sternly among Labourites for having announced his intentions to contest the Labour leadership on Net TV, so soon after last year’s general elections.
Talking to MaltaToday yesterday, Attard Montalto confirmed that he drafted Law and Ellul Bonici into his campaign team because they were from the south.
“They are both ex-MLP candidates and I also wanted to have women on my team given that the party has not fielded women candidates,” Attard Montalto said.
The lawyer defended the choice of Ellul Bonici saying that he wanted to integrate her into his campaign after she twice missed the EP candidature for a handful of votes.
Asked whether he could reconcile his moderate views on the EU with Ellul Bonici’s Eurosceptic attitude, Attard Montalto replied: “Before the 2003 election everybody in the party from the leader downwards was a Eurosceptic. After the election we accepted the new reality.
“I want to be a bridge between the different perceptions of the EU within the party. By drafting Sharon onto my team I have put to deed the idea of an inclusive Labour Party.”
Attard Montalto insisted that all people, who pertain to Labour’s ideals should be brought on board. “There is a place for everyone in the party,” he told MaltaToday.
Rita Law lost her parliamentary seat in 2003 even though she still managed a creditable 2,463 votes on the second district. Ellul Bonici, who contested the general election for the first time, obtained 1,108 votes on that same district, arguably keeping Law out of Parliament, and more than 500 votes on the fourth district.
The recruitment of the two women is expected to boost the chances of Attard Montalto in the traditional Labour stronghold of Cottonera and outlying areas where Glenn Bedingfield and, to a much lesser extent, Louis Grech are considered to be favourites.
Contacted by MaltaToday yesterday, Ellul Bonici said she was helping Attard Montalto’s campaign as a consultant.
She is likely to be a paid consultant to Attard Montalto for a month from 1 May when EP observers from the accession countries become MEPs. Dr John Attard Montalto and Dr George Vella are the MLP observers in the European parliament.
The former euro-sceptic also expressed her admiration for Attard Montalto. “I believe he (Attard Montalto) is very knowledgeable in EU affairs, active as an observer and between us there is an interesting synergy on EU-related matters,” Ellul Bonici said.
Rita Law was less forthcoming in her replies when contacted yesterday by this newspaper. She confirmed that she was helping Attard Montalto’s campaign as a ‘secretary’ but refrained from commenting any further.
It is an open secret that Attard Montalto has a substantial campaign war chest. Over the Christmas period he sent out thousands of postcards with yuletide greetings when announcing his candidature.
Since the beginning of the year Attard Montalto has also made it a point to attend as many coffee mornings as possible organised by Labour MPs even if not formally invited. As yet he remains the only candidate to have featured in full page colour adverts in l-orizzont and Kullhadd.
His behaviour has irked the other Labour EP candidates, who cannot match the spending power of the highflying lawyer. Many in the Party feel that the strategy to allow candidates to conduct their individual campaigns has created an unfair disadvantage for candidates with modest budgets.
But with political parties still cash-strapped after last year’s gruelling referendum and election campaigns, the each-man-for-himself strategy seemed to be the only plausible way of conducting a campaign for the European Parliament election.
Attard Montalto did not wait for his cue and since his candidature was approved in November last year he has pumped not only his energy but also his cash into a personal campaign that promises to get more intense as the 12 June deadline approaches.
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