When it came to looking for comparisons with socially progressive lawyers of Italian heritage when the matter of Mr Damian Ciappelli (who recently announced as candidate for Douglas Central) reared its head the only one we could really find as any point of reference was NBC's classic 1970's Arizona Defence Attorney Anthony J Petrocelli. Older readers might recall that Petrocelli was a talented Harvard Law graduate who left the big time to move to the dusty backwater of San Remo where he lived in a trailer and dangerously drove a battered pick-up truck around while defending clients who were almost certain to be convicted of serious crimes until Petrocelli managed to cast sufficient doubt over a jury that they would be released.
By way of background elsewhere on the internet Manx-born Mr Ciappelli clarifies that he has pursued a career as legal counsel advising blue-chip companies in relation to funds insurance and fiduciary matters and that he has previously worked in Luxembourg. He currently works for a local firm of advocates and has served on the Council of the Isle of Man Law Society, as a Pension Trustee, and on the board of an arts charity. We doubt that he lives in a trailer on the outskirts of Tromode, nor that he owns a battered pick-up truck, or employs a local cowboy to do investigations for him, but as a lawyer Mr Ciappelli does seem to have some good sensible ideas which he talks through with Paul Moulton.
Paul Moulton interviews Mr Damian Ciappelli:
This interview is very locally focused in its content but nevertheless Mr Ciappelli gives the impression of a competent and credible candidate who will probably be a very safe pair of hands for the voters of Douglas Central. He also makes some good points on infrastructure projects and accountability. We were going to attempt to summarise the interview further in this critique but to be honest its not that exciting - although it is certainly worth ten minutes of anyone's time just to see and hear Mr Ciappelli's balanced tone and arguments. Its a perfectly adequate performance though so hopefully just like Petrocelli his talent, experience, and legal acumen will be more than enough to persuade any jury in Douglas Central that he is the right candidate for the next five years.
The above interview does however leave one main question hanging with us though in that with Chris Thomas also standing in the same constituency Mr Ciappelli does seem to be a man who could potentially out Chris Thomas, Chris Thomas in terms of tone and style and so the organisers of any Douglas Central public meeting should probably tack on a good hour at least at the end to allow for the dual monologues of Mr Ciappelli and Mr Thomas to be factored in. That said a public Thomas / Ciappelli political face-off would likely be an interesting (although lengthy) spectator event we'd suggest.
As with all candidates we wish Mr Ciappelli well and we look forward to reading his no doubt perfectly drafted and presented manifesto in due course.
Pictured Mr Damian Ciappelli candidate for Douglas Central
