Response to Labour's Quango Standards Committee

Wigan's Labour Quango has met recently to consider a complaint that Labour Councillor Clive Morgan has put in against me. This relates to me going on to a Internet forum site which I go in a personal capacity. The complaint from Cllr Clive Morgan was I put on that a Labour Cllr had been sacked as a postman and I hoped postal votes were not involved. Then another person asked who it was and said that Clive Morgan had been sacked. I replied by saying I guess you have answered your question there. I later replied minutes later and said I have found out more and no postal votes had been involved.

It is important to say that when I was told about the hearing I said I work, which the Town Hall knows, and I asked for the meeting at night. They refused to do this saying they can hold it when they want and put simply if I didn't like it tough.

The Labour Quango said that I was on the website in my official capacity as a Cllr and I had therefore brought my office as a Councillor into disrepute. I disagreed saying what I do in my free time is up to me. Labour don't want to recognise this.

They think I brought my office as a Councillor into disrepute. I refute this strongly as I believe the time I was on the internet when I wrote the post were 2 minutes past midnight, at the weekend. Not 100% of the time but certainly at night and weekend. Just like the Ken Livingstone case (here is a link) what someone does in their time is their time. I even got a legal opinion from a fully qualified solicitor that specialises in this area and they too support this and say I was on the internet in my own personal capacity. Labour Cllrs refused to take this on board and decided to find me guilty, Well fancy a Labour Cllr complains and Labour Cllr's find me guilty.

Isn't it funny that this Labour Quango are finding opposition Cllrs guilty just before an election. Call me cynical! However they fail to show you a Labour Cllr case where she has been found guilty of complaint that I put in against Cllr Emma McGurrin for saying she has worked with Persimmon Homes to get houses built on the Golf Course. My camplaint is that any Cllr, certainly on planning, should not be helping a developer. I do have the report to back this up and if they fail to have a hearing before the election I will be publishing the whole lot on this blog and if the Labour Quango want to find me guilty of that to that is fine but the people of Standish will find that much more appropriate then this trumped up charge.

The Labour lot want me to apologies and go on their training. Many know me for being straight talking and calling it as it is. Labour can go and whistle for an apology and their training. I hope the people of Winstanley, the Ward that Cllr Clive Morgan represents and up for re-election elect someone else this election. Someone who has not been sacked for being lazy.

In the main will the people of Standish be bothered about this? No is the answer Labour are merely trying to hold out some desperation that this mud slinging will help them win Standish in the election but the people in Standish are intelligent people and will think this has nothing more than Labour wasting yet more tax payers money and if they think I broke the law or made defamatory comments why don't they waste their own money and sue me?

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