Good riddance to the standards board
If you want a practical example of why the Coalition government is right to scrap the Standards Board for England, I cannot think of a better one than the two standards board complaints which have been brought over the past few years against the present Mayor of Copeland, Councillor John Jackson.
John is a man of integrity who has worked hard for the local community over many years.
A few years ago he was falsely accused of conspiring with a council officer against the leader of Copeland council. There was not the tiniest scintilla of truth in the allegations against John Jackson at that time, but he had to put up with being "investigated" and the fact that the accusations were made was public knowledge.
(For the avoidance of doubt, I do not accept, admit or imply that the allegations against any of the other people accused at the same time, including myself, were true either.)
About the only thing of which nobody could accuse the person who made that particular set of accusations was not having the guts to openly put his name to them or of hiding behind a cloak of anonymity. Which is more than can be said for whoever is responsible for the latest complaint against the Mayor.
This year John Jackson has been accused of making a racially insensitive comment at his own charity event at the White Mare in Beckermet.
I was not at the White Mare, but none of the people I have spoken to who were present heard the remarks that the anonymous complainant has accused the Mayor of making. The following is a representative selection of comments posted on the Whitehaven News website from people who were present or know John Jackson, at least two of whom do not share his politics:
"I was present at the charity event and didnt note anything of the kind, I can only imagine whomever was alledgedly offended were so upset and outrage they chose not to say anything or intervene during the round of applause the mayor received following his closing speech."
Posted by Mr K on 17 March 2012 at 00:11
"What Tory Cllr John Jackson did or do not say will rumble on for some time. What is absoloutely beyond dispute is his record of many years of selfless service and giving to ALL the people of Copeland. This mischief making will not detract from all the fantastic charity work he and many others perform in our community.
A Life Long Labour Supporter "
Posted by Paul Creighton on 10 March 2012 at 10:56
"I am a Labour councillor who was present at the White Mare on the night of the alleged remark. I did not hear any racist remark and whilst we might be on different political divides, I believe the mayor has done a fantastic job in his year of office. John Jackson is a man of integrity who is definitely not racist. Whoever made this allegation should hang their heads in shame at trying to undermine a night that was about raising money for his selected charities.
John Kane"
Posted by John Kane on 9 March 2012 at 08:12
Sadly the "standards board" system which was created to stop councillors from abusing their position to benefit themselves or their friends has become a vehicle for making false allegations of misconduct as a political campaign tactic, and far too often, a barrier to democracy which stops politicians from being able to implement the policies which the people who elected them wanted them to carry out.
Those who really have committed fraud or wrongdoing at the taxpayer's expense must be brought to justice through the courts the way anybody else would be. Those who are innocent should not have their names dragged through the mud. There have been far too many unjustified allegations of improper conduct against councillors of all parties which have wasted time and money and made it harder to get honest and self-respecting people involved in politics. Let us hope that the new mechanisms which will shortly replace the Standards Board for England work better, and that there will be fewer unjustified smears of the sort which have been made against John Jackson.
John is a man of integrity who has worked hard for the local community over many years.
A few years ago he was falsely accused of conspiring with a council officer against the leader of Copeland council. There was not the tiniest scintilla of truth in the allegations against John Jackson at that time, but he had to put up with being "investigated" and the fact that the accusations were made was public knowledge.
(For the avoidance of doubt, I do not accept, admit or imply that the allegations against any of the other people accused at the same time, including myself, were true either.)
About the only thing of which nobody could accuse the person who made that particular set of accusations was not having the guts to openly put his name to them or of hiding behind a cloak of anonymity. Which is more than can be said for whoever is responsible for the latest complaint against the Mayor.
This year John Jackson has been accused of making a racially insensitive comment at his own charity event at the White Mare in Beckermet.
I was not at the White Mare, but none of the people I have spoken to who were present heard the remarks that the anonymous complainant has accused the Mayor of making. The following is a representative selection of comments posted on the Whitehaven News website from people who were present or know John Jackson, at least two of whom do not share his politics:
"I was present at the charity event and didnt note anything of the kind, I can only imagine whomever was alledgedly offended were so upset and outrage they chose not to say anything or intervene during the round of applause the mayor received following his closing speech."
Posted by Mr K on 17 March 2012 at 00:11
"What Tory Cllr John Jackson did or do not say will rumble on for some time. What is absoloutely beyond dispute is his record of many years of selfless service and giving to ALL the people of Copeland. This mischief making will not detract from all the fantastic charity work he and many others perform in our community.
A Life Long Labour Supporter "
Posted by Paul Creighton on 10 March 2012 at 10:56
"I am a Labour councillor who was present at the White Mare on the night of the alleged remark. I did not hear any racist remark and whilst we might be on different political divides, I believe the mayor has done a fantastic job in his year of office. John Jackson is a man of integrity who is definitely not racist. Whoever made this allegation should hang their heads in shame at trying to undermine a night that was about raising money for his selected charities.
John Kane"
Posted by John Kane on 9 March 2012 at 08:12
Sadly the "standards board" system which was created to stop councillors from abusing their position to benefit themselves or their friends has become a vehicle for making false allegations of misconduct as a political campaign tactic, and far too often, a barrier to democracy which stops politicians from being able to implement the policies which the people who elected them wanted them to carry out.
Those who really have committed fraud or wrongdoing at the taxpayer's expense must be brought to justice through the courts the way anybody else would be. Those who are innocent should not have their names dragged through the mud. There have been far too many unjustified allegations of improper conduct against councillors of all parties which have wasted time and money and made it harder to get honest and self-respecting people involved in politics. Let us hope that the new mechanisms which will shortly replace the Standards Board for England work better, and that there will be fewer unjustified smears of the sort which have been made against John Jackson.
Comments
Organisations like the "standards board" will always attract an entire class of people just waiting to be offended. It is also to be noted that modern politics also seems to attract its fair share of these people and it is here that I will depart from your delusion that this present government will offer anything different, as all the main political parties just love political correctness !
We have to hope the government will succeed in replacing the Standards Board with something which is not as vulnerable to the dotty kind of political correctness.
Since they are essentially giving local authoriies back the issue I imagine that those councils which are reasonably well run will do things better while some unfortunately may be even worse.