Cllr Stamp's website is hacked

Yesterday one of our activists sent me a link to a tweet from the Rochester & Strood Conservatives (pictured) with the message to take a look.

As a member of the Exec committee of the Medway Libdems I can categorically deny this had anything to do with any of our current members.

Our position was made perfectly clear in the Local Medway Messenger by our Chairman, Tony Jeacock, on the letters page the week after the announcement that the former Liberal Democrats who had defected to the Independent group in 2010 had turned coat again and joined Labour. It is something I wrote about at the time (including copying Tony's letter). Some commentators have been critical of the move saying that it was motivated by their own electoral self interest rather than representing those who elected them and not Labour candidates in the first place.

Although they have purged their twitter feed Medway labour accused a “known Liberal” however the person they are accusing has not been a member for several years.
Interestingly, it was Cllr. Jarrett the Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group who publicly noted at the last full council meeting that Cllrs. Stamp and Cooper had belonged to three different political groups in as many years and who, jokingly said that there will always be a seat for them within the Conservative Group, a joke which Cllr. Stamp failed to appreciate, something I commented on at the time. 

It would seem to me that both Labour and Conservatives should be looking to clean their own doorsteps before accusing the LibDems of something which clearly we are not guilty.

I must admit though - it did make me smile when I read it, however briefly!

Full Council, Rochester airport, theatre, waste and local politics

Thursday night I went to the theatre. I wasn't watching a musical or Shakespeare or even or one of those modern ones where everyone speaks Dutch and it turns out that lead character is actually a moose. Unfortunately I was at Medway Full Council meeting.

It was awfully entertaining and a member of Democratic services showed me to my seat. I was nervous as I had a question to ask with a supplementary etched out if the answer failed to hit the right point.

The pageantry began on time when we were upstanding for the gold mace, officers and the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. All took their place at the table overlooking the Councillors and the audience quickly followed by opening prayers.

The whistle blew and kick off began with a short debate on the length of Public questions. Vince Maple, leader of the Labour group, argued for 45 minutes instead of the usual 30 due to the number who had come or until we got to question 25 so everyone got to ask at least one. It took enough time for three questions to reach a consensus and then it began. After the preliminaries it got to the public questions.

Up stepped the villains of the piece; Cllrs Chitty and Jarrett. They quashed repeated questions and concerns about the development of Rochester airport. Cllr Chitty has shifted all safety concerns to the CAA and swatted away safety concerns by saying that they would look at the safety measures fully as part of a crash investigation. Cllr Jarrett conducted himself in a boorish manner akin to Herman Göring with refusals to repeat himself and answering with blunt disregard to the situation. At this early stage I could tell that no matter what anyone else thought or said.

The Audience got to participate too with traditional calls of "Oh no its not!"
As well as new ones like;

"Utter Crap!" (my favourite) and "Have you read it?!" referring to a particular safety report that Cllr Chitty seems to be ignoring.

Then it was my turn. Clutching my scribbled notes I stepped up before the bench and tried to steel myself with the Anglo-Germanic Sams stubbornness and belligerence. I was not here for political reasons but first and fore most as a concerned parent.

Cllr Mike O'Brien answered my question politely and concisely and in the manner I should have expected but with the added sting that the 40% cut figure I had been lead to believe was true was in fact false. (proper blogpost will follow when I receive the written answer.)

"Do you have a supplementary question Mr Sams?"

My mouth dry, my notes irrelevant and my resolve crumbling into full retreat I stared at the microphone for what seemed an eternity before shaking my head and fleeing back to my seat mentally berating my cowardice.

The back and forth restarted and when the 45 minutes were up a further debate was had as to whether or

not they could just press ahead and get question 24 and 25 done and with much heaving and sighing it was agreed.

Cllr Chambers' report

When this was all dealt with and some of the public drifted away Cllr Chambers rose to his feet and like Chancellor Palpatine gave his report, soft and gentle, barely audible in the public gallery but full of barbs and excuses - It isn't our fault the schools were rated badly it is because Ofsted moved the goal posts! It is the press only reporting the negative things on us - we're doing a good job really...

Vince Maple spoke well and welcomed Commrades Stamp and Cooper to the mix and spoke scathingly of Tory failings on sure starts and waste on Rochester airport when other services were in danger. Clearly he was very much the hero of the piece.

Cllr Juby spoke briefly agreeing on some points with Cllr Chambers and disagreeing on others but the real limelight was being reserved for Cllr Jarrett's return.

A couple of sly swipes at Cllr Stamp for defecting (again) and continued bluster that impressed no one and made him no more friends in the audience but to be honest I don't think he cares.

Other bit part players came on with Cllr Stamp whining that Cllr Jarrett was making cheap political and personal shots at his expense which gained at least two scoffs from the audience (one being me, get a sense of humour or some thicker skin Andy, as my sister would say "get over yourself"). Cllr Osborne got up and, though I agreed with most of what he said, channelled the party political broadcast. He spoke like an air raid siren droning on and on and addressing the audience more than the opposition in a style that sounded like a party rally or hustings event rather than full council and it washed like a wave over pretty much everyone with no effect.

I admit that I don't know much about what is going on with the airport, I have been to busy worrying about my own problems and the Nursery situation that almost stopped my wife going back to work. However as a layman watching I thought Cllr Murray's amendments to slow agreeing on the future of the airport until after the consultation was finished was a good one. In the past the Council have been accused of holding consultations because they had to and that a decission had already been made. Such was an accusation about the Care homes like Nelson's court where it was pushed through and assurances have been found to be built on sand. Having seen Cllr Jarrett's and Chitty's performances on Thursday I think it is already a done deal no matter what the residents of the Davis estate (who live under the flight path) think or what the rest of us who have had services cut think of the £4.4m that is being allocated to this. Cllrs Cooper (lab), Juby (ld), Gilroy (Lab) Griffiths (lab) and others spoke at length about the services that could benefit with this money especially the elderly and children. Cllr Stamp argued that the Strand that is used by thousands a year could have the sea defences repaired (having fallen into the sea and are dangerous) and the whole area spruced up or a hundred people could benefit from the new airport improvements. Both opposition parties were united and voted in favour but the Tory administration shrugged and voted it down.

I had drifted off into my own world not long after that but Cllr Tollhurst's (con) defence of the airport plans woke me up. She was very passionate about it and condemning the Labour group for what happend some fifteen years ago and their aims to still concrete it over. She argued that if you were against it then you were "Knocking Medway" and we should be proud of the airport - I left not long afterwards somewhat confused and cross.

I've spent time asking myself if I really want to be elected to this theatre and as yet I still haven't found a really compelling answer yet. The only thing I keep coming back to is that things must change. I saw very little representation of the people of Medway there last night. A lot of the bit parts did, some of the leads such as Vince Maple did, probably under all the hot air and party bluster, Cllr Osborne did maybe, Cllr Juby and Smith spoke of it too but the top two or three Conservatives I... I just couldn't see it. They seem to be bulldozing ahead with the scheme and that is it, they know what is best and we will have to agree and see that they're right - yet again just like the bus station, Medway tunnel etc... etc...

Cllr Stamp's defection

Cllr Stamp's changed colours again

Recently taken a bit of a hiatus from politics and been concentrating on other more important things in my

life, namely my wife, kids, my history and fiction works and more importantly my beloved sleep.

However I am not shocked by the news in last week's paper that Independent group leader Councillor Andy stamp and Ward partner Pat Cooper have defected to Labour handing Gillingham North ward and Andy's "extensive" network of deliverers and supporters over to Vince Maple's resurgent Labour party taking them to 17 seats.

As the only Medway Liberal Democrat blogger and tweeter I feel moved that I should say a few words on the subject.

I was not an "Active" member of the Liberal Democrats when Andy Stamp left but I have since been made aware of a lot of the ins and outs as well as the damning media circus that was made about the then Cllrs Sutton and Ruparal who have both been cleared of any wrong doing. I also understand there are many raw wounds on both sides of the conflict that has led to a seething acrimony that continues to this day in some parts.

I have never had the opportunity to meet Cllr Stamp, I tried to speak to him at the 2011 Local election count but either because of having a lot on his mind or because he wasn't interested in the badged, gold tie wearing Libdem moving towards him, he stormed past me and blanked me. Also a few angry tweets were fired my way in response to a post I wrote about the split. The point is though, I hold no grudges and have tried to remain fairly impartial and do so to this day.

I am moved however to write that I agree with Medway Liberal Democrat Group Chair Tony Jeacock in his letter to the Medway Messenger on the subject;

Were Councillors Andy Stamp and Pat Cooper getting worried about standing as independent candidates at the next local elections?

Having left the Liberal Democrats and in their many leaflets then promoting the fact that they owed loyalty to no political party, they have now joined Labour. I can only assume that this is an attempt to improve their chances of election in 2015.

Can the public really have confidence in anyone whose principles swing with the tides?

A lot of committed Liberal Democrats were unhappy about going into Coalition with the Tories, particularly as their objectives are so different to ours.

However the need to stabilise the country won the day (and in the process managed to get many Liberal Democrat policies through parliament to improve the lot of working people); £600 a year less income tax for the low paid - and significant improvements to state pensions.

The latest move by these two simply shows that their own self-interest comes first.

The two sides of the debate are that Cllrs Stamp and Cooper, who find themselves voting against the Council (and with the Labour Group) most of the time want to form a more effective opposition and represent their constituents better and thus have joined the larger Labour group.

The more sceptical commentators, and sorry - I'm one of them - believe that the Councillors saw which way the wind was blowing and have moved to protect themselves. The Medway local election falls on the same day as the General election in 2015 and following the tough Coalition government and cuts to all manner of services there is going to be a swing towards Labour in both votes. On top of that is Vince Maple the Labour leader in Medway who is exceptionally ambitious to expand on his 17 seats (including the two Independents) and combat the Conservatives. I have no doubt that both Gillingham North and South were targets. Councillor Stamp had to be looking at the future and wondering whether his good work in the ward would be enough to guarantee his survival and has, in my opinion moved to save himself. This is after all the third party they have been a member of since 2010 (both defecting from the Libdems to the Independents after the general election.) and the record could be perceived to speak for itself.

A while ago I wrote of defections and Benedict Arnold.I know this is not an easy decision to make and I'm sure that Andy and Pat thought long and hard on this. I wish them all the luck within the Labour fold and I hope they have made the correct decision - not for themselves but for their residents.

Councillor Stamp to appologise to Libdems

This is almost a Ronseal style blog post.

Guilty: Andy Stamp

Following on from the nastiness that occurred back in 2010 which saw the then Libdem Cllr Stamp (former PPC) turn on his ward mates Cllrs Cathy Sutton and Maureen Ruparel and accuse former Libdem Councillor and local agent Alan Jefferies of harassment. (even more here)

Alan Jefferies then reported Cllr Stamp for harassment towards Cathy and Maureen.

He has been found guilty according to the Standard's agency review.

As I understand it two letters of apology have been drafted by the Council's Legal officer for dispatch to Maureen and Cathy but the weird thing is Cllr Stamp doesn't need to sign them and there is no way to make him! This seems a bit like someone apologising for their mate stealing your car.

The next tier is that he is to be reprimanded at the next Full Council meeting - yet again the Legal officer is having issues with this as it has never been done before!

It all seems like a paper tiger with no teeth to me. If you have been caught doing something wrong (whatever your party) you should be reprimanded. Why have these punishments in place if you cannot or will not carry them out?

I guess the main thing now is that the whole bloody thing is over. We can bury the hatchet (or try to) and get on with things and not dwell on this whole ugly episode. We just want to move on, can we just draw a line under it all now?

Here's the KM's article on it.

Councillor Stamp's broken promise?

Cllr Stamp Broken pledge?

As anyone with any interest in Politics within the Medway towns will know, there was a vicious split back in 2010 between the Liberal Democrats and their former PPC Andy Stamp who now leads the break away Independent group who represent Gillingham North ward. There has been no love lost between the two groups and despite the Executive committee of the Libdems best intentions there is a lot of bitter feeling between some individuals on both sides. I can say hand on heart that I have never met Cllr Stamp, saw him briefly at the count last year, and have nothing for or against him as I was inactive until last January.

A few weeks ago Medway Council released details of how much its Councillors claimed in expenses and were granted as Allowances. Despite election Promises to the contrary Andy Stamp and fellow Independent Pat Cooper claimed £9025 and £6768.90 (with a further £1310.11 special allowances) respectively. This was a story I didn't want to touch with a barge pole because of the fore mentioned split - it would only look like a Libdem causing trouble and exacerbate the split further when all I would be doing is casting a spotlight upon a possible broken electoral pledge.

A letter in to the Editor appeared in last week's Medway Messenger from Garry Harrison who challenged the Independents:

Lets be clear, there is nothing wrong in claiming their council allowances as they are fully entitled to their pieces of silver, but telling the public they would not , to get elected , and then claiming the cash immediately is and was wrong.

Could Cllr Stamp and Cllr Cooper explain why they appear to have forgone their very public pledge? This promised “new fresh outlook on politics”, seems to have fallen at the first hurdle as according to the council notice they have claimed everything they could since their election.

The letter appeared to pose the questions I would have asked had I been inclined to stick my head into this hornet's nest so again I kept clear. After all why shouldn't an elected representative be held to account by his electorate?

Then came the response:
Garry Harrison has made false claims and personal attacks on the Gillingham North independents.

...

In order to divert our allowances to the community, we have to claim the allowance in the first place. We are very proud to have been able to set up a £15,000 community fund for the local area, which is our combined allowance ( 2x £9000 approx) after tax deductions. We even sought advice from Medway Council's chief executive to clarify that this was the best way of diverting the funds.

Our allowance will be allocated to the community projects in Gillingham North over the next three years and we will be more than happy to publish what the money has been spent on.

We are disappointed that we've been the subject of unfounded attacks even though we are two councillors who have done the decent thing and given up £9000 each for the past year to fulfil our election promise and help the local community.

Firstly though, and I offer this as an observer;

They aren't unfounded attacks. Lets be honest for a moment Andy and Pat - how are we to know that's what you have done or intend on doing? The information in the public arena is that you have indeed claimed your allowances and there is no information that I've seen and I'm presuming from his letter Garry hasn't seen (and he's a resident of Gillingham North) that you have. I applaud you if you have done what you have said and I think other Councillors (including Jarrett and Chambers who also receive a generous stipend for being "Chancellor" and leader of the Council) should do the same.

I would call on you to do as you have stated in the letter, please publish what you have done and where the money has gone. Worthy causes are to be found through out Gillingham and I'm sure your electorate as well as critics from ALL the parties will be silenced. As a commentator I'm interested in seeing people keep their pledges and I would like you to have done that or face justifiable criticism.

Politicians should keep their promises and the electorate - no matter what their background or political beliefs should be allowed to call you on it in the local press if it is unclear that you have reneged on a promise.

Dai Liyanage

Rumours and whisperings are like fire. They've almost taken on a life of their own and spread over the right type of ground and catch hold. Often half of them are rubbish but that doesn't mean anything as who cares for truth over a good story?

Whisperings and rumours have passed by me over the last few weeks that sections of the Medway Conservatives are trying to link the Medway Libdems with Dai Liyanage. Is this a bad thing?

Certainly not.

Mr Liyanage was once a high ranking member of the local Libdem group, a former treasurer, Mayor of Medway and he is also a very successful member of the community who has done a lot for Medway and the people of his native Sri Lanka. Unfortunately I have never had the privilege of meeting him.

Events transpired that ended his role in the local Libdems in 2010 during the General election. Dai made some very unfortunate comments in the media in which he told voters of Gillingham and Rainham to vote for the then Labour MP Paul Clarke and not waste their vote on Libdem candidate Andy Stamp or the Conservative Reh Chishti would get in.

Well you can imagine how well that went down and how it would go down in any Political party.

The short and tall of it was that Dai resigned as a member of the Liberal Democrats. There was no enquiry, no expulsion and no black marks.

Dai has continued to play a big role in the local area but is considered somewhat controversial by some members. He is a member of DRINK who are a collection of local business people who want to see greater regeneration and investment in the Medway area and North Kent. He is also a proponent of the Hub airport being constructed here. He also supports Political Police Commissioners, something we're not too keen on but hey - everyone has their own opinion!

The point is, some groups are more than happy to use his old association with us and his standpoint to put us in the same boat. Even if Dai was a member it does not follow that his point of view would be the group's point of view.

I have corrected the odd Tweet I've seen that has said "Libdem Dai Liyanage says..." and I've seen a few more so this post is just to make it clear:

Dai Liyanage is not, at this current moment, a member of the Liberal Democrats and he does not speak for the group.

If the whisperings are true and the Conservatives are trying to forge a link that does not exist may be they're trying to discredit us in the eyes of the voters but who knows?

As I said at the beginning, whisperings and rumours are often rubbish and the Conservative group may not have said that in the first place. The point is I'm now laying out the above fact, should it change I'll let you all know!

Libdem Wars - Return of the Independant

In A ward just north of here, in a time... some point last year....

LIBDEM WARS

  EPISODE III

It is a time of turmoil within the Medway Liberal Democrats.The party has split right down the middle as a break away group battles for Independence against the evil COALITION in Westminster.

A young rebel by the name of Andy Stamp has dramatically reported his fellow ward partners for breaches of conduct and reported them to the standards committee.

Now declared innocent he has found himself under attack by the vile forces of the LIBDEMS and now steels himself for a vital defence...

In his letter Andy Stamp has defended his move and said;

I was justified in making my complaint.  .... I felt they had used their position of power to get preferential treatment for housing.

Also that the standards committee believe he did have grounds for his complaint, hence the investigation, but that they could only act on the information given to them by the council and the council felt that

it is normal procedure for councillors to get privileged access when dealing with their own personal issues.

Councillor Stamp was driven to complain on behalf of the residents who he saw on waiting lists for weeks and months and who struggle to get meetings with anyone let alone the assistant to the director of housing in a private office in Gun Wharf. Councillor Stamp also states that the Audit commission found that 33% of people who are in threat of homelessness often have to wait up to six weeks to be rehoused.
Councillor Stamp writes passionately saying that Councillor Sutton bypassed the system and that she should not be allowed to use her rank to circumvent the system.
He then asks three questions;
1.) Was she able to get a meeting straight away with the assistant director of housing in a private office at Gun Wharf to raise her own housing case?
2.) Did Medway council allocate a house for her within a week of the meeting?
3.) Did she recieve a home bond (a deposit and a month's rent) from Medway council?

Que Deborah Upton, an up unto unheard of voice in this debate. She is assistant to the director of housing and was the one to hold the meeting with Councillor Sutton.

I saw Cathy Sutton in my office in my role as monitoring officer. I did not know what the meeting was about beforehand and her housing issues were only part of the issues raised with me. (The rest is of a confidential matter.)
She also says that; Cllr Stamp is aware of this as he has seen all of the information that was released to the Standards committee.

She also goes on to answer the questions for Councillor Stamp;
Medway council did not "allocate" a house to Cllr Sutton. She was advised of several private sector landlords who had suitable property available to rent, and this is the same process that officers follow with clients who are potentially homeless. Cathy Sutton received a Silver homebond from Medway council as she met the council's published criteria.
All clients who meet the criteria are offered a homebond to help them into private rented accommodation, but many choose to wait for social rented property for which there is a substantial waiting list.

So.... From what I can extrapolate no breach has occurred. Cllr Sutton went with Cllr Ruparel to see Ms Upton for several reasons and that Ms Upton followed procedure and did nothing that was out of the ordinary. I understand Cllr Stamp querying this with the Standards board although I think it would have been wiser to deal with it, either internally with in the Liberal Democrat group or spoken to his ward partners rather than make it public at an obviously stressful time for Cllr Sutton. I also think that maybe he should have kept a certain amount of media silence until the outcome of the hearing to show some respect for his former colleagues. That said I do not agree that this should have been rehashed in the "letters to the editor" by an obviously angry Libdem and thus sparking another week of this story with responses but, and I am sure I speak for many on this count, the issue is closed. The committee have read about it, the public have read about it, the solution is clear and it needs to be dropped immediately.

I really hope there is no Episode IV!

For Episode I and II check out;

http://gingerliberal.blogspot.com/2011/07/on-lib-dems-vs-independants.html

http://gingerliberal.blogspot.com/2011/07/medway-libdems-strike-back-again.html

Medway LibDems strike back... Again... Unnecessarily

Just when I thought all that could be said about the subject last week a letter from Alan Jefferies, Lib Dem exec member and former chairman has written to the Kent Messenger on the subject. (Page 34 of the Medway KM)

The letter, in short, calls into question Councillor Stamp's actions during the Standards committee investigation over his allegations against Councillors Ruparel and Sutton.

(http://gingerliberal.blogspot.com/2011/07/on-lib-dems-vs-independants.html)

Mr Jefferies, in a reminiscent statement to his comments posted on the KM website (http://blogs.kentonline.co.uk/post/Et-tu-Brute.aspx) accuses Councillor Stamp of breaking the rules of the investigation and discussing the matter with the press to gain political points whilst his Lib Dem colleagues stayed silent and suffered political damage. Mr Jefferies also is horrified that he has also stepped up to sit on the Standard's committee and says that Councillor Stamp has broken the rules and the public will have no confidence in him and should resign.

This is a pretty firm letter that rises several points.
The main being the accusation of wrong doing by Councillor Stamp. This has been a very public and open split that has damaged the local party in a very Asquith- Lloyd George way and locally it may take years to heal. This complaint has been at the heart of it and yes Councillors Ruparel and Sutton did not release their side of the story but according to Councillor Stamp's statements in the above link, he followed the rules and all the information in his press releases was readily available elsewhere.

This may be another one for the Standard's committee to hold an investigation into the legitimacy of these accusations. I personally think that his being on the committee at this time is a bad strategic move as these accusations fly around and he has an outstanding inquiry into his claim Councillor Juby- our most senior Lib Dem councillor- made Homophobic comments.

I do disagree that Councillor Stamp should resign as a Councillor or that he has lost the support of the public who so emphatically elected him a couple of months ago. To be brutally honest I don't think many of the electorate are interested in cross party squabbles and their results, they want good schools, regular refuse collections etc...

A Bi-election at this time would serve no one well and would be a royal waste of time and money. Turn out would be poor too and would probably return a similar result.
We lost by some way, so I believe this event probably had little impact on the vote. (Councillor Ruparel didn't stand) and we lost as part of a national trend that saw us ripped to shreds. The local party has not yet recovered from the losses nor to my knowledge come up with a solution for rectifying the rout. Could we face another drubbing that could see Councillor Stamp reelected?

No.

I don't blame Mr Jefferies for writing the letter, he raises some valid points and clearly feels personally aggrieved by the whole thing - For himself, his friends and the party. Also if it had happened to my wife or good friends Dave, Caroline or Caz I would have done the same and fought their corner in a similar vain and pursued him like Ahab to the end of both of our political careers. However from a party political point of view all it has done is reopen the wounds.

To conclude; the matter should now be laid to rest, it is doing no one any favours though I do believe an investigation is warranted or even a brief referral just so this matter can be left behind with no recourse for either party.

On Lib Dems vs. Independants.

I felt it fitting on the day that celebrates democratic freedom and fighting for a cause you believe in against a larger oppressive force to talk about the Independent party with in Medway and in particular the actions of Councillor Andy Stamp. (pictured)

Now before I start I want to make it clear that I am not a vengeful Lib Dem with a vested interest - I'm relatively new to the Medway "Active" list and so missed the events of last year and I barely know some of the people so my approach is one of a neutral. I also have never had the pleasure of meeting Councillor Stamp, i voted for him in the General Election and saw him at the Local election count in May. I was half a mind to say "Hello" but the obvious mutual loathing for each party put me off, especially as I was wearing a golden yellow tie and a "Lib Dem Candidate" badge!

So- It all began in the wake of the election defeat of 2010 and, according to some reports, were inflamed by Councellor Stamp's failed leadership bid for the Lib Dems in Medway.

It was reported in the KM on June 18th that he had resigned as deputy leader. Councillor Geoff Juby, the Lib Dem group leader said;

I don't think he was too happy with the Lib Dem and Conservative coalition at a national level and he also sited over issues which he did not discuss with me.

These issues were also echoed by Pat Cooper who left the Lib Dems over the U-turn on tuition fees and councillor Burt and Dan MacDonald also left and in May Gillingham North fell from our hands to a full independent team. There was also a move by the party to oust the Lib Dem team from Gillingham south, regular readers may have seen my review of their flyer here;

http://gingerliberal.blogspot.com/2011/04/independent-news-hits-my-door-step-and.html

I have no problem with splitting on principles. In fact I support it. It is bad for the party, obviously and splits the vote- and I would urge disgruntled Liberals to argue and hash out issues at conference rather than just bailing out...

BUTRight, now we get on to the ugly part. Again I am NOT taking slides or saying anything that hasn't been said in the press and I will let the reader decide what to think.

In October 2009 Gillingham South councillor Cathy Sutton's relationship broke down and she had to move out of her ex partner's house very quickly, naturally distraught she turned to her Ward partner Councillor Maureen Ruparel for advice and together they went to see the head of Medway Housing department for advice and help. Councillor Stamp (the third ward partner) felt that this was preferential treatment. At some point after that Councillor Sutton's address was published and her teenage son, naturally angry, blamed Councillor Stamp and was going to pay him a visit, Councillor Ruparel parked outside his house hoping to intercept him before he got to Councillor Stamp.

Still with me?
Right. Councillor Stamp then accused Councillor Ruparel of Intimidation tactics against him. All these actions were not officially reported until September 2010 almost a year later and the results are only just being published.

Sceptics and angry Lib Dems have accused Councillor Stamp of playing a political game to gain points at the Local election in May in which Cathy lost her seat and Maureen declined to stand.
Councillor Stamp argued that he did report it to the Liberal Democrat party in December 2009 and they didn't begin investigating until July 2010 after he had left the party and their results are still not available. There is a very bitter argument on the KM website between Councillor Stamp and Alan Jefferies one of the leading lights in the local Lib Dem party which you can see here;

http://blogs.kentonline.co.uk/post/Et-tu-Brute.aspx

Another side to the issue is that as the Standards committee were looking into the case all parties had to maintain a media silence and not talk about the case yet Councillor Stamp often talked to the media whilst the accused remained silent.

Right the results of the inquest;

Councillor Sutton did not carry out any wrong doing or seek any preferential help.
Councillor Ruparel, at the age of 70 and who walks with a cane did not pose a threat to a young man in his mid 20's and his two friends.

Both were exonerated.

It was done purely for political gain as he waited nearly a year before putting the complaint in and then, when it looked as though the hearing would be before the local elections, he delayed the process so that it couldn't be heard until it was too late to publish a denial.- Cathy Sutton

Sheer humanity and common sense should have made him compassionate to Cathy's situation instead of causing so much grief to her and her family.  - Maureen Ruparel

Councillor Juby had also stated that Councillor Stamp has slowed down the investigation, wasted tax payers money on a nothing investigation, and taking advantage of the system to score political points.

In Conclusion;

It is a bit of a massive tangled web that has done no one any favours.
I know feelings run deep on both sides and points have been scored and conceeded and two good councillors lost their seats but now both groups need to move on and accept that we both exist and appeal to the same sections of the electorate.

Yes disagree on issues and publically debate policy but we need to get on with the Adult buisness of local government and representing the electorate and play the game like adults, not slinging mud like kids on a playground!

And I'm talking to both sides.

Lets draw a line under it all and move on.

Just to say Thanks to Councillor Tristan Osborne, I used his blog as a starting post for the research for this post. It can be found here ;

http://musingsfrommedway.blogspot.com/

This post is also dedicated to the memory of our Hamster Squishy who passed away on 4th July 2011 at two years old.

And low... it continues; http://gingerliberal.blogspot.com/2011/07/medway-libdems-strike-back-again.html