Putting a Stamp on it

Alan Watkins has been on the Medway Political scene longer than I have trodden feet upon this Earth but the caustic back-and-forth on his blog between the Medway Liberal Democrats in full public has to be read to be believed.

Andy Stamp has responded to the charge of Alan Jefferies with a vicious assault on his character and indeed with additional slurs on Cllr Herbie Crack and other former colleagues.

Andy has responded to the charges with a vitriolic attack on the former Chief Whip with a few further allegations.

"I am not in the least surprised by this latest series of personal attacks, lies and slurs from Mr Jefferies. This is the same Mr Jefferies who was instrumental in forcing out former Liberal Democrat Councillor Ian Burt (who also now sits as an Independent Councillor).

This is the same Mr Jefferies who submitted a formal complaint to the Chief Executive about Lib Dem Councillor Herbie Crack for innocently taking photographs outside a polling station. It is no coincidence that Councillor Crack has suddenly announced he is standing down as a Councillor, despite having said only days earlier that he wanted to seek re-election for another four years. All indications are that he jumped before he was pushed.

I have not ignored the legally supported rules of the standards board. What has been reported in the local press merely repeats the publicly available information which is on Medway Council’s website.

Mr Jefferies did not advise me to take action in December 2009. In fact I am surprised he can remember talking to me about the issue, because he turned up at my house somewhat intoxicated. He said he had contacted the Regional Chairman about my concerns but had not done so: Mr Jefferies was caught lying red-handed by the Regional Chairman and even fabricated complaints about me – a bullying tactic in the hope of keeping me quiet on the issue.

Bullying is rife in the local Liberal Democrats – maybe somebody should ask Councillor Diana Smith, who, as Whip, was often forced to give out instructions she did not want to.

I did in fact ask for the Regional Liberal Democrats to investigate the issue back in December 2009. They did not investigate until July 2010 and by the time I resigned from the Liberal Democrats in October 2010, they had still not reported their findings. They still refuse to release details of their internal investigation, not even to Liberal Democrat members.

It is no surprise they have allegedly cleared their two Councillors of wrongdoing. Afterall, turkeys are not in the habit of voting for Christmas. My resignation from the party gave the Lib Dems the perfect opportunity to cover this up.

The “Chief Legal Officer of Medway Council and the Monitoring Officer” is not under investigation. The complaint is not about their conduct and their career is not at risk, so Mr Jefferies should not try to cloud the issue . There have been no delays on my part in relation to the standards investigation.

I have consistently opposed several aspects of the coalition in local newsletters to residents, to the press and in the Council chamber. For Mr Jefferies to state otherwise is a complete lie. Sadly, Mr Jefferies gets a kick out of attacking other people, and he is not used to somebody standing up to him publicly by exposing him as a liar.

Finally, had I been elected as Lib Dem Group Leader, my first action would have been to suspend two Councillors from it. Perhaps herein lies the answer – they would never have voted for their own demise. With hindsight they did me a huge favour; the Coalition government has a lot to answer for.

I am fed up with the Lib Dem mud slinging and would now like to return to concentrating on resolving problems on behalf of local residents, as I have done tirelessly for the past four years."

The last senstence is particularly eye-raising given the umm, proverbial tonne of mud that he just flinged in full public view onto his former colleagues.

The public in Gillingham are tired of the Liberal Democrat factionalism and are looking for an organised and capable opposition in the ward. Not grand-standing but listening Councillors who will be out on the doorstep week-in and week-out listening and dealing with small or big concerns of the people of Gillingham.

If this commentary proves everything it is the whole lot of Liberals have totally lost the plot to govern.

Meanwhile, Medway Labour has distanced themselves from the allegation in the latest Indpendent publication that Labour made formal approaches to Andy Stamp for him to join the Labour Party.

Where conversations were held they were done at the behest and consent of both parties, in good faith of discretion, and clearly failed.