Tory Hypocrisy

[steveL]

This leaflets tries to suggest neutrality on the issue but the tone of it does anything but ....
"The majority of back bench Councillors only find out what has been agreed, after the decisions have been made."

Cabinet meetings are open to the public and Councillors can attend Cabinet meeting if they choose to do so. Of course, if you refuse to put forward your own councillors to serve on the cabinet, which is what you have done, it's more than a little hypocritical when you complain your councillors are the last to know.

"The alternative to having an elected Mayor is to have a Leader of the Council and Committees made up of back bench councillors. The Leader is elected annually (so no job for life) by Councillors who are themselves elected by you, the electorate."

The alternative is to have a permanent Labour Leader of the Council even though Labour have failed to get their own Mayoral candidate elected three times which clearly shows that the electorate do not want Labour at the steering wheel.

The largest party controls the appointments of Committee Chairs and makes sure that they have the Chair of virtually all committees. The only way for a non-Labour councillor to be given a Chair is to agree to comply with Labour in the Council Chamber which explains why the local Tories vote with Labour every time - even when this goes against their own national policy. It also explains why PHF which is the 2nd largest party in the council chamber was denied any committee chairs.

If anything approaching proportionality was being operated, then one-third of the Chairs of Committees would be held by non-Labour councillors.

"These committees are open to the public and their discussions and decisions are reported in publicly available minutes and often the Hartlepool Mail

As are Cabinet meetings

"As your ward Councillors, we will work with whatever system is in place as chosen by you on November 15th

Oh really? Then why aren't you doing this now? As things stand, the decision to have an elected Mayor was made 11 years ago and Stuart  Drummond has been elected 3 times having stood against both Labour and Tory candidates. You may not like it, but that doesn't give you the right to ignore the wishes of the voters - that's how democracy works.

. . . and you can't refuse to cooperate on the basis of what you guess or hope the result of a future referendum would be which is what you have done by refusing to put forward councillors to serve on the Cabinet.

Sour Grapes. If you can't win at the polls - change the rules.   
 

[The Great Dictator]

We shall find out on Nov 15 ?

[SRMoore]

I'm out at the moment so I'll comment on the leafelt when I get home.

What I will quickly comment on is the blatant lie you continue to tell people about PHF and committee chairs. You have stated in your original post and at the debate at EMS that your party was not offered a single chairmanship despite being the second largest party on council. This is completely incorrect as PHF was offered the chair of the audit committee. The problem was that Cllr Lilley was that obsessed with taking everything the tories had the position was refused in favour of applying for the posts that are currently held by us.
The obsession bacame that great that dummys were thrown out of the pram when despite the Lib Dems office now being vacant, PHF demanded the Conservatives move out of their office and take up the empty one.

Telling a lie over and over doesn't make it true Steve.

[steveL]

Well if that's what Mr Wells has told you then of course it must be right.  Why don't you lot just join the Labour Party and cut out the middle man?

[SRMoore]

Ohh great comeback.sorry you don't like the truth.

[steveL]

If you want to be a true blue Tory, Shane, I suggest you join the Stockton Branch; the local branch has been hijacked.

[Lord Elpus]

I'm out at the moment so I'll comment on the leafelt when I get home.

What I will quickly comment on is the blatant lie you continue to tell people about PHF and committee chairs. You have stated in your original post and at the debate at EMS that your party was not offered a single chairmanship despite being the second largest party on council. This is completely incorrect as PHF was offered the chair of the audit committee. The problem was that Cllr Lilley was that obsessed with taking everything the tories had the position was refused in favour of applying for the posts that are currently held by us.
The obsession bacame that great that dummys were thrown out of the pram when despite the Lib Dems office now being vacant, PHF demanded the Conservatives move out of their office and take up the empty one.

Telling a lie over and over doesn't make it true Steve.

I was part of the round table meetings in May and I can assure readers that PHF was not offered a single chair.  Also the Tory group are still in the same Office within the Civic they've roosted in for the last three years.  I don't know who gives Mr Moore his information but they are not telling him the truth. 

[SRMoore]

I am. True blue collar tory Steve and I joined the Stockton Branch first when I lived in the constituency. Rebuilding the local branch is now my priority. Thabks for your concern but I believe it would be better use in quelling the infighting in your own association. 

[notenoughsaid]

Has anybody taken a close look at the signatures??   In particular those of Mr.Wells and Mr.Morris show several similarities in my mind.   Both appear to be written in an open and free flowing style however the distance between Christian and Surnames are almost identical and also both surnames appear slightly lower.  In addition certain letters are also very similar. In particular the 'e' in Wells and George and more so the final 's' on each surname.  Finally the generous width of each capital also appears to show both have been written by the same hand.   Just a thought.   

[steveL]

I wish you well but you don't need to fell the whole tree; just prune the rotten branches.

[steveL]

Has anybody taken a close look at the signatures??   In particular those of Mr.Wells and Mr.Morris show several similarities in my mind.   Both appear to be written in an open and free flowing style however the distance between Christian and Surnames are almost identical and also both surnames appear slightly lower.  In addition certain letters are also very similar. In particular the 'e' in Wells and George and more so the final 's' on each surname.  Finally the generous width of each capital also appears to show both have been written by the same hand.   Just a thought.

....ooops...well spotted NES. I've just taken another look and you're dead right....a case of the 'e's and the 's's have it.

[SRMoore]

I'm out at the moment so I'll comment on the leafelt when I get home.

What I will quickly comment on is the blatant lie you continue to tell people about PHF and committee chairs. You have stated in your original post and at the debate at EMS that your party was not offered a single chairmanship despite being the second largest party on council. This is completely incorrect as PHF was offered the chair of the audit committee. The problem was that Cllr Lilley was that obsessed with taking everything the tories had the position was refused in favour of applying for the posts that are currently held by us.
The obsession bacame that great that dummys were thrown out of the pram when despite the Lib Dems office now being vacant, PHF demanded the Conservatives move out of their office and take up the empty one.

Telling a lie over and over doesn't make it true Steve.

I was part of the round table meetings in May and I can assure readers that PHF was not offered a single chair.  I don't know who gives Mr Moore his information but they are not telling the truth.

With all due respect, I'd expect the leader of PHF to say that. I got my information from numerous sources who were also present at said meetings and I also attended the council meeting where positions were voted on. I clearly heard your wife, a lovely lady I may add, that "it's a good job I didn't actually want that position" when she lost the vote against the conservative nomination.

So please stop telling that fib and let's move forward eh?

[steveL]

Perhaps someone could tell us how many Chairs of Committees the respective parties have?

Committee Chairs:
Audit Committee: Christopher Akers-Belcher
Scrutiny Committee: Marjorie James
Constitution Committee: Stephen Akers-Belcher
General Purposes Committe: Rob Cook
Licensing: George Morris
Planning Committee: Rob Cook
Children's Services Committee: Christopher Akers-Belcher
Neighbourhood Services Committee: Sylvia Tempest
Health Scrutiny Firum: Stephen Akers-Belcher
North Neighbourhood Forum: Mary Fleet
South Neighbourhood Forum: Kevin Cranney

Seems to me that the Tories sold their souls pretty cheaply for a Chair of the Licensing Committee and with only 3 Councillors compared to PHF's 4 (at the time) and Independents 5 (at the time) the wonder is that they make a showing at all.

Labour have roughly 2/3 of the council seats yet have claimed virtually all of the committee chairs apart from licensing which I guess is the price paid for having 100% compliance in supporting the labour vote in the council chamber. Interesting that the A-Bs claim so many Chairs for themselves. You would think with 21 Councillors to choose from they would have spread it around a bit but then there are different kinds of Labour Councillors and not all are signed up members of the Cabal.

If this is the sort of democracy on offer then I think I'll go with Drummond for the moment.

[Lord Elpus]

'and I also attended the council meeting where positions were voted on' SRMOORE.

The reason why we PHF pushed it to a vote was because it was not offered during round table talks and I suspect S R Moore knows that. 

[SRMoore]

Perseus, I wouldn't have registered if I didn't believe there was some truth in what you just said. Hence my frustration everytime Steve tarrs everybody with the same brush. It's unhelpful and divides the opposition at a time when anybody with their eyes open can see me attempting to engage in an open dialog with the other parties. It's a shame the main hostility comes from a party who wishes to put party politics aside!