To further muddy the picture, the two Labour councillors reported to plod by council chief executive, Alex Linkston, under the councils Anti-Fraud and Corruption Policy are Councillor Willie Dunn and Councillor Graeme Morrice. Councillor Morrice is of course the PPC for Labour, the man tipped to replace poor Jim Devine.
According to Independent Councillor Gordon Beurskens the allegations are some 8 months old and refer back to the period when Labour were in control of the council. He further alleges that the crown and police have sat on this story and done nothing for the past eight months.
What I find astonishing is that this decision by the soon to retire Chief Executive, (he's taking a 45 year old pension with him) was taken on the 8th of April, the Action to save St John's Hospital Party put it out as press release on the 12th of April, yet here we are having just popped into the 18th April and there has been no mention of it in the mainstream media, nor even the West Lothian Councils own 'Newsroom'.
The Scotsman did a quite high profile piece on the Livingstone constituency on the 14th of April, a full six days after the decision had been made, once again for emphasis, by the Council Chief Executive, to report Morrice and Dunn to the police. They managed to include a couple of quotes from Morrice about the 'scandal' of Jim Devine being on Legal Aid and give him their customary free kick at the SNP. But no mention of what is surely a fairly large story, given Councillor Morrice's current ambition and potential job...
Councillor Beurskens, appears to have attracted a lot of opprobrium from the usual sources, in fact The Sunday Herald's favourite wee terrier, Paul Hutcheon has yet another 'exclusive' giving Cllr Beursken a quite tremendous shafting, whilst predictably, also shoeing the SNP at the same. Naturally, he makes no mention of either Messrs Dunn and Morrice...
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10 comments:
Not being much of a Blogg reader, I didn't know you were still in the game...I only stumbled across this while trying to find a MSM link to this story, Zimbabwe indeed - Zip- Zilch - Nil -Nada.
P.S. Keep smelling the Cheese
Ahh welcome Col Blimp, how fares the war? Remember, it starts at Midnight.
Isn't there some rule about not standing for parliament if you are being investigated by plod?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/16/stand_for_election/
This article has a link to a pdf with the long list of those disqualified from being MPs but apparently that does not bar such people from standing...
"There is a fairly long list of people disqualified from being a member of Parliament, including members of the police and armed forces, civil servants, judges, undischarged bankrupts and convicted prisoners serving a prison sentence of more than 12 months.
Note the wording carefully: such individuals cannot be members of Parliament. That does not stop any of the above from standing, so long as, on the day they take up their seat, the disqualification no longer applies to them. But if you think you may be debarred for any reason don’t take our word for it - get legal advice."
Thanks Sheila. Excellent.
Sheila
You're right we have to resign from the Armed Forces to stand for Parliament, it's the quickest way out on an election year! I have an acquaintance who did that in 1997.
CD
Hmmm are you sure about the provenance of this story? Because aside from the fact that Labour would need to be even madder than the big maddies they are to stand a PPC who is actively getting investigated by the polis, I am struggling hard to think of a situation where a Councillor reported to the authorities for corruption in amy form wasn't suspended from the party group.
Which is why it is widely telt that Purcell has been suspended, although there is no confirmation of that, that I know of.
Hi Observer, I wasn't completely sure until wee Hutcheon put his boot in on Sunday. Now I smell fit up. Naturally, in a normal Scotland our media would ask the question...
As a Scottish nationalist, you really ought to know better than to spell "Livingston" with an "e".
Oh Lordy, RevStu I can only apologise for such a heinous crime. In my defence I have been reading about the good Blantyre Doctor lately and can only surmise that's where the error in joined thinking stems from.
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