4 December - Here they go again
I used to think that Bexley Council was the most dishonest organisation I had
ever encountered in my life. Maybe I had better rephrase that more accurately.
There was a time when I knew that Bexley Council was the most dishonest
organisation I had ever encountered and there is quite enough evidence within
these pages to support that view.
A Chief Executive and Council Leader who colluded to allow the former to
transfer his employment to another Council with a Golden Goodbye and huge
sickness pension which taxpayers are still funding. A Council Leader who abused
credit cards and received a suspended prison sentence. A Deputy Leader who
refused to report her boss to the police. A Leader who worked hand in glove with
the police to stifle criticism and a Chief Executive who colluded with them to
get criminal charges dropped. I hope that is enough for now but there is more if
you remain unconvinced.
Very few of the senior officers were honest. We had a husband and wife Director
and Deputy team with one marking the other’s annual assessment and another who
did not possess the professional qualifications which his job description
demanded. Fortunately every last one of them has gone and with one or two
possible exceptions their replacements appear to be in an altogether different
league. At the time I wouldn’t have trusted more than one of the Cabinet Members but
if I overlook the one I saw commit perjury in a Crown Court witness box the
present crew appear to be both honest and reasonably competent, well most of
them anyway!
I have speculated in the
past that the spotlight of social media, webcasts and maybe even BiB had steered a thoroughly rotten borough into the realms of respectability
but another thought has recently occurred to me.
I used to know of and regularly cooperate with five Council agitators who would
ask questions at every meeting but for various reasons they have all gone now. One specialised in submitting Freedom of
Information requests. My favourite was “Please provide a photocopy of the
Mayor’s official diary for Friday 21st March 2014”. It was refused but the
Information Commissioner intervened. The diary entry showed that the denied strip show in
unlicensed premises was an official Council, or at least Conservative, event.
Probing Freedom of Information requests were effectively banned when Michael
Barnbrook, a man who was friends with Stephen Lawrence and his father before
Stephen was murdered and who financially supported a little mixed race boy who
would otherwise have had a much more miserable life was labelled a racist by Bexley Council.
Racists can’t make FOIs apparently and the ICO confirmed it.
Mick had asked one too many questions about a black Council employee who he was
sure was being less than honest - and perhaps he was because he lost his job soon
afterwards. But it was a way to silence Mick who had submitted around 100 FOIs
over about five years, many of them close to being duplicates because the first question was never answered.
This is pretty much what Mr. Shvorob said at last month’s Council meeting. He
was accused
by the Council Leader of submitting 15 FOIs and he told her that if the
Council answered questions in the first place most would be unnecessary. Revenge has now been taken.
Just like Mick was ten years ago, Mr. Shvorob has been banned from submitting
more Freedom of Information requests. An Appendix to his banning letter lists
115 from the past 18 months, in excess of Mr. Barnebrook’s tally and over a much shorter period.
The letter goes on to accuse Mr. Shvorob of submitting FOIs that cause staff
distress; poor things. Mick was accused of that too when his FOI responses proved
their dishonesty.
Mr. Shvorob occasionally sends me copies of his FOIs; about once a month if my
email Inbox is any guide and once or twice I have found them to be at the
trivial end of the scale. Of the 100 I knew nothing about many appear to be
duplicates, presumably because Bexley Council has employed its favourite trick
of not answering the original question.
So now we have no one I know of regularly keeping a watchful eye on Bexley Council.
Scrutiny meetings are no substitute for FOIs. As has been noted here many times,
Councillors’ questions are very often not answered properly and most Councillors
meekly accept the situation as if they were not very interested in the answer anyway.
The banning letter was signed by the Leader’s loyal servant Kate Bonham, Deputy
Director, Finance & Corporate Services.
Note; His friends and supporters may wish to know that Mick
Barnbrook has been in and out of hospital for the past two years and is
currently in a very serious condition in Margate Hospital. His many friends will
no doubt be wishing him all the best.