Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Liars, all of them.
Early last month, the council, Vera Baird MP and Robert Goodwill MP for Scarborough and Whitby, issued a joint press statement denouncing the film "Coatham a common concern". Despite their protestations that it was libellous and untrue, neither the council or Vera Baird have started any legal proceedings or taken any legal action to get the film stopped from being shown, or against the individuals who are directly involved with it. Strange for something that is so libellous, especially as over 800 people have now seen it in screenings across the borough?
Within that joint statement was this paragraph.
"A minority of protestors have alleged there is corruption within the Council in relation to this scheme and that it is being driven forward against residents’ wishes. These allegations have been investigated by the Police, Courts, Audit Commission, the local Member of Parliament and the Ombudsman – all of which has confirmed that the Council has done nothing wrong".
Shortly after this was put onto the councils website, but strangely not issued in a press release? I sent FOI requests to the Police, the Audit Commission, the Ombudsman and the Council asking for them to provide me with confirmations of these investigations, the investigations reports, the reports findings, who carried these investigations out and when?
You may be shocked to learn, especially when this council made this statement publicly in conjunction with two MP's, that it is an absolute tissue of lies.
Firstly here is the response from the police...
Dear Mr McGlade,Enquiry Ref : 2009/1696I
write in connection with your request for information dated 21 May 2009 concerning Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council.
Re your below request:"I am sending this email now to clarify my FOI request. Under the Freedom Of Information Act I would like to know if The Cleveland Police Force has ever carried out an investigation into Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council over allegations of corruption? If a corruption investigation into Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has ever taken place, then I would like you to provide me with the confirmation of this investigation, the report that was made regarding this investigation, the reports findings, the date that the investigation was started and completed and the identities of the people who carried out the investigation.I hope that this clarifies totally my FOI request and the information that I am requesting.
"Having made enquiries into your request I can confirm on behalf of Cleveland Police that no information is held.If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request you have the right to request that we review your case under our review procedure. If you decide to request that such a review is undertaken and following this process you are still dissatisfied you then have the right to direct your complaint to the Information Commissioner for consideration.If I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Pc 121 James Conlin
Freedom Of Information
Wetherby House.
And here is the response from the Audit Commission...
Your request for information
I can confirm that the Audit Commission has not carried out an investigation into Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council over allegations of corruption and there are therefore no details to disclose to you of any such investigation by the Audit Commission.
The Audit Commission has not withheld any information in relation to this request under the exemptions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Separate from the Audit Commission, there are occasions when investigations are carried out by District Auditors. But only in respect of matters that come within the statutory functions of the District Auditor, as explained in the information provided to you by our Complaints Unit. The need for any such investigation is a matter for the District Auditor to decide personally and is not
a decision of the Audit Commission.
If the District Auditor decides that there is a need for an investigation, the work may eventually lead to a publicly available report by the District Auditor. Depending on the subject matter, findings and recommendations may be in the Annual Audit and Inspection Letter for the audited body or in statutory recommendations or a public interest report issued by the District Auditor
under the provisions of the ACA.
Advice and assistance
Under Section 16 of the FoIA the Audit Commission has a duty to provide advice and assistance, so far as it would be reasonable to expect a public authority to do so. We did this in our previous correspondence with you and I trust that the further explanations in my letter are helpful to you.
And finally here is the response from the council...
FOI 09 175
Further to my acknowledgement of your Freedom of Information request, I can confirm that the Council does not hold the information you requested. You asked : (These allegations have been investigated by the Police, Courts, Audit Commission, the local Member of Parliament and the Ombudsman – all of which has confirmed that the Council has done nothing wrong.) I would like you to provide me with the investigation reports from all of the aforementioned bodies or individuals investigations, along with all of the investigation confirmations. I would also like to know who specifically carried out the investigations and when they were carried out. I would also like to know when these investigations were completed and I would like to know who asked them to be carried out by the above bodies or individuals.
Our Response: The Council does not have the reports you request and is therefore unable to supply them to you or provide specific details about them. If you are not satisfied with how your request has been dealt with then you are free to make a complaint either to the Council or to the Information Commissioner. You will find details of the complaints procedure on the Council's Website at http://www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/YrCounc1.nsf/Web+Full+List/EA933A45C0016DCB80256BA00049DF2A?OpenDocument (alternatively by using the A-Z Index from the home page). The Information Commissioner is an independent person who has responsibility for overseeing the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000. More details can be obtained from the Information Commissioner’s website at http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/ .
regards Ken Hamer Constitution Officer 01642 444626
The only body who wouldn't answer strangely enough, was the Ombudsman? She tried hiding behind some beaurocratic redtape and some clause as an excuse to not provide the information that everyone else, even the council, did not attempt to hide behind. So much for the Ombudsman trying to defend the public from such abuses and such blatant lies.
But more than this, when not only a council, but TWO MP's issue a joint statement that contains things that are completely untrue and they know that they are, then what does that really say?
When a local authority, backed up by its MP and the MP from a neighbouring constituency put out a blatantly untrue statement that tries to convince the public that these public bodies have investigated corruption in the council and found that all is well, when no investigations have even taken place, then that shows the desperation that these people are feeling. They are as guilty as sin and they know they are. They have been caught bang to rights on so many counts and are desperately trying to make everyone believe that they are whiter than white when clearly they are not.
Lets hope that someone has the courage to speak out about this and call for the investigation that Robert Goodwill was going to call for before he was warned off by Vera Baird. What a silly man Mr Goodwill is, rather than stand up for what he knows is the truth, he has aligned himself with those who are telling so many lies and who are guilty of so many things and has been so easily exposed.
Within that joint statement was this paragraph.
"A minority of protestors have alleged there is corruption within the Council in relation to this scheme and that it is being driven forward against residents’ wishes. These allegations have been investigated by the Police, Courts, Audit Commission, the local Member of Parliament and the Ombudsman – all of which has confirmed that the Council has done nothing wrong".
Shortly after this was put onto the councils website, but strangely not issued in a press release? I sent FOI requests to the Police, the Audit Commission, the Ombudsman and the Council asking for them to provide me with confirmations of these investigations, the investigations reports, the reports findings, who carried these investigations out and when?
You may be shocked to learn, especially when this council made this statement publicly in conjunction with two MP's, that it is an absolute tissue of lies.
Firstly here is the response from the police...
Dear Mr McGlade,Enquiry Ref : 2009/1696I
write in connection with your request for information dated 21 May 2009 concerning Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council.
Re your below request:"I am sending this email now to clarify my FOI request. Under the Freedom Of Information Act I would like to know if The Cleveland Police Force has ever carried out an investigation into Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council over allegations of corruption? If a corruption investigation into Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has ever taken place, then I would like you to provide me with the confirmation of this investigation, the report that was made regarding this investigation, the reports findings, the date that the investigation was started and completed and the identities of the people who carried out the investigation.I hope that this clarifies totally my FOI request and the information that I am requesting.
"Having made enquiries into your request I can confirm on behalf of Cleveland Police that no information is held.If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request you have the right to request that we review your case under our review procedure. If you decide to request that such a review is undertaken and following this process you are still dissatisfied you then have the right to direct your complaint to the Information Commissioner for consideration.If I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Pc 121 James Conlin
Freedom Of Information
Wetherby House.
And here is the response from the Audit Commission...
Your request for information
I can confirm that the Audit Commission has not carried out an investigation into Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council over allegations of corruption and there are therefore no details to disclose to you of any such investigation by the Audit Commission.
The Audit Commission has not withheld any information in relation to this request under the exemptions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Separate from the Audit Commission, there are occasions when investigations are carried out by District Auditors. But only in respect of matters that come within the statutory functions of the District Auditor, as explained in the information provided to you by our Complaints Unit. The need for any such investigation is a matter for the District Auditor to decide personally and is not
a decision of the Audit Commission.
If the District Auditor decides that there is a need for an investigation, the work may eventually lead to a publicly available report by the District Auditor. Depending on the subject matter, findings and recommendations may be in the Annual Audit and Inspection Letter for the audited body or in statutory recommendations or a public interest report issued by the District Auditor
under the provisions of the ACA.
Advice and assistance
Under Section 16 of the FoIA the Audit Commission has a duty to provide advice and assistance, so far as it would be reasonable to expect a public authority to do so. We did this in our previous correspondence with you and I trust that the further explanations in my letter are helpful to you.
And finally here is the response from the council...
FOI 09 175
Further to my acknowledgement of your Freedom of Information request, I can confirm that the Council does not hold the information you requested. You asked : (These allegations have been investigated by the Police, Courts, Audit Commission, the local Member of Parliament and the Ombudsman – all of which has confirmed that the Council has done nothing wrong.) I would like you to provide me with the investigation reports from all of the aforementioned bodies or individuals investigations, along with all of the investigation confirmations. I would also like to know who specifically carried out the investigations and when they were carried out. I would also like to know when these investigations were completed and I would like to know who asked them to be carried out by the above bodies or individuals.
Our Response: The Council does not have the reports you request and is therefore unable to supply them to you or provide specific details about them. If you are not satisfied with how your request has been dealt with then you are free to make a complaint either to the Council or to the Information Commissioner. You will find details of the complaints procedure on the Council's Website at http://www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/YrCounc1.nsf/Web+Full+List/EA933A45C0016DCB80256BA00049DF2A?OpenDocument (alternatively by using the A-Z Index from the home page). The Information Commissioner is an independent person who has responsibility for overseeing the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000. More details can be obtained from the Information Commissioner’s website at http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/ .
regards Ken Hamer Constitution Officer 01642 444626
The only body who wouldn't answer strangely enough, was the Ombudsman? She tried hiding behind some beaurocratic redtape and some clause as an excuse to not provide the information that everyone else, even the council, did not attempt to hide behind. So much for the Ombudsman trying to defend the public from such abuses and such blatant lies.
But more than this, when not only a council, but TWO MP's issue a joint statement that contains things that are completely untrue and they know that they are, then what does that really say?
When a local authority, backed up by its MP and the MP from a neighbouring constituency put out a blatantly untrue statement that tries to convince the public that these public bodies have investigated corruption in the council and found that all is well, when no investigations have even taken place, then that shows the desperation that these people are feeling. They are as guilty as sin and they know they are. They have been caught bang to rights on so many counts and are desperately trying to make everyone believe that they are whiter than white when clearly they are not.
Lets hope that someone has the courage to speak out about this and call for the investigation that Robert Goodwill was going to call for before he was warned off by Vera Baird. What a silly man Mr Goodwill is, rather than stand up for what he knows is the truth, he has aligned himself with those who are telling so many lies and who are guilty of so many things and has been so easily exposed.
// posted by Chris McGlade @ 9:52 AM
Thursday, June 18, 2009
The guilty try to cover their tracks...
Today the list of MP's expenses,Vera Bairds included, were made public. Despite the soundbites from Parliament stating loudly and clearly that there would be openness and transparency, huge swathes of these expense forms etc, following the furore that has erupted in the press about this subject, had been blacked out and kept from the public. Had it not been for the Daily Telegraph being leaked a copy of the uncensored copies of expenses, no-one would have known that these scrounging, fiddling, greedy hypocrites had claimed for the things that they had. They KNEW that they were wrong and they tried to cover their tracks and these censored versions of their expenses, damn them still further because they have tried to hide their claims.
This is an absolute disgrace and a clear indication that these dishonest people, who in my opinion are akin to the 'dole scroungers' and the 'benefit fraudsters', living on the breadline and who are castigated by these same MP's, are concealing things that they do not want anyone to know. If one of these benefit fraudsters had been caught bang to rights claiming and trying to claim for money that they were not entitled to, would they be allowed to withold information and details about the scale and the size of their fraud? Would they be able to hide behind the fact that what they were doing was not against the law, that they were acting within the rules if they had created the rules in the first place? Would they escape investigation and conviction?
The answer to those questions is no they wouldn't. So why are these parliamentary parasites, these legal 'dole scroungers' allowed to get away with it and no more than a slap on the wrist and a "naughty boy/girl you'll have to stand down and don't get caught again!"
What makes MP's far worse than unemployed people or people on low income fraudulently taking public money out of the pot, is that these elected, upright 'pillars of society' are already being paid thousands, hundreds of thousands of pounds even, of public money as a salary. In the case of our scrounging MP Vera Baird, she is paid over £125,000 per year.
So looking at the expense claims that are not blacked out, why has she put claims in for pan scourers that cost 49p, masking tape and paint brushes just over £3.00, why is she getting her council tax and utility bills paid for in a house in Redcar that she barely uses? Why does she think that she is entitled to have the public in her constituency pay for a Chamonix door at a cost of £1199.00? Or a set of oak tables and chairs and a bench at £4570? Or a conservatory at over SIX AND A HALF THOUSAND POUNDS! And to cap it all, why does she think that the tax payers of Redcar and Cleveland should pay for groceries for her at a cost of £210.00? As a vegetarian, that's an awful lot of carrots and cabbages. Why doesn't this absolute scrounger pay for her own groceries from the vast wage that she gets paid. I was always brought up to believe that thats how things worked. You went to work, got paid a wage and paid for the things that you need for your everyday living, from those wages.
With this out and out scrounger, she has the tenet of well what I earn is mine and I will get Joe Public to pay all of my living costs.
Why doesn't she simply use some of her massive salary to pay for these things? It almost makes her claim for Christmas trees and decorations seem insignificant. When you also consider that as was exposed in the Telegraph, this woman as a junior barrister tried to claim more than she was entitled to and when you consider her attempts at trying to cover for the most rotten of local authorities in her constituency over the issue of Coatham and other things, is she really the person who should be our MP? Is this the calibre we would expect of the Solicitor General of England?
Its about time she and the rotten council that she tries to protect, were investigated and the guilty sacked and asked to stand down.
This is an absolute disgrace and a clear indication that these dishonest people, who in my opinion are akin to the 'dole scroungers' and the 'benefit fraudsters', living on the breadline and who are castigated by these same MP's, are concealing things that they do not want anyone to know. If one of these benefit fraudsters had been caught bang to rights claiming and trying to claim for money that they were not entitled to, would they be allowed to withold information and details about the scale and the size of their fraud? Would they be able to hide behind the fact that what they were doing was not against the law, that they were acting within the rules if they had created the rules in the first place? Would they escape investigation and conviction?
The answer to those questions is no they wouldn't. So why are these parliamentary parasites, these legal 'dole scroungers' allowed to get away with it and no more than a slap on the wrist and a "naughty boy/girl you'll have to stand down and don't get caught again!"
What makes MP's far worse than unemployed people or people on low income fraudulently taking public money out of the pot, is that these elected, upright 'pillars of society' are already being paid thousands, hundreds of thousands of pounds even, of public money as a salary. In the case of our scrounging MP Vera Baird, she is paid over £125,000 per year.
So looking at the expense claims that are not blacked out, why has she put claims in for pan scourers that cost 49p, masking tape and paint brushes just over £3.00, why is she getting her council tax and utility bills paid for in a house in Redcar that she barely uses? Why does she think that she is entitled to have the public in her constituency pay for a Chamonix door at a cost of £1199.00? Or a set of oak tables and chairs and a bench at £4570? Or a conservatory at over SIX AND A HALF THOUSAND POUNDS! And to cap it all, why does she think that the tax payers of Redcar and Cleveland should pay for groceries for her at a cost of £210.00? As a vegetarian, that's an awful lot of carrots and cabbages. Why doesn't this absolute scrounger pay for her own groceries from the vast wage that she gets paid. I was always brought up to believe that thats how things worked. You went to work, got paid a wage and paid for the things that you need for your everyday living, from those wages.
With this out and out scrounger, she has the tenet of well what I earn is mine and I will get Joe Public to pay all of my living costs.
Why doesn't she simply use some of her massive salary to pay for these things? It almost makes her claim for Christmas trees and decorations seem insignificant. When you also consider that as was exposed in the Telegraph, this woman as a junior barrister tried to claim more than she was entitled to and when you consider her attempts at trying to cover for the most rotten of local authorities in her constituency over the issue of Coatham and other things, is she really the person who should be our MP? Is this the calibre we would expect of the Solicitor General of England?
Its about time she and the rotten council that she tries to protect, were investigated and the guilty sacked and asked to stand down.
// posted by Chris McGlade @ 2:49 AM
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Things get worse for Vera Baird and the council.
Here is a posting that I have just come across on the Gazettes forum...
Oh dear, look at this link to todays independent...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/councils-blamed-over-iceland-savings-1702152.html
Where is Vera Bairds condemnation of the local authority within her constituency? As usual, nowhere to be seen. It seems that she simply refuses to speak out against them despite all of the terrible things that they are doing and getting away with. One can only ask why? I think the long awaited investigation into this council is just around the corner as the National Press look as though they are switching their attention from MP's expenses to their involvement with the underhandedness taking place in local authorities. If our Vera was lying low before this story broke today, she'll be in the process of emigrating to Timbuktu now. Especially with a film about the shady behaviour of the council in her constituency and her involvement with them, is doing a tour of the borough. Let the truth about these people and their behaviour be known and if anyone out there has any contacts within the National press, for heavens sake, BRING THIS COUNCIL AND THIS MP TO THEIR ATTENTION!
Lets all hope that this is the beginning of the National Press shifting their focus to the terrible abuses taking place in local government.
Oh dear, look at this link to todays independent...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/councils-blamed-over-iceland-savings-1702152.html
Where is Vera Bairds condemnation of the local authority within her constituency? As usual, nowhere to be seen. It seems that she simply refuses to speak out against them despite all of the terrible things that they are doing and getting away with. One can only ask why? I think the long awaited investigation into this council is just around the corner as the National Press look as though they are switching their attention from MP's expenses to their involvement with the underhandedness taking place in local authorities. If our Vera was lying low before this story broke today, she'll be in the process of emigrating to Timbuktu now. Especially with a film about the shady behaviour of the council in her constituency and her involvement with them, is doing a tour of the borough. Let the truth about these people and their behaviour be known and if anyone out there has any contacts within the National press, for heavens sake, BRING THIS COUNCIL AND THIS MP TO THEIR ATTENTION!
Lets all hope that this is the beginning of the National Press shifting their focus to the terrible abuses taking place in local government.
// posted by Chris McGlade @ 3:54 AM
Thursday, June 04, 2009
My word, Vera Baird is lying remarkably low...
Following the exposure of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Councils' and Vera Bairds' behaviour in the film "Coatham a common concern", following the exposure that she "persuaded" both Rachel and I to stand as independent candidates against Labour candidates in the 2007 local elections ( something that she should be thrown out of the party for ) and following the exposure in the Daily Telegraph that she claimed public money to splash out on a new kitchen in her house in Redcar and tried to claim £286.00 of public money for a Christmas tree and pretty decorations when she had no right to do so, our less than credible MP seems to have just dropped off the Radar completely?
Where is she? Where has she gone? Apparantly she was last seen with Lord Lucan some weeks ago!
What made me wonder most of all about her sudden 'disappearance' and about her refusal to answer emails and letters from her constituents, was when I watched the local news last night on TV at 10.30pm. There was a news feature included about people from Corus going over to Korea to try to save 2000 steel jobs in Redcar. But who made the official statement about it? You would have thought that it would have been the Redcar MP Vera Baird, but no, it was the MP for the neighbouring constituency of East Cleveland and Middlesbrough South, Ashok Kumar, who gave the interview.
Pathetic. After having been caught out trying to dip her already, thickly buttered bread in the public gravy YET AGAIN; after having being exposed in a film trying to cover up the actions of her unlawful, illegal, maladministrating two star council and its overpaid, deliberately disingenuous, sharp practising, evidence changing, planning condition changing, public money misusing officers; after having tried to threaten elderly Church Wardens into not showing the film that she claimed was libellous but has taken no legal action against; and after being exposed as having committed a Labour Party cardinal sin, this uncaring, two faced, greedy, incompetent, untruthful, overpaid woman, has laid so low that she could crawl underneath a snake wearing a top hat. More than that, rather than come out from hiding and show her face to make a statement herself about the steel plant that is under siege in her own constituency, she lets the MP for a neighbouring constituency do her dirty work.
This is absolutely disgraceful and if she had any shred of decency at all, she would stand down not only from her position as the Solicitor General of this Country but as our MP at the next General Election too.
Where is she? Where has she gone? Apparantly she was last seen with Lord Lucan some weeks ago!
What made me wonder most of all about her sudden 'disappearance' and about her refusal to answer emails and letters from her constituents, was when I watched the local news last night on TV at 10.30pm. There was a news feature included about people from Corus going over to Korea to try to save 2000 steel jobs in Redcar. But who made the official statement about it? You would have thought that it would have been the Redcar MP Vera Baird, but no, it was the MP for the neighbouring constituency of East Cleveland and Middlesbrough South, Ashok Kumar, who gave the interview.
Pathetic. After having been caught out trying to dip her already, thickly buttered bread in the public gravy YET AGAIN; after having being exposed in a film trying to cover up the actions of her unlawful, illegal, maladministrating two star council and its overpaid, deliberately disingenuous, sharp practising, evidence changing, planning condition changing, public money misusing officers; after having tried to threaten elderly Church Wardens into not showing the film that she claimed was libellous but has taken no legal action against; and after being exposed as having committed a Labour Party cardinal sin, this uncaring, two faced, greedy, incompetent, untruthful, overpaid woman, has laid so low that she could crawl underneath a snake wearing a top hat. More than that, rather than come out from hiding and show her face to make a statement herself about the steel plant that is under siege in her own constituency, she lets the MP for a neighbouring constituency do her dirty work.
This is absolutely disgraceful and if she had any shred of decency at all, she would stand down not only from her position as the Solicitor General of this Country but as our MP at the next General Election too.
// posted by Chris McGlade @ 5:18 AM
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Another letter to our disgraceful MP...
Below is a copy of yet another letter to our MP Vera Baird. I have sent five emails to her previously without her answering one. Lets see if I get a reply to this one?
Dear Ms Baird,
Following the announced resignations of Jacqui Smith and Hazel Blears among others because of the exposure of their immoral and fraudulent expenses claims, will you confirm that it is your intention to follow their lead and also resign? Your attempts to cover up the unlawful and illegal actions of individuals within Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, the exposure of the fact that you " persuaded " individuals to stand for a group other than the Labour group, against Labour candidates in the 2007 local elections and the exposure of the fact that you attempted to claim £286.00 of public money that you were not entitled to for Christmas trees and baubles, aswell as money for refurbishing the kitchen in your second home in Redcar shows your true worth as MP and as a resident of this borough I demand that you do the right and proper thing, if you have any shred of decency in you, and not only resign your position of Solicitor General which you are, in the opinion of many people in this area not fit to hold and also stand down as MP for Redcar at the next election.
I await your response.
Peace,
Chris Mcglade.
Dear Ms Baird,
Following the announced resignations of Jacqui Smith and Hazel Blears among others because of the exposure of their immoral and fraudulent expenses claims, will you confirm that it is your intention to follow their lead and also resign? Your attempts to cover up the unlawful and illegal actions of individuals within Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, the exposure of the fact that you " persuaded " individuals to stand for a group other than the Labour group, against Labour candidates in the 2007 local elections and the exposure of the fact that you attempted to claim £286.00 of public money that you were not entitled to for Christmas trees and baubles, aswell as money for refurbishing the kitchen in your second home in Redcar shows your true worth as MP and as a resident of this borough I demand that you do the right and proper thing, if you have any shred of decency in you, and not only resign your position of Solicitor General which you are, in the opinion of many people in this area not fit to hold and also stand down as MP for Redcar at the next election.
I await your response.
Peace,
Chris Mcglade.
// posted by Chris McGlade @ 3:43 AM
