Morley South Candidates

From last weeks Obtiser, the choices I have on offer within my home Ward for Leeds City Council.

(Click for a more legible version)

Meanwhile, in a large City a few miles away...

From my The First post Sunday Paper Digest:

A member of the Labour group on Leeds city council has been caught on tape discussing plans to commit electoral fraud in next week's local elections. Leader Keith Wakefield instructed canvassers to help elderly voters to complete postal ballots and offer to post them, but then destroy those that were for other parties. (Sunday Times)

If this is true than the man is scum and deserves to get banged up and barred from public life for the next twenty years.

This is really going to give them an election boost on Thursday...NOT!

Funny how he didn't mention it as a tactic in Winning the battle for ideas in Leeds: Keith Wakefield writes on the upcoming local elections.

UPDATE: The actual story isn't as simple as the headline suggests, but still very bad. You can see it at Times Online Here and commented on here.

Accusation repeated

Another leaflet repeating the accusation, this time in Central Ward.


I ought to say that I've not seen anything illegal or libellous fram any candidate, outside of claiming false credit and the general manure about how the opposition are useless and only they can save the world etc. With the exception of Stewart McArdle, they are all guilty of that.

Accusations of wrongdoing

The Town Council elections are starting to get nasty.

Friends of Morleygate have passed me a leaflet from Elmfield Ward (my own Ward, but not the one I live in).


There is an interesting accusation in the spiel. Click on the image below to see a large version:


If true, then the MBIs are in big trouble. If false, the BNP are. However, I would think it very unlikely that either side are daft enough to do this. I'm more inclined to think that the MBIs are going to be used as some sort of stalking horse in some sort of Searchlight accusation and the BNP will apologise afterwards but have made their point.

Town Council List Censorship

The Town Council has an online mailing list, called Morleylist. Up until the legendary free speech suppression episode at the March Full Council meeting, I was the Webmaster and list administrator.

Afterwards, I made it clear that if they weren't prepared to listen to me, I had no intention of carrying on with my informal duties and whilst I didn't actually resign from being a Councillor, I chose to (mostly) withdraw from participation as a Member.

(I will cease to be a Member this Thursday of course once the elections take place as I am not re-standing).

Yesterday, I received an email from someone asking me "What happened?" and with the subject LISAGATE. I went and had a look on the site and noticed that ten posts had been deleted, without explanation, by someone with access to the List Management account.

I have seen the posts (they turned up in my daily digest) and they did degenerate into what might be called "inappropriateness" but some of them were simply critical of the Morley Borough Independents.

There is probably an argument that a forum such as this should be suspended during the run-up to an all-out election but there is also an argument against as well.

BNP 'oop (Morley) North

Morley Obtiser politics special

This week, candidate testimonials for the three Leeds City Council seats have been published.

Bob Evans, the Editor, was so underwhelmed that he editorialised about it.

One thing does strike me, reading through the statements from the candidates this year.
It appears that politicians from all parties are claiming credit for the same things and are also wanting the same things to make Morley a better place.
If that's the case, why is there any need for political parties?

You can read the whole thing here.

Searchlight highlights

Our 8 page comic treat, supported by the Daily Mirror and lots of Public Sector Unions.






Even the MBIs hold their nose and link to their websites.

That MP letter in full...

(OK, not totally in full, I blotched out my address. There are strange people out there...)

His website that is no longer live can be found HERE and you can't send messages HERE.

I recommend this book for him... or maybe even that one.

Some leftovers...

I mentioned some leaflets but never got round to fully uploading them.
The Socialists...






and the blackshirts...



No, we're not, although some people will.

A Town Council leaflet!

"...the only group fielding a full team of woman in Topcliffe..."

Sloppy proof reading there!

The other side is a further plug for Terry grayshon on the city elections.

Letter from MP

A Houses of Parliament letter awaited me today. CCMP has disclosed all Morley Together correspondence- but only that sent to Morley Town Council!

An accidental or deliberate misunderstanding? Stalling for time hoping for a good outcome on Friday?

The letter finishes with:

"I hope you support the principles of Morley Together. Please let me know."

Don't worry, I will...

Trouble at mill...

The following was posted to the Town Council mailing list today, but uploaded as a file, so not many people will see it. (I did though!)

Britannia Quarry

As we are heading towards this years elections, there is the usual blatant electioneering propaganda from the Morley Borough Independents (MBI). A recent press release says: Cllr Robert Finnigan, as chairman of the Quarry Action Group which oversees the quarry... The question to ask here is: how could the quarry be overseen by Councillors who didn't attend for at least 13 months? It is noted in the quarry minutes of 27th September 2005, that neither Cllr Finnigan or any Leeds City Council officers attended the quarry meeting, or sent their apologies. Only one resident and myself turned up on 27/09/05 so the Director of Woodkirk Stone said there was no point in him arranging another meeting date.

Let us move on nine months to the 15th June 2006, when Leeds City Council took Woodkirk Stone to court over a breach in section 151 of the 1980 Highways Act. Once again, I was the only councillor who bothered to attend the court hearing, it appeared Leeds Council officers and the MBI party didn't consider the issue important enough to merit their time. I rallied round to get some non Rein Road residents to attend the court to show support for the council's action. I was asked at court by the Director of Woodkirk Stone if I was prepared to attend any future meetings at the quarry and I said I certainly was!

Move on another three months to the 13th September 2006, I was the spokesman of a three man deputation entitled 'Local Residents concerned about Britannia Quarry Morley' to the full Leeds City Council meeting on 13/09/06 at Leeds Civic Hall, complaining about dust, mud and stones falling from wagons, also the non attendance of Cllr Finnigan, Council officers and other MBI Morley South Councillors at the court or Britannia Quarry meetings.

Cllr Judith Elliott seemed more concerned about keeping face with Woodkirk Stone and her colleagues at Leeds Civic Hall than representing the interests of Rein Road residents as a whole. Cllr Elliott was aided and abetted by Cllr Terry Grayshon, who condemned my neighbours for supporting the deputation and clearly let all the Rein Road residents down by abstaining from voting on the deputation with her saying the quarry issue should never have been brought to Leeds Civic Hall.

Cllr Elliott, who is a Rein Road resident, sent me an invitation letter to attend her first quarry meeting on 25th October 2006, using Morley Town Hall as her contact address. I fail to remember seeing her at any Woodkirk Stone quarry meetings before this date, so it is a travesty for Cllr Elliott to say: We will continue to work with residents and the company with regular meetings to address the legitimate concerns raised.

It seems the Government and Councils aren't the only ones running Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) the MBI party are operating their own PFI scheme but in their case it reads: Propaganda From Independents!

I remember a few years ago some people felt so strongly about an issue printed in the Morley Advertiser that they went round and collected all the offending papers, tore them to pieces, then dumped the lot in front of the Advertiser office in Queen Street.

May I kindly suggest an apology is made by the Morley Borough Independents to the other election candidates, including myself and all those people concerned who have been offended by this electioneering propaganda please.

That by the MBI they did everything - without them they did nothing!

Albert Slingsby

Election news- Morley North

My friends in the north advise me that they have had nothing from any Town Council prospectives yet, although they have had the Labour leaflet, shown below.

Ask Colin Challen...

I notice that the BNP have been talking to the Electoral Commission about the far left targeting them. (You can see their spin on it here)

Whilst many might think that the BNP are fair game, they do stand legitimately, lots of people vote for them (for whatever reason) and they are obliged to follow the electoral rules, whilst Searchlight are not.

It is now blindingly obvious that Labour are actively supporting Searchlight, Even Ed Balls is out leafleting in Ardsley and the Leeds Searchlight special edition features Morley Together, including David's school (who claim not to have signed up to it).

It will be interesting to see what happens. Needless to say there is nothing about it online other than on the BNP site.

All of the hoo-hah about Freedom of Information and MPs last week spurred me on to make my own request to the MP Constituency Office today. Here it is...

Colin Challen MP
Constituency Office,
2 Commercial Street,
Morley,
LEEDS
LS27 8HY


Dear Mr. Challen,

I enquired via your website enquiries page for further information on the Morley Together campaign on March 8th, the day after the Town Council confirmed participation despite any information being presented to Councillors. My message was as follows:

Hello, I'm a Councillor on Morley Town Council.
Last night Council voted to note the "Morley Together" campaign and agreed to sign up to the principles laid out in it.
However- no supporting documentation was actually provided and discussion was curtailed prematurely by a move to the vote.
Can you please send me a copy of what we have actually pledged to as otherwise all that I have is what I have read in the Morley Observer & Advertiser.
Thank you in advance,

Ian Grey

To date I have had no reply.

I am now writing to make an open government request for all the information to which I am entitled under the freedom of information act. In order to assist you with this request, I am outlining my query as specifically as possible. If however this request is too wide or too unclear, I would be grateful if you could contact me as I understand that under the act, you are required to advise and assist requesters.

The Morley Together Campaign – Letters, correspondence, emails, media (audio/video), presentation materials, notes of telephone conversations etc. sent and received pertinent to this activity.

I understand that under the act, I should be entitled to a response within 20 working days. I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this request. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Yours Sincerely,




Ian Grey




I look forward to getting some stuff to look at by this time next month.

(Letter template supplied the guardian, of all sources!)

Leaflet checklist- 10 days to go...

City Council- (italics- leaflet received, bold- diddly squit!)

GRAYSHON TERRENCE MORLEY BOROUGH INDEPENDENTS
JAMIESON KEELY JOANNE THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY CANDIDATE
LANGHAM DAVID PETER THE LABOUR PARTY CANDIDATE
MEE MIKE BRITISH NATIONAL PARTY
SADDLER JAMIE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
SLINGSBY CHARLES ALBERT INDEPENDENT

Town Council- sweet Fanny Adams.

Posters seen around town- Big fat zero.

Election fever- not yet...

Driving back through Churwell this afternoon, Karen commented that there was a distinct lack of "Vote for me!" type signs. Indeed I haven't noticed any posters in windows yet. (Not that I've been particularly looking). No rosette wearing, vote touting hopefuls near the Town hall this morning either.

Still, there is next weekend.

The Obtiser has promised candidate biographies next week, along with a list of Town Council hopefuls. (You saw it here first, of course.)

No Town Councillor leaflets through the door yet.

Out for the count...

A while back, I did consider asking one of the candidates if I could be a polling agent so that I could be present as an observer, then the City Council offered to pay me to do it! They also asked me if I would consider doing the actual vote at a polling station on the Thursday, but I couldn't justify two days off work.

Today, I received confirmation that I am to be a counting assistant for the Morley North election. (& possibly the Parish/Town Council ones as well, although it isn't actually mentioned).

The count is on Friday 4th May at 10am in Morley town Hall and I will be paid £40 (gross) for doing it. I am also informed that recounts will incur a supplementary fee.

I am obliged to keep some stuff secret, namely names (& register numbers) of electors who have or have not voted, who they have voted for or what the official mark is (that punch/stamp the polling clerk uses just before they hand you the ballot paper.

These are the same undertakings that everyone who participates in the count has to agree to from the clerks to the candidates. Obviously, counting staff must not be employed in any capacity by a candidate or party at the elections. (That probably includes leafleting, but I'm not in the pay of any politicians, paid or unpaid.)

Autorantic virtual moonbat

Via the power of the internet, direct access to Morley Labour Party HQ at Unity House.

Meet Excalibur, used for composing letters to the editor.



Hat tip: Bill sticker, who exposed me to it ages ago but I forgot...

Terry Grayshon's leaflet

Unsolicited, Cllr Terrence Grayshon Esq. has graciously sent me a soft copy of his election flyer. (He always did have high standards when it comes to sartorial eloquence so I imagine he wants his tome to meet the highest presentation standards)




This is better than my leaflet - the colours are more vibrant and it isn't creased. It doesn't show the printer though- PDQ Printing Services Ltd.

Terry- I'll add a ClustrMap to the site so you can see where in the world people are who are admiring your leaflet.