Having digested the comments in the "Brian Coleman Open Letter", where someone who may or may not be Brian Coleman, Mayor of Barnet raised a few points regarding this blog, I thought it only fair to give my considered response. My reponse is in italics
This blog has undertaken a politically motivated campaign of character
assassination against me. Let me spell out some facts for the readers,
who may be under the misapprehension that Tichborne, who writes it, is an
innocent abroad.
The blog is not "politically motivated". I don't target people because they belong to a specific party, I criticise people when I feel that they have done a bad job. I've criticised Labour and Lib Dem members here, sometimes in terms as strident if not moreso than those used against Mr Coleman. The reason Mr Coleman is covered so frequently here and in such strident terms is because he is the most high profile politician in Barnet and he says far more things which I fundamentally deal with than anyone else.
Tichborne is an active member of the Labour party
So what? I have never discussed the content of a blog with anyone from any party before writing it. The statements are my honest and genuinely held views. I've never hid the fact and have mentioned the fact many times in the blog, so that people realised that I may have a political bias. I have criticised both Andrew Dismore and Rudi Vis, the two local Labour MP's in most strident terms when I've disagreed with them.
Tichborne would not write a word about me if I was a Labour Councillor
Not true. If a local Labour Party member behaved in the way Brian Coleman does, I would be on their case in a flash. I'm not aware of any "bad behaviour" by local Labour councillors.
Tichborne highlights my allowances and describes these as excessive. These
are set by independent panels. Anyone doing these jobs
would receive exactly the same figure as I do
The independent review panel criticised Coleman's stacking up of allowances - read this article on the Hendon Times -
http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/4579962.Coleman_should_slash_salary__says_review_board/
Tichborne criticises my expenses. These are incurred through hard work.
They cover the costs I run up doing my job. They are not
a perk
Brian Coleman has run up cab bills of thousands of pounds, far more than any other member, nearly as much as the rest of them put together. He once left a cab outside with a meter running for 5 hours, running up a bill of £396 at the taxpayers expense. I stand by my criticism
Tichborne criticises the fact that I attend many functions in my work. I
don't ask to be invited to these events. I am invited because people
recognise that I do a good job
To me, accepting free tickets for charity events (whilst earning a large amount of money) is a horrible concept. The scale and sheer number of entries on the hospitality register, far more than any other member is something which I think is a fair subject for public scrutiny. I believe we should know who is entertaining our elected members. It may help us understand some decisions they make.
Tichborne draws attention to the fact that my mother is my consort as
Mayor. This is not a benign action, even though he was not abusive of her.
He is trying to use my mother as a means to get at me in a most underhand
manner
Coleman's mother has the same name as my mother (Gladys). My mother hated the name and used to prefer being called Celia. I happened to mention this in passing in a blog about family and names, on the day when Coleman was announced as Mayor and his mum as consort. It just gave a degree of topicality to a blog I was writing. Judge for yourself -
http://barneteye.blogspot.com/2009/06/gladys-my-heart-to-see-you.html
Tichborne gives the impression that I am on the take.
I think that Coleman's allowances, which have been criticised by the relevant review panel are a fair topic of discussion. I'm sure he doesn't like this. Too bad.
He does this in a sly, poisonous and underhand manner.
All I can say is judge for yourself whether my criticisms are sly, underhand and poisonous.I'd describe them as fair comment.
He is a member of the Labour Party. I stand by everything I said
Nuff said
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