31 January (Part 2) - Mountains out of Molehills
Bexley Council is absolutely useless at crisis management isn’t it?
When the Arthur Pewty blog fired a critical metaphor across the bows of the
council leadership and I gave the Maggot Sandwich my support, Bexley Council had
no idea how to get on top of the situation.
Their brilliant idea was to grossly exaggerate what had been said and ask the police to get
all criticism stopped under the threat of arresting two bloggers, me and Olly
Cromwell (retired blogger). Olly had no connection to the criticism whatsoever.
To cut a long story short, the Independent Police Complaints Commission had to
tell Bexleyheath police not to be so damned stupid but the Local Government Ombudsman refused to do
anything about a council inventing obviously false allegations against residents.
Elwyn Bryant and I took a look at the Register of Members’ Interests in
2011 - before they were put on line - and next day someone with intimate knowledge of who had
been in the Cinema Car Park and looked at the Register used the phone line registered to the
Cabinet Member for Car Parks to post obscenities on line. It was
a graphic and depraved description of
what I was supposed to have done in the car park and while inspecting the Register.
As a result, Cabinet Member Peter Crake was arrested and two former Borough Police
Commanders in Bexleyheath are supposedly still under investigation nearly five
years later. Another brief act of stupidity that blew up in Bexley Council’s ugly face.
When the aforesaid blogger Olly Cromwell used the C word on Twitter, Bexley
councillors lied about it and supplied false evidence that I, who knew nothing
of Twitter at the time, was somehow linked to Olly Cromwell. Two prosecutions and two acts of
perjury resulted in a £10,000 legal bill before Olly was found not guilty.
One silly little mistake by Councillor Cheryl Bacon resulted in false statements
to the press and a tissue of lies designed to cover her embarrassment. A police
investigation stretched from July 2014 until the present day and it is
still possible that Councilor Bacon could end up in the dock, political interference permitting.
Bexley Council has no idea how to handle their mistakes and criminal enterprises in an
age when they will be exposed to public examination.
