Independent party politics – plagiarism, lies and bullying?

I was feeling full of pre Christmas goodwill but this was tested to the full when I received my free copy of “Leigh Oracle” and made the mistake of reading an article written by Independent party member Ron Woodley headed “The True Cost of Local Bureaucracy?” It reached new levels of tosh and factual error - even for Ron whose misunderstanding of public finance continues to plumb new depths. Imagine my surprise when within a few days I received my copy of “Leigh Times” including an article allegedly penned by Independent party leader Martin Terry – the similarity of significant parts of the language and content was distinctly bizarre. Either one of them has been doing a spot of ghost writing or, if I was the author of the original piece, I would be making allegations of plagiarism! I will comment separately on a number of the major errors and inaccuracies made by them both however what was even more distasteful was Cllr Terry’s criticisms of the motivation and competence of council officers. Whilst he is free to make personal attacks on me and my political colleagues and the policies we pursue (which he regularly attempts with remarkable incompetence) he knows only too well that officers have no right to publicly respond to his cheap shots – in my book that is tantamount to bullying. However I will make Ron and Martin an offer – stop telling lies about our policies and I will stop telling the truth about your lack of policies!