Stephen had every opportunity to distance himself from Dickie's remarks, but the best he could manage was 'no opinion'.
In a tight election race, Maureen felt that her reputation had been damaged. Worse still, under the Councillors' Code of Conduct she was not permitted to use her distribution list to address the issue with her constituents in the run up to the election. Her 'open letter' allowed her an opportunity to reply.
To my mind, that should have been the end of this unsavoury matter. Stephen's subsequent (mis)use of the PCATS email distribution list just 2 days before the election, containing further damaging allegations that Lawrence and Maureen had not fully supported the campaign, was calculated to discredit his opponents.
Maureen and Stephen now have to work together so my guess is that she won't pursue this matter any further, but for Lawrence it's too late. I'm not suggesting that the efforts of Dickie and Stephen resulted directly in Lawrence's demise but they certainly didn't help and in a close-run contest every vote counts.Statistics: Posted by Bob Jefferson — 06 May 2007, 21:12
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