I am a Conservative Candidate in the County Elections. I have to canvass tomorrow. I will be taking flack for a bunch of pricks who claim more in expenses for their food than I earn all year. Twats. Thanks a bunch. - Councillor Mark HeenanWere I canvassing and I got flack I would say exactly.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Quote of the Day
From the comments in the previous post,
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
The food allowance is £4800 so firstly, if Cllr Heenan doesn't earn that in a year then he is lazy or stupid or both. Secondly he admits on his blog to claiming £3400 a year in expenses? Can he detail what this is spent on with receipts?
This is what I am about to write to my local Conservative county council candidate, whom I've had a good look at.
Dear XXX
You are a splendid man, exactly the sort of sensible person I would be delighted to vote for. You are a credit to your family, your industry and your town. You would undoubtedly be a great asset in public life, especially given that you make your living in the private sector and have a grasp of how business works.
Unfortunately, you are also being used as a patsy, a cover for a bunch of theiving, troughing, hypocritical, exploitative architypal braying hoorays, which sadly even includes Lansley and Davis, and that makes you no more than the pretty whore covering for a pimp.
I won't stand for it. If you want my vote you can have it if you stand as an Independent. You can - round here there is a history of independent candidates getting in.
If you are not prepared to put your integrity ahead of a party, then please recognize that it shows a weakness which in the end will mean you have no moral authority at all, not enough to tell a local hoodie that he mustn't shoplift or a benefits cheat that they are wrong.
I am genuinely sorry to say this, but it is no good blaming 'the system'. It's not the system; it's you and your willingness to tolerate corruption, sleaze and graft.
Scary Mary, I'm afraid you are confusing an allowance with expenses. He gets paid a councillor allowance of £3,400 a year. That is not an expense claim, it is a pro-rata'd salary for the job he does as a councillor.
All councillors get it and its amount tends to depend on the size of the council. It's basically his wages, it is also taxed if he has a full-time job. His comment about maximum food claims by MPs was in relation to how much the councillors allowance is. His only "expenses" were less than £40 on petrol.
As I say, you're confusing expenses, which are claims made for money, with allowances which are effectively taxable earnings that are paid as part of the job. All councillors get paid for the work they do. i.e. given up multiple evenings a week to go to meetings, planning boards, surgeries etc etc.
@Woman on a raft
It is your prerogative to rite such a mail, but I think it is unwise to do so. After all, even if he was an Independent he could still fleece the system. Not the county councillors have a system to fleece of course. Guilt by association is universally silly.
I'm meant to be stumping for a friend who is standing as a Tory councillor on June 4 as well. I'm not looking forward to it at all - I'm still going to do it, but I'm bracing myself for the inevitable flack too.
I am also the owner of some wisteria which I trim myself from awkward places like the chimney, using the expedient of a ladder and some shears. What was Cameron thinking?
VW = fackt. Quite.
True Dizzy, thanks for that. I'm not in favour of paying councillors though, as you end up with full time councillors who live off their Cabinet salaries and sit on various trusts which can add up to 70k+ a year. It should be seen as something you do for your community, not for financial reward.
My wife and I were set to vote Tory, but know we are left wondering just who can we vote for. We may just take the day off and do the garden. Beats clearly the moat...
True Dizzy, thanks for that. I'm not in favour of paying councillors though, as you end up with full time councillors who live off their Cabinet salaries and sit on various trusts which can add up to 70k+ a year. It should be seen as something you do for your community, not for financial reward.I can see your point, especially with those who sit on Cabinet. However, I don't think its wrong per se to pay someone a pro-rata'd amount for taking out their personal life etc . Of course, if they don't attend, which is so common, then strip it.
Never leave comments when you've just come back from the pub...
http://cllrheenan.blogspot.com/2009/05/blog-in-haste-repent-at-leisure.html
I'm not sure that the quality of excuses generated in order to support what most MPs basically see as nice source of extra untaxed income really is the point. Does it really make much difference to the individuals concerned whether he claim is for cleaning out the moat (Hogg) or paying the interest on a £300k mortgage on a nice country cottage in the Cotswolds (Cameron) when they both rake in a similar level of subsidy from the tax payer - how they say they spend the amount recieved (which they would have probably spent anyway)is really not of much interest.
Post a Comment