This week's local elections.

Well, we had some elections this week, and as usual it was a Tory fest as usual, even if some tories are now wearing purple ribbons and ditching their transparent façade of acceptance of other lifestyles, cultures, sexuality and ethnicity.

In the run up to the election we were submitted to the usual rhetoric of "what have these people ever done", and "it's about the person, not the party", whilst neglecting to mention that before election nobody knew, or cared who they were, and their political achievements were non existent, not that any of them actually do anything now, because they are controlled by the cabinet system in which they are unable to even discuss something unless their fellow Tory Party members agree.

If the Tories are so keen that we should vote for a person rather than a party, then why don't they stand as independents and not exploit the cash given to the local party from the public purse via Loughton's expenses to rent a desk in their office, to the tune of £700 a month? 

So, what dodgy actions did we witness this time?

Well, first off we had this...

Yes, some large banners stuck in the centre of town, within the local "conservation area", without any form of planning permission, which would clearly be required to install any signage within this protected area, even temporary signage.

There was obviously no planning permission sought by the owners of this protected building (The Toll House), and even if there was, there would be a bit of a problem as pretty much all of the planning committee are fellow Tories and so would have to declare an interest and decline to vote on this issue.

These banners were also an unfair advantage in a free and fair democracy, as all of the other candidates were not offered equal signage within the protected conservation area that makes up a large majority of the electoral ward.

The other thing that should be noted is the lack of an "Imprint" on this banner as required by the electoral commission.

This is the law, and needs to be adhered to in order to ensure that an election is fair and transparent, and any breach of this is a criminal act. As you can clearly see from the banner, there is no "imprint" identifying the promoter and printer, and so we have anther breach of the law in order to attain an unfair advantage in a supposedly free and fair election process.

By rights, Mendoza should have been arrested and charged with this offence, and excluded from the election as a result of breaching electoral law. So in effect Mendoza is not truly the elected Councillor for St Mary's ward, and should be stripped of this title immediately, either awarding the post to the second place candidate, or re-running the election for this ward.

But ADC don't bother with little details like this and so he will remain in post for another four years of his homophobia, racism and misogyny in the form of shit "jokes" straight form he 1970s.

Who else got elected? Oh yes, Emma Evans.

So, Evans doesn't have "donors", instead she invites people to her home who give her money to run her election campaign. I think that the word normally used for these people is "donors", as they "donate" money to a prospective councillor, in order to fund a campaign to secure election.

In my opinion, (and to some degree the law states that) these donors should be fully disclosed on a register of interests in order to ensure that the councillor, whose election campaign they assisted in funding, is not involved in any matters concerning them or any business in which they have a direct interest.

Yes, if we don't know who's funding her via her "coffee mornings", we cannot be sure that they are not buying and applying undue influence over our elected representatives. This is a basic cornerstone of democracy, one which ADC seem to discard along with other basic tenets of democracy, like keeping an up to date register of members pecuniary interests.

It's always good to end on a humorous note, so I'll throw in Evans' rant published in the Harald.

Yes, after banging on about people not voting for a party but an individual, she has a pop at people who voted for someone from a different party to her own, no mention on whether the individual concerned had and local policies, or whether she even attempted to look for any, not that if they did have some, that they would be able to do anything under the cabinet system in place, where only Tory party members can speak or have any input into decisions.

So, after winning by a safe majority, she throws her toys out of the pram claiming that her opponent was an "extremist", despite it being her own party who is trying to sell off the NHS and is responsible for the bedroom tax and freezing and starving poor people all over the country, that's pretty "extremist" if you ask me, and this whole rant simply reeks of a spoilt bitch whose majority is diminishing and she doesn't like competition.

Anyway, if it's about "local policies", then where the hell have our local council gone (Worthing), and what's happening to our local hospital, (sold to housing developers by the Tories). These people might care about dog shit and parking on the pavement, but couldn't give a damn about things that actually matter. Oh well, they get their money all the same, s why should they care?

Can't wait for the tantrums at the first council meeting after the loss of five Tory seats though.

Don't believe the lies, & don't trust the liars.

I CBM