Yup, pretty much what it says on the tin. Eleven of the fifteen members of Somerton Town Council have resigned, because they are fed up with being criticised by a blogger, leaving the Council without a quorum (and therefore new elections are required before any council decisions can be made).

On his Muck&Brass blog, resident Niall Connolly has called members “jackasses” and claimed a council leaflet was “like a Nazi call to arms”.

Former vice chairman Anthony Canvin, 61, said: “There’s some sick, stupid people out there.”

BBC News

My first thought was wow. Not wow as in “hurrah”, but wow as in “cripes, I’m a bit surprised at that”. At this stage, I’d not actually read anything of Niall’s Muck and Brass blog. I’d heard about it on the BBC. (Mainstream Media 1, Blogger 0)

Reaction

But I was a bit surprised at this response by Jim Hawkins, who has in the past been critical of blogging, suggesting that it does not have as much value as proper journalism…

@ThePickards Regardless, it’s a shame. One whining anonymous critic takes down most of a council but doesn’t have guts to stand for electionJimInTheMorning

…this instinctive “blogger must be wrong” response struck me as sadly typical of mainstream media (except in regard to Iain Dale who turns up bloody everywhere), and — and I hope Jim will forgive me for highlighting his mistake hiere — shows that even mainstream journalists aren’t always 100% accurate in checking their sources, since both the BBC article (which Jim retweeted) and the blog itself named the author as Niall Connolly.

Jim’s counter — that we can’t be sure he actually is Niall, since the BBC haven’t managed to contact him today — seems a weak argument since he appears to have been blogging since 2006 without anyone questioning his identity before. Besides which, before assuming someone’s identity is fraudulent, it might seem reasonable to check them out: and since the person claiming to be N. Connolly has in his possession a photo of a franked envelope sent to N. Connolly (publicly available on his blog for anyone to spot), it would seem a little perverse to be suggesting he isn’t…

Is It Right To Criticise?

The other question is of course whether or not it is “a shame for democracy”. There’s a perfectly simple answer to this. Or rather there are maybe two. And these are “No, it isn’t”, and “It depends”.

The fundamental question to the “no it isn’t” camp is whether we, as individuals, as bloggers, as private citizens, in the media or not, anonymous or not, have a right to criticise our elected representatives. My vote would be a clear and unequivocal yes: with of course the caveat that if you’ve been telling stuff which turns out not to be true, you have to pay the penalty (as Damien McBride and The Sun have found out recently).

That’s my personal belief: we all have a right to be critical of our elected representatives. And, in theory, we should be allowed also to sing their praises should such a situation ever arise.

If you’re not convinced on this, then maybe you’ll fall into the second camp: “it depends”. This camp would suggest that hang on, if the guy’s criticisms are reasonable, then maybe he is right to be critical: if he’s being unreasonable, then no.

Surely everyone would agree with these two being the only reasonable camps: after all, the only other possibility is that your elected representative can do whatever the hell they like and you’d be the one in the wrong if you were to say anything about it.

Challenge The Media

So what has Niall actually had to say? Have any of the journalists (and let’s just watch today’s papers to see) actually read his blog before drawing their conclusions? Well, this is where it might just get interesting…

There are, at the time of writing, only eighty-five posts on the blog, so while it might take a little effort, it’s certainly possible to at least skim the posts and pick out the relevant ones. (And read some half dozen of the council minutes too)

So I have done. As I say, if the story is picked up by other sources tomorrow, let’s see which “proper” journalists have done the same (and without “coincidentally” picking up on exactly the same points as me)…

What’s The Story?

In 2006, there’s no real vitriol only a few references to the council, one of which simply states that the age profile of the town is somewhat elderly, and the makeup of the town council reinforces this profile. There are a few references to the Somerton Town Plan of 1977 — isn’t it right that someone is taking an interest like this? — and then he ponders whether the council are doing enough to engage with the community.

I don’t know if anyone at the meeting was under forty but it certainly didn’t look like it. So where is the wider community? Clearly they don’t get involved and its useful to ask why not? Maybe the very nature of ‘local politics’, certainly as they are pursued in Somerton, just turns people off.

I can’t think of any situation where — assuming the comment to be true — a Council wouldn’t seek to determine why this should be the case and try and engage with younger people. If he’s wrong, or the council were engaging with the youth in other ways, then surely it’s simple enough to say so.

Of course, the bigger question seems to be whether or not things are going through proper channels:

It was proposed to the meeting that Tony Canvin, the well known builder and local and district councillor, would use his ‘buying power’ to negotiate the best deals. It was proposed that there would be no tendering evidently because tendering is a tedious process which doesn’t offer any benefit.

This strikes me as seeming a bit unusual. I would have thought that tendering for deals would be a requirement, and that anyone who was a local builder should have to declare their interest at this point, and then have no further part in the process.

Reasonableness

And then you’ve got the questions of whether the criticisms are reasonable:

Somerton’s dominance in the Precept League is again underscored when you consider the average Precept charged by the 121 Town Councils in South Somerset. The average Precept charged per property across those Councils is a paltry £24.85p and Somerton exceeds that by close to 400%.

Now assuming these figures are accurate — and I’d presume these figures are, by nature, publicly available, so anyone can check — then surely it’s not unreasonable to ask why you’re paying four times more per head for your town council than those residents of other councils. Is this not a reasonable question? And here I’ll introduce some of my research:

Somerton’s plans for 2007-08 showed that it was expected that there would be a shortfall of £40,000, which would have to be met from reserves. Of course, when it came to the 2008-09 prediction, there were revised figures for 2007-08 which showed that the council didn’t make a loss of forty thousand at all. It would appear that they actually spent — with an income of around £275,000 (including £220,000 precept) more than one million pounds more than their income.

Not only is this a rather spectacular amount — particularly as the next highest amount which needed to be paid from any of the other town council balances was less than seven thousand, it’s also around 25 times greater than the council expected.

I think it’s perfectly appropriate for anyone to question why this should be the case… Blogger 1, Mainstream Media 1

Accuracy and Correction

Then there’s the question of whether a blogger is allowed to say things he knows to be factually inaccurate. Would a blogger who wasn’t honest and decent allow something inaccurate to stand, would they quietly drop the allegation (as I’m sure has been done before) without actually publishing a clear retraction, or would they publish a clear correction? Let’s look at Niall:

On the 14th October an anonymous comment was posted to Muck&Brass suggesting a connection between Wild Meadow Farm and Hawthorns SW. Muck&Brass has been assured that there is no financial connection between these two companies. Muck&Brass: Correction

Note, this isn’t retracting an allegation he has made, this is correcting an allegation an anonymous source made during the comments. If only the media published their corrections, retractions and apologies on their front pages…

Not only that, but you also have this:

Recently this blog has received a number of comments which have not been published because they contain information which cannot be verified. I would ask those contributors to contact me directly in order that I might learn more about the issues that they raise.Muck & Brass: Request for Information

Blogger 2, Mainstream Media 1.

The Lone Nut Theory

Next, I’ll look at the implication that the blogger is a lone nut: as with the JFK Walnut commission investigation. What about other sources? Do other people agree with these sort of views? Well, yes…

Terry Bastyan, speaking on behalf of residents living in the Badgers Cross Lane, said: “We feel let down by the council because you are supposed to be representing us. “The only reason all these people are here is because two of us found out and let everyone know. “We fully support recycling, but question the need to move from the current site.”

The current site is owned by Somerset County Council and managed by Viridor. The proposed new site is a disused quarry owned by Mr Canvin.

This Is Somerset

Does this seem to then be a lone voice? Well, no… (look at the local election results also — which also demonstrates that if he didn’t stand for election, he was actively involved in the process).

Blogger 3, Mainstream Media 1

Is There A Case To Answer?

But of more import seems to be the activities of one Councillor Tony Canvin, who has been the one at whom most of Muck&Brass’s vitriol appears to be aimed at. Is he being unfair and just picking on the poor man? Or does he have a point? Well, let’s take a look…

A proposal to relocate Somerton Household Waste Recycling Centre from Bancombe Road Trading Estate to Badgers Cross Lane has been submitted by Tony Canvin.This Is Somerset [2]

Okay, then, if we were to work on the assumption that what is in these articles is accurate (it has been produced by “proper” journalists, after all), doesn’t anyone else think that it is inappropriate for a councillor to submit a proposal for the council to move one of their centres to some land he himself owns? I’m not saying it’s against the rules — I don’t know the rules — but as with MPs expenses, it’s one of those things where my opinion is that if it isn’t against the rules, it ought to be.

M&B has received a number of emails regarding a ‘new’ planning application which seeks permission for an amenity site out at Badger’s Cross. This development will effect everyone in Somerton and has been rumoured for over a year yet it has not been discussed by Somerton Town Council and it is fair to ask, ‘Why not?’.

This application comes from none other than ‘Mr Somerton’ himself, Tony Canvin (aka Cllr Canvin) …

Muck & Brass: It’s That Damn Badger Again

Niall also makes a sound point that leaving a meeting for five minutes here and there does not necessarily mean that there is no conflict of interest:

Obviously the applicant’s consultants were quick to point out that, in a situation such as this, where the applicant faces possible accusations of ‘conflict of interest’, the applicant would leave a Council Meeting whilst their application was being discussed. But the community is beginning to appreciate that the issue is not the relatively short period of time when the application is being considered that is under scrutiny. Under scrutiny is the far longer period of time, possible a year or 18 months before the application is made, when the applicant can use their extensive access to the process to prepare their position. In the face of this advantage, the community is starting to feel abused.Muck & Brass: Shaved Heads and Earrings

Now, I don’t know whether there is anything actually wrong in all of this, but to me it poses an interesting question — the council may well have resigned en masse because of criticism from a blogger, but the question should be posed (and of course answered by the council, and former members, where appropriate) as to whether that criticism was justified. If so, then perhaps they have been forced to resign through their own actions, rather than because of blaming one blogger.

And of course this is before we look at other claims: councillors shredded a letter of questions sent out to them and sent the shredded bits back; suggestions of intimidation and vandalism and so on…

Blogger 4, Mainstream Media 1

Money Where Mouth Is?

And it appears Mr. Connolly has been prepared also to put his money where his mouth is…

Whether the wider community agrees or disagrees with the views expressed in this blog, the information provided to the External Auditor is all based upon fact, backed with documentary evidence. In the light of that evidence, I believe that the community of Somerton has been very badly let down by its Town Council and its Town Clerk.Muck & Brass: Thank You

Of course, I’m not claiming to know what the facts of the case actually are. That’s why I’d like to see Somerton Town Council — and former councillors — put their side of the story. My personal opinion is that it would be appropriate for some outside and independent agency to investigate these claims and stories and report publicly whether or not any wrongdoing has taken place, and either clear the name of the councillors, or take whatever other action may be appropriate.

However, I would suggest that those people who immediately assumed that the council was in the right have obviously not looked into the allegations which I think suggest there is a case to answer. For those of you who judged someone before knowing the facts (which, admittedly, I still don’t know — that’s why I suggested an external, independent, public investigation) — shame on you.

Blogger 5, Mainstream Media 1

Summary

To sum up though, I hope Jim will forgive me, but his thoughts — democracy is the loser, anonymous, whining blogger — and so on, seem very much to be a case of “kneejerk reaction first, establish facts later”. Which is strange, because that lack of attention to the facts, and the lack of investigative reporting (such as that carried out by Niall), is always something that the mainstream media seem to criticise bloggers for.

Perhaps this is simply proof that bloggers can be better, after all; perhaps there is still a place for the independent crusader and local resident to actually make an impact on local politics. Perhaps local government ought to be accountable to its residents. Perhaps people shouldn’t jump to conclusions just because they are biased against bloggers.

…or perhaps all of the allegations and suggestions are false. I don’t know, and because I don’t know, I didn’t jump to conclusions based on prior bias, and that is rather the point.