Whether we like it or not, local councillors are elected politicians. We should not be surprised if they want to campaign - indeed, when they come trotting down the garden path in search of our votes, they actively promise to campaign.
This is why I'm currently asking Cornwall Council for precise details of the legal advice given to leader Alec Robertson before he wrote to his Conservative colleague Jan Powell, dismissing her from the Health & Adults Overview & Scrutiny Committee. The council has confirmed that Alec sought, and obtained, legal advice but insists that the decision was for Alec alone, as the leader of the Conservative Party group.
At the heart of this is the impression that Jan's sacking had something to do with the fact that she has a daughter with learning disabilities. Yet it's hard to imagine a councillor who has been more assiduous at declaring this personal interest.
I wonder how many members of Cornwall Council, particularly those with relatives who might need some sort of social care, would even consider registering such an interest. Jan's declarations even go so far as to make it absolutely clear that she has helped raise petitions to oppose the closure of day centres. Hence my point about elected politicians and campaigning. If that's not what they are for, then why are they on the council at all?
There is of course a real conflict of interest in this story. That is the conflict between politicians who were elected to campaign, and full-time professional officials who sometimes find such campaigns quite irritating. The conflict between the council's waste disposal department and its incinerator ambitions, and elected politicians from the St Dennis area, is a case in point. It's the same old same old about who really runs the council.
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