Get Carter: Councillor Cliff's 40-tonne gaff

I read the front page of the Sutton Post with interest this evening. I have to admit that I found the article to be most amusing! One of Councillor Scully's newly converted supporters has made a 'Peter Geiringer inspired gaff' over a refuse collection issue. It would seem that Scully's nearest and dearest do find the topic of refuse collection to be an extremely tricky subject indeed.

The Sutton Conservative hierarchy's efforts at negotiating the finer points of waste management matters have once again ended up on the front page of The Post, whereby the journalist covering the story has AGAIN given Scully's Tories a damn good leathering for their incompetence.

Upon reading the article it would appear that Councillor Cliff Carter has in his limitless pomposity ordered a council employee to send a 40 tonne truck to make a single garden waste collection from just one Borough resident- rather than wait for a smaller vehicle to be made available.

This event has obviously caused a significant drain on Sutton Council's financial resources. The fuel and manpower required for such a trip have created a large bill that could only be described as disproportionate to the objective of the task. Those interested in limiting the environmental impact of heavy vehicles will be appalled at the bloody-mindedness of Councillor Carter who allegedly still gave the go-ahead for the single collection to be made.

Here is the excerpt from this weeks Sutton Post article:

WASTE ROW AS LORRY SENT TO GET ONE BAG

"Cllr Clif Carter ordered garden waste to be collected by a dust cart traveling 12 miles".

COUNCIL Chiefs commitment to the environment has been criticised after a giant 40-tonne lorry was sent on a 12-mile trek to collect just one bag of green waste.

The collection was ordered after the bag - belonging to a resident in Aultone Way, Benhilton, was overlooked by workers during their rounds on Thursday June 12.

But the use of such a large truck has come under attack from one outraged councillor for being a huge waste of taxpayers' money.

Cllr Paddy Kane - chairman of the sustainable communities scrutiny committee at Sutton Council, said "One of our functions on the committee is to ensure we get best value for money. This is gross misuse of council resources".

Garden waste delivered to the recycling centre is composted at a facility in Beddington Lane to help the environment. Cllr Kane added "Sending a 40-tonne truck for one bag of garden waste is not environmentally friendly. It's absolutely frivolous".

The truck ws driven from its depot in Beddington Lane to Aultone Rd and then back via Kimpton reuse and recycling centre in North Cheam, where the bag was then offloaded.

Sutton North councillor Cliff Carter said he ordered the pick-up from Kimpton reuse and recycling centre on Saturday after they promised to collect the residents' bag twice bit did not.

He insists he did not realise such a large vehicle would be sent out.

Cllr Carter said "If you pay for a service you expect to get results, but there's no reason at all why they should sent out a large lorry".

But Cllr Kane (LIB DEM) said the depot supervisor advised Cllr Carter the truck was not suitable for a single collection - and this was ignored.

Judging by this and other examples highlighted on this blog it would appear that Sutton's Tory hierarchy do not consider either taxpayers money or the environment to be quite so precious as they would otherwise have us believe.

So in homage to Councillor Cliff Carter's 40-tonne gaff I have penned for him the following ditty. I hope that Cliff and the rest of Scully Il Duce's gang of sycophants enjoy my little rhyme:

THE OLD MAN PHONED THE DUSTMEN
(by S.Watch)
to be sung to the tune of
MY OLD MAN'S A DUSTMAN
(by Buchanan / Donegan / Thorne)
Lonnie Donegan - 1960

Now here's a little story
To tell it is a must
About an unsung hero
That helped move away your dust.

Sutton Council wastes a fortune,
Whilst Shields & Scully make a mint;
Old man Carter he doesn't earn that much:
next to those two fat cats he's skint!

Though the old man phoned the dustmen,
He's got an 'eart of gold,
He became a Councillor two years back,
Though he was eighty-six years old.
We all said "'Ere, hang on, Cliff,
You're getting past your prime";
He said "Well, when you get to my age,
It helps to pass the time."

The Sutton Tories they went canvassing,
around the ward of Sutton North,
Cliff shuffled along Aultone Way,
Knocking on every door and porch.
Councillor Carter he did beg for votes,
for supporters he did fish,
He thought "I need some free publicity",
...and soon he'd get his wish!

For one day whilst in a hurry,
A dustman missed a lady's bin:
He hadn't gone but a few yards,
When Cliff chased after him.
"What game do you think you're playing?"
Cliff cried right from the 'eart,
"I will be forced to phone your guv'nor,
And demand a 40-tonne cart!"

Oh, the old man rang the dustmen,
Cliff was in no mood for barter,
The dustmen thought "Who is this mad old sod?",
it was of course COUNCILLOR CARTER!
"Come collect this garden waste" said Cliff,
"I'll not wait 'til the smaller van gets back",
he ignored the dustmen's protestations,
and threatened them with the sack!
So off drove this enormous truck with great big rubber boots,
All that waste, just one pick up,
and a bag full o' daisy roots!

The Tory leader sought damage limitation,
So Scully jumped to Cliff's defence,
That despotic Tory leader,
Must believe that we're all dense!
"Cliff didn't know about the size of the truck"
Scully began to wail,
He's long since shredded all the evidence,
About this Kimpton Rubbish Dump tale!

Oh, the old man phoned the dustmen,
And now he looks a prat,
'cos the Sutton Tory carbon footprint,
Is the size of Mount Ararat.
So the next time you spot Councillor Carter,
He looks just like your grandad,
He'll be ask you for your vote next time,
So tell him "Cliff, you must be MAD!"

Despite Councillor Carter not caring about the damage this exercise was to inflict upon the environment and the local taxpayer's pockets it would be interesting to know just how much money was wasted on this single collection.

Nice work, Cliff!

Peter Geiringer: Club Med's Tory Councillor

If you were one of the Belmont residents who voted for Peter Geiringer at the last election then you might be interested in the following facts.

The local Conservative Councillor for Belmont ward will not be available to help you with any issues that may be affecting either you or your fellow residents, namely because he is about to begin slapping on the Ambre Solaire and topping up his tan on the deck of an ocean going vessel.

Peter Geiringer is about to embark on his third cruise of this year despite our only being in the month of June!

Now we must be careful not to begrudge anyone who can afford such luxurious excursions in the sun. However, it might be worth questioning whether Councillor Geiringer really requires three fortnight-long holidays in the space of half a year despite being duty-bound to represent the interests of those Belmont residents who elected him into office.

Can Peter Geiringer really offer an effective service to the local electorate whilst he is repeatedly sprawled out on a sun lounger or dining at the Captain's table a couple of thousand miles away?

The Watchman has learned from one of his Conservative party sources that the Sutton Tories produced the following quotes for a leaflet which was distributed in the Belmont ward. A few comments have been added in purple font which Belmont's readers may find helpful:

"Your TWO Conservative councillors, Pam Picknett and Peter Geiringer (Notice Picknett's name is mentioned first for a change - is that because Geiringer is thousands of miles away?) were so dissatisfied by the previous document that they insisted that a newly worded replacement document be sent out - this time with a reply paid questionnaire....
Pam Picknett (Notice she's the only one quoted) who is now deputy chairman of the Conservative-run Belmont, Cheam and Sutton South Local Committee on this Lib-Dem run local authority, said: "We wanted to ensure that every household in the road could have their say on this issue - the new form explains in more detail why the council officers are so keen to progress this matter....

TOGETHER, WE'RE FIGHTING FOR BELMONT'S COMMUNITY (Well, one 'fighter' will be off on yet another sun-seeking mission in the Med whilst his Belmont constituents are fending for themselves!)

Sutton Conservatives have launched a set of groundbreaking "Policy groups" set up to listen to you with view (sic) to shaping our next manifesto....

WE BELIEVE THAT THIS LIBERAL DEMOCRAT COUNCIL HAS GROWN DISTANT FROM THE RESIDENTS IT SERVES (Not as distant as the Med though) NAMELY YOU....

Our policy groups will be talking to outside experts who will sit on the groups alongside local Conservative councillors to listen, reflect (Imagine pausing to reflect on the sun deck with a glass of Pimms in one's hand. Bliss!), and respond to your concerns and priorities....

The groups will cover a wide range of areas including Law and Order, Community and Environmental Sustainability, Health and Wellbeing (Councillor Geiringer should be consulted on this issue- those cruise ships carry a full compliment of masseuses, spas and saunas), Education, Transport (if only Sutton had it's own harbour), Housing and Planning....

We're (sic) are committed to making Sutton a better place for all residents (the irony being that if you are off on your nautical jollies you have very little time to dedicate to fulfilling this pledge to the same voters that elected you into office!)

I understand that Councillor Peter Geiringer will be back in his ward by the beginning of July. I am sure that Belmont's residents will join me in wishing Peter a refreshing holiday and hope that he will thoroughly enjoy any other foreign excursions he may or may not be planning to take this year.

Ship Ahoy!

Scully's truly undemocratic Sutton blog

"Comment moderation has been enabled. All comments must be approved by the blog author."

The above statement is becoming rather tiresome but we are getting very used to seeing such ridiculous censorship from Councillor Scully.

I predicted that Scully would re-enable moderation four days ago in the following post which I left on his blog under the thread 'K.O. for the P.O.':

Scullduggery Watch said...

"Oh and by the way it is nice to be back posting on your blog again, Paul. Though I am just wondering how long it will be before one of my pearls of wisdom upsets your sensitive disposition and you delete it! I take it that we can look forward to seeing moderation being enabled on your blog (for the third time) very soon."

-29 May 2008 18:24:00 GMT

I hate to say I told you so but alas I have been proven correct in my prediction. Scully enabled moderation throughout the evening of Sunday the 1st June and during the morning of Monday the 2nd of June 2008.

The strange thing is that there appeared to be no catalyst for Scully to have MODERATED HIS BLOG FOR THE THIRD TIME IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS. He will of course claim that the thread at the time was a sensitive topic and that political capital should not have been made out of the issue, and he would of course be correct in this regard.

However, there is nothing wrong with a logical and rational debate. The posts on the recent tragedies in Carshalton appeared to be on topic and many condolences had been forthcoming from all sides of the political spectrum. If the debating of the matter was so very unacceptable then why did Scully bother to have posted the thread in the first place???

Councillor Scully was doing a very good impression of a man attempting to make political capital out of a very tragic incident. Why else would anyone have chosen to post a subject but then moderate the feedback as soon as he received criticism for how he had chosen to comment on the issue?

One thing is for certain: Scully likes to claim that he has "spent two years offering the only truly open political exchange in the Borough" however this is complete nonsense as he had already enabled moderation on two separate occasions by the time he made his grandiose claim. This third attempt to stifle debate just goes to prove that there is no such thing as democracy where the hierarchy of the Sutton Tories are concerned.

Democracy in the Sutton Conservative party R.I.P.

Golden-Bollocks gets tough!

"Tow the line or you will be de-selected. Anybody who doesn't conform will not be selected to run for council at the next election!"

That was the message from one of Scully's lieutenants (who is more commonly known by the above nickname, even by those on his own side) when he addressed the rest of the Sutton Conservative group of Councillors.

It would seem that Paul Scully and Tony Shields gave the authorisation for such an aggressive stance and are slowly tightening the screw and putting the frighteners on any would-be dissenters in the Tory ranks.

Now, usually those who become members of a party do so because they loosely believe in a fundamental set of political ideals.

The party then chooses a selection of candidates to act as ward spokesmen to fight for any vacant seats and then it is off to the polls to see if the public wants those same candidates to select their interests.

Normally Councillors would only find themselves deselected if for instance they could not be bothered to work hard for their local residents or if they ended up involved in some kind of voting fraud. Councillors would only be booted out of their party if they had succeeded in dragging that party's name through the mire and caused damage to the party's reputation.

Not so if you are an elected Councillor in the Sutton Conservatives!

Stuart Gordon-Bullock, a Conservative Councillor for Worcestor Park and one of Sutton Conservative leader Paul Scully's loyal henchmen, read the riot act to the rest of the Conservative Councillors just before the election of May 1st.

Most voters would prefer to see an elected Councillor serving his constituents using his own moral compass and using his electoral mandate/manifesto as a guide. The same voters would surely not wish to see a Councillor blindly pledging allegiance to his party even when he knows that his leaders are wrong.

How many voters felt that it was fair that Conservative Councillor Tony Shields brokered a six thousand a year pay rise with the Lib Dem run council just for being a deputy opposition leader, despite the fact that this is a position which has rightly never received remuneration? Such an award was actually AGAINST the Sutton Conservative manifesto of 2006 and only serves to make the Conservative criticism of pay rises for senior Council Officers sound rather hollow when one of their own has his snout firmly in the taxpayer's trough.

Conservative Councillor Peter Geiringer also failed to speak out against Scully's successful plan to replace Eleanor Pinfold as leader of the local opposition and to have her thrown out of the party. This was despite Councillor Geiringer having had a close friendship with Eleanor Pinfold and having previously been a strong supporter of such a talented group leader and compassionate Councillor. Clearly Councillor Geiringer's desperation at not being deselected was a more powerful incentive than insignificant things such as friendship, loyalty and 'doing the right thing'.

Should voices of dissent be brutally suppressed therefore in situations such as this? Councillor Stuart Gordon-bullock seems to think so and so does his despot of a leader, Councillor Paul Scully.

I have said it before and I will say it again: God help the Sutton taxpayers if the local Conservative hierarchy manage to take full control of the Council...

Freedom of speech (But watch what you say)

The Conservative party used to at one time stand for much of what made this country great.

The party had the privilege of having many legendary parliamentarians serve amongst their number, a great many politicians who were strong believers in the democratic process.

Which is why it is with great sadness I am being forced to announce that one of their not so great local Councillors, with lofty ambitions which far exceed his limited abilities, has decided to delete posts made by this voice of dissent and also reintroduce moderation to his self-congratulating blog.

Councillor Paul Scully claims that he has "spent two years offering the only truly open political exchange in the Borough" yet he has once again resorted to stifling freedom of speech, just as he opted to do after he ensured that Eleanor Pinfold was thrown out of the Conservative party. Such censorship took place after Councillor Scully took great exception to 'The Watchman' after he/she dared to post the full details of his role in that disgraceful saga on his own blog.

Yesterday, Scully also claimed: "Part of the problem with getting anything done in politics is that often it is the few that shout loudest that attract the attention to the exclusion of everyone else" which is obviously why Scully set up his very own political blog. He constantly attempts to shout louder than the voices of reason, hence my motivation for setting up an alternative blog to rival his own foghorn of self-promoting propaganda.

Never has the sense of entitlement amongst the Sutton Conservatives been quite so overwhelming as it stands at this very moment in time. I read a brief story on Scully's own blog (shortly before he became so angered by people posting articles criticising his regime that he brought the shutters down and imposed moderation) which had been written by a Councillor who represents the United Kingdom Independence Party.

Apparently a UKIP deliverer had been posting his party's literature through the doors of residents in the Beddington South ward of the Sutton Borough, in doing so he had managed to post some literature through the door of another incumbent Conservative Councillor, Terry Faulds.

It would seem that Councillor Faulds was extremely upset that an opposition party should dare to post their newsletter through the doors of the residents in the ward where he happened to be an elected representative. A shouting match ensued, with Councillor Faulds declaring that the UKIP deliverer's activities were "outrageous" before he finally stormed back into his abode and slammed his front door shut.

Now, does anyone else truly believe that UKIP delivering leaflets in the same ward where a Conservative Councillor resides is particularly outrageous? Well, Scully's Sutton Conservatives clearly seem to think so which goes to show just how much democracy is valued by the hierarchy of the aforementioned Tory elite.

In a final attempt to gag 'The Watchman' Commandant Scully has also attempted to block my ISP address from accessing his blog, which as we all know by now was only intended to be read by residents who do not know Scully personally and do not get to see what is REALLY going on within the Sutton Conservatives. The only other persons that Scully really intended to visit his blog were his dutiful minions who would make appreciative noises at whichever diatribe he spews forth on a regular basis and accordingly leave him comments filled with praise.

The crashing of websites, the blocking of ISP addresses and the re-routing of unwelcome blog visitors are tactics which are usually the hallmark of IT experts who wish to fight dirty. I only mention this as I have heard firsthand accounts of such methods being used by the Sutton Conservatives during the past two years. Then lo-and-behold for the last 24 hours I find that I am not able to access Scully's blog from one particular ISP address without finding myself re-routed to a wikipedia page on "cyberstalking".

(Note: Readers of the Sutton Guardian and visitors to Scully's blog will be quite aware that my frequent criticism of Councillor Scully has seen him label 'The Watchman' as being his on-line stalker, so God help the poor sensitive soul if he should ever become an MP and have to defend his political decisions to a national press pack! Scully would proabaly see them all labelled as "savages" in his usual pretentious and hypocritical style...)

Councillor Scully might be a 'master of the dark arts' but he does not personally possess the technological know-how to aggressively counter my presence on his blog. However, there is a newly elected member for Cheam ward, Conservative Councillor Johnathan Pritchard, that does possess those very useful capabilities. He will no doubt have been instructed to engage 'The Watchman' in a campaign of electronic warfare in a desperate bid to silence this particular voice of dissent.

As I have stated before: The "Paul Scullduggery Watch" blog will continue to broadcast an alternative message, without moderation, as I feel that the electorate of the London Borough of Sutton has a right to hear about the kind of party that the Sutton Conservatives have become under the dictatorial reign of Councillor Paul Scully.

This is one blog which I am determined to keep both democratic and assessable to all.

Don Scully's Sutton Conservative Mafia

How many of us reward our bosses and employers with generous gifts?

If we did choose to do so, would it be out of choice, or would it be because we were coerced into doing so by those of our colleagues who were 'higher up the food chain'?

Only I have to ask after I felt that it was at least of mild interest to the local electorate that the Sutton Conservative group shelled out the minimum of thirty pounds each to send their leader Councillor Paul Scully on a holiday to Italy.

Buying lavish holidays for those higher ranking than oneself used to at one time be the sole preserve of the Italian American Mafiosi. Now it would seem that such sycophancy and excessive tokens of respect have also reached the London Borough of Sutton's shadow opposition.

This peculiar "gift" was co-ordinated by Councillor Tony Shields, who is also Scully's Deputy Leader of the Conservative group. Shields sent out an email to the other Conservative Councillors claiming that Commandant Scully was "overworked and underpaid" and that he "would be collecting thirty pounds off of everyone" so that Scully could go for a family holiday in Rome.

This justification does sound a little bit bizarre to say the least. Scully has a Monday to Friday job working within Portcullis House at the Houses of Parliament where he holds the position of Office Manager (such a position usually has remuneration of £25-30k per annum). On top of this salary he also receives an income of £10k per year as an elected Councillor, whilst receiving an additional £10k per year for being the leader of the shadow opposition party of the London Borough of Sutton Council.

Living in London can at times be very expensive especially for those only receiving the national minimum wage, but surely Commandant Scully is in receipt of a sizable combined income and more than capable of paying for his own holidays? This can surely be taken as fact, especially when you consider the possibility of a spouse's income being added to the family household. It would be fair to assume that Commandant Scully would certainly not be impoverished. So why the need for such grandiose gestures towards one's boss?

I understand from speaking to various people that there were a number of Conservative Councillors who were reluctant to part with what they considered to be an overly generous sum of money, especially after Scully's appalling treatment of Eleanor Pinfold and his successful attempt to topple her then parachute himself into her leadership position. Furthermore Scully then then selected an obedient jury to have Eleanor thrown out of the Conservative party (the bid to wrest power from her grasp was indeed successful, the campaign to have her thrown out of the party has achieved it's objective in the first instance, pending an appeal).

I understand that most of the Conservative councillors who did object to paying out for 'Don' Scully to take his sabbatical to a sunnier peninsula did eventually capitulate as they did not wish to fall out of favour with the new hierarchy and thus find themselves ex-communicated a-la Eleanor Pinfold. Hence the vast majority dutifully coughed up the requested minimum 'donation' with fear being the primary motivational factor for a significant number of contributors.

Let us be clear about he significance of this latest incident. What has taken place is not illegal, nor is it against the rules of office. However it is rather unusual behaviour, especially when you consider that such requested donations for lavish gifts are usually only bestowed upon prolific leaders, campaign managers or electoral agents AFTER a hard fought election campaign. Yet the only campaign that Scully had masterminded up to that point was the overthrowing of his predecessor!

I did also hear that Councillor Scully took the opportunity to visit the villa of one Benito Mussolini whilst he holidayed in "the Boot". Given Scully's past ruthlessness and dictatorial leadership style one can only speculate as to whether this visit was planned out of historical interest, or was it due to 'Don' Scully's own admiration for a man who clearly possessed many of the same personality traits.

"El Duce" is an obvious choice of hero to those now fronting the Sutton Conservative hierarchy...

Scully's Dirty Tricks Department (Status: Active)

It would seem that the hierarchy of the Sutton Conservatives have been so concerned by the continued success of this blog that they have decided to fight even dirtier than usual. As a direct result of this I was forced to delete approximately 15 posts from this blog (posts which suddenly appeared during the early hours of Monday the 6th of April 2008).

But do not worry oh intrepid readers and seasoned political watchers of Sutton, I have not morphed into Commandant Paul Scully and set about stifling your freedom of speech!

Au contrare, I refuse to hide behind litigation like Commandant Scully does.

I will not hold back when it comes to voicing my opinions on any side of the political spectrum. Nor will I refrain from lambasting those politicos who go beyond the realms of credibility and insult the intelligence of the electorate by their hypocrisy and double standards and all the while feathering their nests at the expense of local taxpayers.

Nor will I avoid any questions which refer to the current political climate here in the London Borough of Sutton. All political topics of conversation which relate to the London Borough of Sutton are up for debate right here on this forum.

Scully's henchmen are more than welcome to visit this blog and slag me off (constructively though I hope) any time they so wish. They have the most to hide so naturally I fully expect to see the Vesuvius of bile erupting from 48 Benhill Avenue every time I reveal yet another inconvenient truth about the Sutton Tory hierarchy.

What is unacceptable though is when certain malevolent factions from the Sutton Conservative hierarchy visit this blog at Commandant Scully's behest and leave stupid posts about sherbet, fairies, mouse traps and parties at the bottom of the garden (this blog having been bombarded with posts on these intriguing subjects not even 48 hours ago).

Scully's Dirty Tricks Department went into warp drive during the early hours of Monday morning when a certain Tory Cretin found the need to imitate other Google Blogger members and also to link this particular blog to a male homosexual porn site.

The current powermongers in the Sutton Conservatives clearly have plenty to hide, otherwise they wouldn't be attempting to force this blog into closure.

Is it really too much to expect the Sutton Conservatives to respect democracy and other's freedom of speech? Let us hope that we can now continue debating the Sutton political scene without any more bullying from the leadership of the Sutton Conservatives.

One thing is for certain: This blog is here to stay, regardless of whether Commandant Scully likes it or not.