Burgess Hill Town Councillors Have Trouble With Honesty At Recent Meeting
11th August 2016 By Peter Chapman
Ask a simple question of your local elected representatives and in theory, you should receive a simple answer. That is unless you are dealing with Burgess Hill Town Council.
On July 18th, local resident Chris French used the question time at the start of the meeting of the full town council to ask about the political balance on the council, this was due to a Conservative Councillor having reportedly
joined the Labour Party and thus holding dual-membership
Councillors scoffed, laughed and joked at this question, some hilariously acted like it was the first time they'd heard of the suggestion - this despite the Mid Sussex Conservative Party Chairman
vowing to investigate the claims a good few weeks before the meeting.
We know that inbetween the time that the news broke and the date of the full meeting of BHTC, a number of Conservative councillors had been explaining away the story to members of the public by telling them that it's all one big misunderstanding due to cross-party campaigning during the EU Referendum. Maybe that's the excuse the culprit has told their fellow councillors, but it is NOT the truth, no matter how sure their colleagues are about this.
Here is a video of Chris French's question and the reactions of the councillors
It's very telling that Town Council Chairman Jacqui Landriani did not address Mr French's question with any sort of formal answer.
If the council were so sure that this dual-party membership claim was a simple misunderstanding, then why didn't she put the record straight? Instead, she just mumbled a few words, thanked Mr French for his question and moved on. Why accept questions from members from the public at the meeting if you are not going to address them with proper answers? You can't pick and choose.
Cll Landriani and her fellow councillors should refer to the 7 principals of public life and realise that covering up a deceitful act does nothing to preserve public confidence in our elected representatives.
If they can't act with integrity, then they should stand down and let other people have a crack at serving the local residents.
Spread the word! Our councillors have trouble with giving an honest answer, choosing to cover up for a crooked colleague.
Got an opinion on this story? Leave a comment below.....
Got an opinion on this story? Leave a comment below.....
If the council were so sure that this dual-party membership claim was a simple misunderstanding, then why didn't she put the record straight? Instead, she just mumbled a few words, thanked Mr French for his question and moved on. Why accept questions from members from the public at the meeting if you are not going to address them with proper answers? You can't pick and choose. 
