Winning title by @CrackingOwlSanctuary, nominated by @Lazarus. We don't have £60k to give you in thanks. Maybe Southend Council does?
Recap:
CHAOS TIME, NINNIES
(courtesy of @SweetTransvestite)
And the Patreon is still up even though this leaves her open to accusations of bribery now that she's a public servant. There remain no featu.
Wiki up on the pink button!
Recap:
CHAOS TIME, NINNIES
- An anonymous Twitter account posted evidence that guest, who's now changed her name to Jack Hadjicostas, is employed as a Policy Advisor to the Leader of Southend Council (Cllr Daniel Cowan)
- Local squigs began asking how she got this job, what was the selection process, etc. and saying they will submit FOI requests
- At a meeting of the Council to decide the budget, Cllr Tony Cox of the Reform Party put forward an amendment to delete guest's position. It was confirmed that she's a permanent employee on a salary package worth £60k. He suggested that she is not performing the job she was hired to do, and questioned why the job was created despite the Council having rejected a proposal to hire taxpayer-funded assistants. He has reported this to the Head of Fraud and Internal Audit. Fellow Reform Councillor Darryl Jones stated on Twitter that guest's job was advertised and then changes were made to the position after she was hired. Guest allegedly threatened to have Cllr Cox fired from his day job, so evidently she is confident she holds considerable influence!
- Cllr MattmatethankyouverymuchMatt Dent denies having anything to do with hiring her, and got into some very guest-like sniping with squigs. But he's also backing off a bit and says he "knows" her ... despite their long-documented friendship on some social media and some suspicious tweets about fumbling pumbles!
- Cllr Cox shared evidence on Twitter of a suspicious email exchange between guest and a local resident who emailed Cllr Cowan, Leader of the Council. First, guest responded to the person as if she IS Cllr Cowan and put her name on the email (although the header showed she was responding on his behalf.) Then, when the recipient had evidently replied asking who the hell she is, she replied saying she "should have introduced (herself)" and is a Policy Advisor to the Leader. This was all late at night when she shouldn't even have been working
- This of course raises data protection concerns, and the question of what job she actually does. Guest says she's (and the Council's system shows her as) a Policy Advisor to the Leader ... but "officially" she's on record as a Senior Policy Advisor, i.e. non-partisan, supposed to advise all members of the Council. She can't be hired for one job but then do the other. And neither role involves answering a Councillor's emails, which should be the job of an EA/personal assistant/administrator. They also can't hire her for one role and then, when she proves completely incompetent at it, give her a completely different job to do just to keep her employed
- This, by the way, is guest's official job description. You decide if you think she got it fair and square
- Reform will keep on this as part of a "Labour corruption at Southend Council!" angle - there are other elements, including allegations that a trade union rep hired by the Council does nothing. Cllr Cox also suggests that whistleblowers are involved. And squigs have been trying to bring it to the attention of the press and get Private Eye to cover it in "Rotten Boroughs"
(courtesy of @SweetTransvestite)
And the Patreon is still up even though this leaves her open to accusations of bribery now that she's a public servant. There remain no featu.
Wiki up on the pink button!