Dirty tricks claim over council worker’s calls

May 1 2008 by Andrew Harrison, Glamorgan Gazette

AN accusation of dirty tricks has seen a council employee reported to the authority’s chief executive.

Youth council support worker Mary Hughes, who is also the wife of Bridgend County Borough Council cabinet member Ralph Hughes, was reported after ringing Labour election candidates and asking questions on one of their manifesto pledges.

Labour members felt their answers were unfairly passed to political opponents in election week and said Mrs Hughes had entered a political arena.

But Mrs Hughes said youth mayor Craig Lambourne asked her to ring a senior Labour Party member in her role as a youth council support worker, to find out how many dog and litter wardens there were in the borough and how much it would cost to double that number, as promised in Labour’s manifesto.

“The answer I got was absolutely unbelievable because the prominent Labour councillor didn’t know and I was flabbergasted,” she said.

“I reported the answer to the youth council and that was my job done.

“When I got home to Nantymoel I wondered if my Labour candidate knew the answer so I rang him, as a resident, and left a message. He hasn’t phoned me back yet.

“I have a long-term acquaintance with another Labour candidate in the area, and because I thought ‘this is my valley’, I phoned him to see if he knew, again as a resident.

“He wanted to speak off the record but I said, ‘Please don’t say that because I will report what you tell me,’ and he said, ‘Have they costed anything?’

“I was on speaker phone in my home at the time and my husband heard the whole conversation.

“The first call was under instruction from the youth mayor and the subsequent two were as a resident.”

Tory cabinet member for the environment, Coun Matthew Voisey said he had been able to give the right answers where Labour could not.

Mr Lambourne confirmed he had asked Mrs Hughes to find out the information for the youth council’s environment forum.

Labour leader in Bridgend, Coun Mel Nott, was unconvinced.

“I was caught cold when I was phoned and what has annoyed me is the conversation has been used for political purposes when I was under the impression the information would be used as part of a general discussion on the environment at the youth council,” said Coun Nott.

“I would like to know what the Rainbow Alliance policies are as all we have is a mixture of different policies from different parties.

“As stated in our manifesto, we will double the number of dog and litter wardens if elected and it could be funded by an increase in the number of fines which would help to clean up our streets and parks.

“But my issue is with one individual who phoned me and I’ve put that matter to the chief executive of the council.

“I don’t mind fighting a battle of policies but I don’t like people asking me for information to be used for something I didn’t believe it was intended for.”

A council spokesman would not confirm whether Mrs Hughes had been reported as it was a “confidential staffing issue.”