THIS WEEK Badger writes a slightly different column. It’s a letter. A letter to chair of the Corporate Governance Committee: Former council Cabinet stooge; one time aspirant to the leadership of the Labour Group; and a man who desperately wants to be County Council Chair in 2016/17. This week, readers, Badger writes to the voice of Ken, Ken Rowlands:

Dear Ken, A writer of The Pembrokeshire Herald phoned Badger on Monday evening. He was beside himself with grief and worry. And you caused it, Ken. You were responsible for this poor little lamb’s distress. There he was sitting and taking notes of a committee meeting which you were chairing when you said that the press would not report good news because it was not sensational enough. That was after you had opined ex cathedra about ‘lies’ appearing in the press. Lies, Ken. Really? Which lies were you thinking about? When you warned everyone about lies appearing in the press. were you thinking about the lies you have told over the years to your electors? Let’s focus in on a few of those shall we. Ken. Ken: You published your newsletter which claimed that you and the community council you chair. Johnston. had made representations to County Hall about the new school due to be

built in council. So we have a sense of completeness. Ken, you said this: “Members of the Community Council joined with me to help make an informed decision at County Hall … when the proposals were then submitted to the Welsh Government for approval.” But Ken, as the then Cabinet Spokesperson for Education, any influence you brought to bear would have been wholly inappropriate due to your disqualifying interest as a governor of Johnston School. A fact you had previously recognized yourself and one which the reporter who was at the committee meeting asked !PPG leader Jamie Adams about when he saw your newsletter. For the record, Ken, this is what your leader said at the time: “What Cllr Rowlands was referring to in his newsletter was discussions he had held with his electorate about potential sites for the new school and not about associated matters connected to the school, such as funding and planning issues which have yet to be decided.” Can you spot the difference between those two positions. Ken? Badger can, Ken. Badger can. One of you is not telling the truth, Ken. Is it you or Jamie Adams? Please. Ken, let Badger know whether you simply embroidered the facts or breached the Code of Conduct. Now. Ken: you have form about Johnston School. Ken. Don’t you?

In 2012, Ken, you told your electors that you had secured £7m of funding for a new school in Johnston. Do you remember that Ken? It was another case of can-do Ken answering a question nobody was asking. But, Ken, let’s look at what your Leader, Jamie Adams, said about it: “It was essential to note that these were only approvals at an outline stage. At this stage, therefore, it was impossible to provide members with certainty about the confirmed inclusion of specific projects, their timescales or their prioritisation across the entire programme.” That’s not ‘committed funding’, Ken, which is what you claimed. Can you spot the difference between those two positions, Ken? Badger can, Ken. Badger can. One of you is not telling the truth, Ken. Is it you or Jamie Adams? Please, Ken, let Badger know whether you simply embroidered the facts or breached the Code of Conduct by using your position on the council to leak confidential information favourable to you to the electorate. In 2008. Ken, you told the Labour Party that you were their man; their candidate for Johnston. And then Ken, in appropriately biblical fashion, you claimed a sudden conversion. A conversion so sudden and dramatic that it happened too late for the Labour Party to select an alternative candidate. You claimed after the election that your defection was not

motivated by the offer of a Cabinet post, you also claimed that your decision to join the Independent Political Group was made after the election. But Ken, you and me know that isn’t true. If its untrue, why would your name and the name of other official Labour Party candidates who subsequently joined you in the then MG, have appeared on a list of safe !PG seats produced before the 2008 election? Why would your name appear on documents showing you to be a key recruiter for the IPG at the count for the 2008 election? Are all of the documents containing your name about the 2008 election a conspiracy to implicate you in the biggest electoral rook in Pembrokeshire’s recent past? That’s not changing tack after the election. Can you spot the difference between those two positions, Ken? Badger can. Ken. Badger can. Either the documents are not telling the truth, or you are not. Which is it. Ken? Last weekend. The Pembrokeshire Herald related the content of a conversation that took place between you and your former Cabinet colleague David Simpson. In that conversation you confirmed a rumour that it was Rob Lewis who told you of your appointment to the committee investigating Bryn Parry-Jones’ conduct; that at the same meeting you were told to ‘keep your mouth shut’ while on that committee; that the meeting in which you

were told the above took place in the presence of a Council Officer. We were able to report that because Cllr David Simpson told our assistant editor about the conversation between you. Badger is inclined to believe ClIr Simpson. Badger thinks that a lot of others will, too. If you maintain that any of the above is ‘a lie’. Ken – write to Badger and let him know. He has had one of his little woodland chums trawl through our past letters and emails to see if you have ever complained about any ‘lies’ about you in this paper. They found not a single scrap of correspondence. Funny that. So, Ken, before you next abuse your position as the Chair of a council committee to try and settle scores, Badger invites you to just answer the questions posed of you above. If you can. Love and sloppy kisses

PS: One more thing Ken, don’t you think your electors would be served better if you were a voice FOR Johnston?