• Deputy Leader used Council I.T. for “party political purposes”
• Standards Committee to decide punishment

CLAIMS that the ruling IPPG and its predecessor IPG are not organized as a political party lie in shreds as a hard-hitting investigation by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales lays bare the extent to which the discredited IPPG administration used Council computer facilities to co-ordinate its election campaigns.

Under its old title of the IPG, the current and former Council leadership used tax-payer funded facilities to run its campaigns and produce its election literature. In a breach of the statutory Code of Conduct governing Council members, Deputy Leader of the Council Rob Lewis has admitted using Council computers and infrastructure to both produce election literature and plan election campaigns for the elections that took place in both 2008 and 2012.

A detailed Ombudsman’s report is to be considered by the Council’s Standards Committee next Tuesday, March 18. The members of the Committee carry out a statutory function to promote and maintain high standards of conduct by Members and Co-opted Members of the County Council and Members of all Community Councils in Pembrokeshire. While the Council’s Code of Conduct permits political groups to use Council I.T. infrastructure to co-ordinate their actions for the efficient transaction of Council business, it does not allow Councillors – for obvious reasons – to use the same technology to produce their own election literature, co-ordinate election campaigns, or access Council data for party political ends.

Councillor Lewis is quoted in the report as saying that he could not justify the use of the Council’s computer system and said, “… I’m obviously wrong, I know that.”

His admission flies in the face of repeated public pronouncements by the IPPG leadership that they are genuinely independent, and do not operate as a political party. It reveals that at the last two elections – at least – the Pembrokeshire electorate have been actively deceived by those seeking their vote on the basis that they are not affiliated to a party group.

In 2008, then IPG Leader John “Cwmbetws” Davies told the local media:

“The IPG is a coalition of individuals who have established a group to allow the county council to be administered by the majority of the membership of the council. This clearly reflects the wishes of the voters of our county.”

Documents considered by the Ombudsman demonstrate that current Cabinet spokesperson for Education, Ken Rowlands, appeared on a list of IPG certainties in an IPG strategy document produced in April 2008 when the self-proclaimed “voice of Johnston” has strongly asserted elsewhere that he only chose to join the IPG AFTER the subsequent election.

The extent of the deception perpetrated by the IPG hierarchy and its camp followers is exposed by the fact that in 2012 only 14 of the 31 candidates who were already members of the IPG chose to use the word “independent” in the description box on the ballot paper, while the other 17 opted to leave it blank.

Having been caught out by the fact that the documents co-ordinating campaign strategy for the allegedly “Independent” Political Group were traced to his Council computer and log-in, Cllr Lewis seems to have tried to deflect blame and criticism. The way in which he elected to do so was by repeatedly criticising the conduct of members, who had revealed and publicised the way in which he and the IPG had deceived the Pembrokeshire electorate. The Ombudsman’s report contains a number of emails by Cllr Lewis sent to the Ombudsman apparently complaining that Cllrs Mike Stoddart and Jacob Williams were making use of what he refers to as “stolen data” to reveal on their websites the extent to which he, now-retired Councillor David Wildman, and the IPG had broken Council rules.

The Ombudsman’s investigator evidently gave short shrift to Cllr Lewis’ complaints, as no criticism of either Councillors Stoddart or Williams is made in his report. The allegations made against those Councillors appear to be more founded in their revelation of the extent of the lies told – whether actively or by omission – by the IPG and their candidates to their electors.

Mike Stoddart told The Herald:

“The simple fact is that the party of government used taxpayer-funded facilities to promote their election campaign. Put another way, they found a way to use taxpayers’ money to undermine the principle of free and fair elections which we all value.”

Notwithstanding his admission that he breached the Code of Conduct, Cllr Lewis has asserted – contrary to the findings of the Ombudsman – that he has not breached the Code of Conduct by using the Council’s I.T. to produce strategy documents. This is a potentially revealing insight into the attitude of the IPG, as Cllr Lewis appears to have confused the transaction of IPG electoral business with the permitted transaction of internal Council political business.

Such is the overwhelming nature of the evidence against Cllr Lewis that the disputed documents read in context underline the extent of his wrongdoing and that of the IPG as a whole. Furthermore, as the breaches do not require guilty intent to be proved, it remains to be seen what the Standards Committee make of Cllr Lewis’ unrepentant stand on this subject and what finding of fact they make in relation to it.

In January, Council Vice-Chairman Tom Richards – a member of the IPPG – recused himself from sitting in judgement on the basis he was identified as a candidate in some of the documents. Cllr Stanley Hudson also recused himself on the basis of his close personal association with the original complainant to the Ombudsman, Cllr David Bryan. The members of the Committee making a decision next week will therefore be lay members Messrs Ian Williams, David Morgan and Andre Morgan and Community Councillor and Haverfordwest solicitor, Mr George Allingham.

While the part of January’s meeting dealing with Councillor Lewis was held in private, the publication of the Ombudsman’s report and detailed documents should militate against the public being excluded on Tuesday.

The members have the power to censure a member, or suspend or partially suspend a member for a period not exceeding 6 months. The maximum penalty available to the Adjudication Panel for Wales is five years’ disqualification from office.

The Pembrokeshire Herald will carry a detailed report of the Committee proceedings next week.