Monday 7 April 2008

Don't expel Martin Ford

The Lib Dem group on Aberdeenshire Council are today going to vote on a proposal to expel Councillor Martin Ford from the group. Martin voted according to standard procedure over the Trump plans - it's normal for the chair to vote for status quo if there is a tied vote. To expel him from the group would be petty, mean spirited and pathetic.

To those who intend being party of this political lynch-mob I say; what part of Liberal Democrats do you not understand?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

"It's normal for the chair to vote for status quo if there is a tied vote."

Now there's a practice requiring a little bit of justification. Surely the chair is a person like any other, chosen for the respect those appointing him or her hold, and as such should be permitted to vote their conscience. Disagree?

Agreed though: It's vindictive to eject someone from the party when there's a minor difference of opinion (especially in this case where there might not even be one!)

Anonymous said...

no it's very straight forward
The chair votes with their conscience as a member of a committee, but in the event of a tie the vote of the chair of a meeting is normally used in local government custom and practise to maintain the status quo...

Bernard Salmon said...

I completely agree with you, and I have also blogged about this here:
http://thesoundofgunfire.blogspot.com/2008/04/martin-ford-is-innocent.html

Anonymous said...

It's disgraceful that the Aberdeenshire group are even thinking of this. What if I decided that their action was so illiberal that I sought to have them expelled from the Party? Would they then start thinking that expelling people from things was such a laugh?

Iain Rubie Dale said...

BBC News are reporting that Cllr Isobel Davidson withdrew her motion to expel martin at last night's meeting. The group issued a statement that "they wished to draw a line under the matter and move forward."

Liberal for Life said...

perhaps its more a case of "the pot calling the kettle balck" so calm down all you (il-) Liberals until you learn all of the facts surrounding this case.