Standards panel outlines sanctions for councillor who used false names in texts

A councillor who used false names to enter local political debates should be barred from serving in the cabinet for the rest of the municipal year, Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s standards hearings panel has said.

It recommended that Labour councillor Paul Shotton, a former deputy leader, should additionally hold no committee chair post during the same period.

The committee also asked the council’s monitoring officer to arrange for Cllr Shotton to receive further training after deciding that his actions could be perceived as acting in an official capacity and could reasonably be regarded as bringing his office or the authority into disrepute.

The offending texts were sent to Radio Stoke. Some commented positively on the council, some opposed the idea of a town council for the Fenton area and others were negative about opposition councillors.

A report put to the committee by Gerry Clarke, principal solicitor and deputy monitoring officer, said Cllr Shotton has admitted sending the texts over a period of six months from his personal mobile phone and had apologised fully for his actions.

The report concluded: “There is no doubt in my mind that, had Councillor Shotton sent the texts in his own name, he would have been perceived by listeners to the Radio Stoke debate programme to be representing the authority as a senior member of the cabinet and as deputy leader of the council.

“However, there is an important but subtle distinction between the public perception of when a member is acting in an official capacity and when, in fact and law, the member is actually acting in an official capacity. “

But the report concluded: “I am firmly of the view that the on-going governance review and the proposal for a town council for Fenton is an issue of local political interest and, on balance, by commenting upon it Councillor Shotton would, if he had sent the texts in his own name, as the local ward councillor, of been acting in an official capacity.”

Stoke-on-Trent City Council chief operating officer Isabell Procter said: “This matter was investigated swiftly and comprehensively as soon as it was brought to our attention, in line with the council’s Code of Conduct for members. 
 
“All councillors are bound by the code when they take up office, to comply with the principles of selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership, and we take our responsibilities to ensure these principles are upheld seriously. In this investigation, we are satisfied that the code has been appropriately applied.”

Mark Smulian