Not a matter of crying wolf

The inference to be gained from the Beans on Toast’s rather indulgent account of a possible roads for votes scandal in Swansea is that accusations of misconduct against council leader Chris Holley is pretty humdrum stuff.

Based on the figures proffered (presumably supplied by council spin corps) the view that County Hall is full of time-wasting complainants admittedly appears a reasonable assessment.

It’s certainly a notion held by Peter Black, even though he himself has some ‘prior’ for shopping fellow councillors over alleged misconduct and has even been known to throw a serious strop when the ombudsman has initially declined to play ball. Of course, the same could be said of Chris Holley who cited 32 opposition members to the local government watchdog for walking out in protest when they were refused an opportunity to debate controversial council business debated in public.

And who could forget allegations of ageism levelled at Rene Kinzett by two cabinet members who objected to his disrespectful comparison of their abilities and his cat's when it came to running the council.

But leaving aside these inconvenient contradictions – which is the example set elsewhere – surely the practice of trading chunks of public expenditure in exchange for political support in the council chamber should be considered at least a bit dodgy. Especially when someone sets out the actual details in a bunch of official council e-mails.

As it happens, and now that he has had about nine weeks to look into the evidence provided, the Public Services Ombudsman thinks there is a prima facie case of misconduct to be investigated. We understand that interviews with the accused trio, the complainants and several council officers will begin in coming weeks.

It was this news that prompted Rene Kinzett to finally go public and for Swansea's Lib Dems plus supporting cast to initiate their smoke & mirrors routine. Today’s downplaying is a case in point whilst another example is Peter Black’s insistence on his blog that the council’s chief executive had not been involved in referring the misconduct complaint. It’s worth noting that these exchanges have since been deleted – which is just as well since the contentions were irrelevant and unsustainable.

Ombudsman staff motivated by the prospect of senior political scalps and a desire to rebut previous accusations by Swansea councillors of unfitness will be keen to make a thorough job of their investigations. We suspect they will also quickly dismiss the facile argument that the substance of an allegation is diminished by the standing of the individual who makes it.

It would probably be too much to expect the press to apply the same objective yardstick from time to time.