Letter for publication: rebuttal to Cllr Cornelius
Cllr Cornelius (letter 19/5/16) tries to shift blame for the election fiasco, with his ‘nothing to do with me, guv’ whingeing. Chief Executive Andrew Travers has gone with an undisclosed pay off, but however much Cllr Cornelius scapegoats officers, he can’t hide from political responsibility. Political parties should not be involved in the administration of elections. But most people can see the distinction between that and setting the budget and staffing for the elections department- why else does the General Functions Committee have ‘elections’ in its terms of reference? Running elections for the glee club committee? It obviously means oversight, to ensure that public elections and voter registration are run efficiently. The Chair , Cllr Scannell should go, as she has woefully fallen down on this job. As Leader of the Council, Cllr Cornelius should go too, as he is responsible for the elections budget and staffing .
Cllr Cornelius claims his investigation will find out why wrong registers were used. But it won’t deal with everything else that goes wrong every election in Bungling Barnet. The scandal of voters being left off the register ( and indeed kept on, when they asked to come off), of poll cards and postal votes not being sent out in time or at all, of the Capita unobtainable hapless helpline, all excluded. The terms of reference are too narrow, and contrary to Cllr Cornelius’s misleading press release, were not approved by Labour.
In advance of the Referendum, voters are already complaining about unexplainable difficulties registering and applying for postal or proxy votes. The validity of the Referendum in Bungling Barnet is becoming jeopardised, yet Cllr Cornelius, ostrich head in the sand, wriggles to avoid responsibility for the election cock ups, which will inevitably happen again next month.
Andrew Dismore
London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden