Lib Dem Canaries: Round Up

Given the news reported earlier I will canter through the other points from Marc's friends in low places.

ALLEGATIONS:

2. A certain credit card had been stopped
TRUTH? This story has some currency but to be quite blunt: who cares? There's a lot of credit out there as we all know. Switching cards or bank accounts or having a dispute with a financial institution is a "dog bites man" story.
DECISION: Who cares?
LoL Veracity rating. None given. None of our business.

3. Bird of Liberty said that Marc's household are selling a spare house in Rusholme
TRUTH? Marc seems to have made a pretty thorough disclosure to the Register in the Town Hall. His partner and his wife's employments are listed, as are three different corporate bodies in which he declares a "beneficial interest". The guidelines say this only needs to be declared if over £25,000 or 1% of the total issued share capital of the body.

Under the headings which cover bricks and mortar Marc lists one property only. It is not situate in Rusholme. Given the apparent thoroughness of the disclosure and Marc's record in declaring interests in committee etc it and his prior service as Planning Spokesperson it seems unlikely to me that he wouldn't have declared a property in Rusholme owned or leased by himself or his immediate contacts.
DECISION: Probably careless whisper from someone with axe to grind.
LoL Veracity rating. Less than 10%.

4. Bird of Liberty claimed that Marc owes some £6,000 for printing and points out that Election Laws require that any election expenses need to be remitted within a strict timetable and fines up to £5000 are possible.
TRUTH? Last point first. It is true that election expenses must be paid reasonably quickly on pain of legal remedies. Non-election print is NOT covered by this law. The main printer the Lib Dems use, LDP Limited, is I believe owned by the party. They are unlikely to be much help in helping LoL calculate any arrears. Cllr John Leech MP used quite a few other printers during his whirlwind paperstorm of a campaign. None could have kept up on their own.
DECISION: There seems to be a general view that there is a substantial unpaid print bill or bills. I will consider writing to LDP Limited and asking them the amount owed. But I doubt that their company secretary Lib Dem Cllr Mark Clayton will tell me very much if I do.
LoL Veracity rating. A substantial debt was built up: 90%. Amount it reached being £6000 or whether now resolved: Unknown.

5. Bird of Liberty said: Posters in some city centre buildings saying Marc Ramsbottom has been sacked by MMU
LoL Veracity rating. Heard in versions from several sources. Whether it said "resigned" or "sacked" or "left": Unknown. No copy to hand at time of writing. No rating.

6. Marc is still driving around in his luxury MMU-owned Saab spreading peace and light
LoL Veracity rating. Heard in versions from several sources. I have been caught out believing Lib Dem car envy before. Unknown whether this cruising continues post-resignation. Perhaps car in severance package, in which case MMU would no longer own it? No rating.

7. Bird of Liberty claimed: Marc's pay is more than £60,000 and he also gets his £15,000 council whack.
TRUTH? Members interests does not currently show amounts of remunerations, unlike Parliament's. Don't know why that is. Have been told a range of figures from £50,000 to £65,000. Councillors expenses are around £15,000.
LoL Veracity rating. Overall income was or is substantial 100%. What Marc has to budget for: Unknown.

8. Claim: Despite being at leisure Marc has not blogged his website since August though he has had some Metro cover media whore non-stories
A website is HERE and the last entry on the face of the site is August 25th 2006. However today I found 15 'external' links that are bang up to date. Only one of these mentions Marc by name in the precis. Ramsbottom has certainly continued to be active in the press including recent cover non-stories about rough sleepers and about noise.
LoL Veracity rating. Bit of a non story. There is a rather (i.e. five months) out of date homepage. Some current news buried. 70-80% say? We'll expect to witness a rapid improvement in this sad state of affairs. Perhaps Marc could get a blog?

9. Bird of Liberty was borderline scurrilous here. Many men and women in Manchester have a presence on dating and contact sites. NOT having a saucy picture on one is NOT a story. Not interested.

10. Bird of Liberty concentrated on Marc and the Lib Dems but did have a go at me too.

TRUTH? It's true I did refuse point blank to use the suspension story against Marc in May 2006. He wasn't even on the ballot.
I don't like negative campaigning on leaflets and some voters don't either. Does that make me a wimp? I don't think so. LoL veracity rating on this part 100% UNTRUE.

TRUTH? Was I deselected? I ceased to be a candidate when the election result was declared in favour of Elaine Boyes, with myself second, and Tory Jake Berry a third picking up some 70 "independent votes" plus slight growth in vote wasters. The votes for ALL other parties dipped by similar amounts.

I support All Women Shortlists. City Centre ward was not the most obvious fit for the written policy but Kathy Crotty is a great candidate and rightly winning friends in the ward. In fact Kathy got half a dozen more votes than me in 2004 and had she been seeking selection then she would have deserved to have been our candidate in 2005.
LoL Veracity rating: like several of the points against Marc this is just Lib Dem mischief. 100% UNTRUE

You can find Lib Dems calling me names for the fun of it in other places too. Including for example in the charming Dave Hennigan's comments on this very blog. But also repeatedly here where, hiding behind multiple false identities they come up with all sorts of nonsense. Quite a badge of honour. Some kind of ALDBO!

11. Bird of Liberty finished their round up by stating that Marc is still in charge of party funds as well as being the Lib Dem Finance spokesperson.
Several people share this understanding on the first point. And unless I've missed an announcement of a resignation or a reshuffle Marc does remain Finance Chief. My understanding is this resignation came before the tardy enquiry got going and I can't comment on whether Marc should continue in these roles. I thought Manchester Labour were right to suggest he should stand down in the first place. Until an enquiry had taken place.
LoL veracity rating. 75% on first part. 100% on second. For now.