MULLANEY CLEARED AFTER HAT-TRICK OF COMPLAINTS

08-05-2008

Martin Mullaney is innocent – OK?  The Birmingham councillor has been cleared by the local government Standards Board after being on the receiving end of his third complaint in as many months.  Once again, your favourite website was implicated.

The latest threat to Lib Dem councillor for Moseley and Kings Heath came after he held a walkabout in March, along the Sparkbrook Red Route, as part of his role as Chair of the Transport Scrutiny Committee.

As we reported at the time, the event descended into farce, with shop owners on the Stratford Road accusing Mullaney of performing a “vanishing act” when they trailed him (see link here)

Abdul Vanat of the local Business Association eventually threatened to report him to the Standards Board, and made additional criticisms based on the councillor’s comments on The Stirrer Forum (see link here)

The thrust of the complaint was that Mullaney had “disrespected” the traders, but we can reveal that this has been rejected at the preliminary stage.

According to the Board, he had made remarks on our Message Board which were “frank and robust” but were not considered “overtly rude or abusive.”

In any event, they accepted that he was acting in a private capacity, not in his official role as a councillor, so the Code of Conduct did not apply.

Mullaney commented:  “This is a good day for free speech.  Do they really want a country where people can’t honestly say what they think and express an opinion?”

Last week, we reported that The Stirrer had been cited in another complaint to the Standards Board about Mullaney (see link here).

In a further case he and his colleague Ernie Hendricks were recently found to have trespassed on the land of a constituent and “disrespected” him.

Hendricks refused to apologise and has just completed a one month suspension, while Mullaney is appealing (see link here).

To see the latest Standards Board ruling in full, click here

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