Dear All
Glasgow City Council had a contest to
redesign George Square; this attracted a number of entries.
One thing you would expect that the contest
would be fair, open and honest.
Everyone entered in good faith and it isn’t
unreasonable to expect the competition to be run in that manner.
However, it appears questions have been
asked about the running of this contest which has ended up with Glasgow Council
Leader; Gordon Matheson taking the huff that his preferred design wasn't being
chosen.
Now, Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson has been
reported to ethics watchdog with allegations that he breached of the code of conduct
as a councilor.
The SNP is calling for his resignation and
asked that Matheson to “do the honourable thing” by considering his position,
and accused him of “damaging” the city’s reputation.
Maybe the SNP should put its own house in
order before trying to tackle the problem of George Square.
So, what is Matheson facing?
Well, the claims are attempting to coerce
staff, improper bias, interfering in a legally defined procurement process, and
trying to be “directly involved” in the local council’s operational management.
The competition collapsed in January, when
the judging panel selected a blueprint from John McAslan & Partners from
six shortlisted entries, only for Mr Matheson to announce the council had
scrapped the initiative.
In layman’s terms that is called a ‘bad
loser’.
The complaint sent to the Public Standards
Commissioner includes a statement from Kerr Robertson, until recently the
council’s lead architect and projects director.
He alleges, he was told six weeks before
the final judging process began that “Gordon Matheson [would] be allowed to
choose the winning design”, and that he was asked to ensure “other jury members
would fall in line with this”.
Straightaway, we have council sources
suggesting Mr Robertson may have had a grudge against Mr Matheson.
This is pretty standard stuff, someone
makes a comment or complaint and then they get attacked, it is a tactic well
known in the Scottish National Party.
This attack was countered by someone close
to the project who said:
“The suggestion he might have a grudge
against Cllr Matheson is absolutely absurd. He had always been the most
supportive, diligent, and hugely professional employee of Glasgow City
Council.”
A spokesman for Mr Matheson said:
“Even the RIAS make it clear in the
complaint that they can’t find a rule they think has been broken and they
acknowledge that the competition was well run. They are also clear that they
have no evidence of anyone attempting to improperly influence the jury.”
So, it seems that Gordon ‘free dinners’
Matheson according to reports has nothing to fear, as much as the SNP try to
take Matheson out, he keeps slipping the jab, bobbing and weaving.
Gordon Matheson crushed Scotland’s
unpopular Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s dream of Team Sturgeon taking
over Glasgow City Council.
The then SNP leader Allison Hunter was genuinely
pathetic as a leader, she led that campaign into ‘the shitter’ and the Labour
Party pulled the chain and flushed them away.
In truth, Sturgeon’s cronies weren’t up to
the task even with the Glasgow Labour Party on its knees, bad council management,
Labour councilors in scandal after scandal.
Allison Hunter also secured Labour victory
in the 2017 council election which given current trends will see Gordon ‘free
dinners’ Matheson walk it, there is a genuine lack of talent in the SNP.
So, will Graeme Hendry, the part time SNP
leader’s attack have much effect?
About as much as Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘popularity’
is driving the indy debate ‘forward’ for the independence camp.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
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