Ex Cllr Kennedy's Letter to the Rutland Times after resigning from Oakham Town Council
It is indeed true I have resigned from OTC. Cllr Brookes very kindly posted a copy of my personal message to Chair of Council on his blog, so I enclose copy below.
“Alf
In the light of all the petty emails that MB is sending out, I feel the council is going to look like a laughing stock.
I am sure this is exactly what he intends, even though I sent all his messages to junk, I still keep getting them on replies.
I would like to thank the majority of the councilors and the clerk who have been particularly helpful to me, including yourself, Adam, Stan, Joyce and the Michaels.
I feel MB and his two associates could cause serious trouble for the council as a whole and individual councilors too.
I therefore tender my resignation, with immediate effect, as I do not wish to be dragged into any litigation which may occur.
John”
The reason I left was due to what I consider the bullying by Cllr Brookes, the person who complains HE is being bullied.
His bullying of me started even before I was elected, when he made outrageous comments about myself and the other candidate, Jim Harrison.
We both, along with another Councilor made official complaints to the Police, but after investigation, it was felt although the blogs he published about us were serious, he had just about stayed within the law, but only just.
He classed me with "The old guard", who he constantly criticises. The members he is referring to are Cllrs Dewis, Lowe, Stubbs and Lucas. He claims he cannot work with these people, if he put as much positive effort in, rather than his current negative effort, maybe he could. I can only speak as I found "The old guard", who I found to be extremely knowledgeable, very helpful and certainly not bullies as he refers to them.
He has made accusations against one councilor, totally unsubstantiated, that could have cost him his job and did cause him to terminate his participation as a Special Constable. Fortunately, this Councilor still has his full time job, despite Martin’s efforts to have him sacked. He is one of the most personable guys I have ever met and the amount of work he puts into OTC is unbelievable, yet Martin continues to stab him in the back
Martin has now started a spat about a "charity donation", threatening legal action. As Chairman, Alf Dewis asked that no further comments be made, but Cllr Brookes did not listen and kept sending more and more emails on the matter. Due to the high level of totally unnecessary emails Martin kept sending out, I eventually had to block his messages, but as most of his messages produced replies from other Councilors, I still ended up receiving dozens of emails.
I only put myself up to be a Councilor to try and help the local community, but in the end I felt it would be a hopeless task, whilst Martin seemed to be running a one-man campaign to bring OTC into disrepute. I was not prepared to be tarred with the same brush as him and feel that the dangerous game he is playing could lead to legal action being taken against the Council as a whole and potentially against individuals jointly.
Martin always plays the martyr, from his time as a verger, in London, a fact I only found out about, today, as Martin posted the link in an email to the other councilors, as below.
“What the hell does this case have to do with any one in Oakham
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1354835/Verger-sues-over-drug-needle-litter.html
This was a very unpleasant incident in my life and the old guard here in Oakham keeping
bringing it up as if I did something wrong. They disgust me and sadden me they have
nothing else to talk about.
From
Martin
Cllr Martin Brookes
Willow Crescent”
He constantly plays the homophobic and bullying cards. It is not just OTC, he also had the campaign against RCC and Helen Briggs, he was even protesting there last Friday. He states in one of his many emails, he has instigated an inquiry into bullying, through RCC and that this is about to conclude In MY opinion, it is he who is the bully. I have NEVER heard any homophobic references about him, nor have I ever seen him bullied. What I have seen is Martin breaking protocol and being reminded by Chair, what the correct protocol is, he just does not know when to shut up.
He has too much time on his hands, which due to being in full time employment, I do not, so I suggest he steps back and takes a close look at what he is doing. Any decent person would then take the decent decision and resign and let people get on with trying to help the community.
In order to try and diffuse the battle Martin is having with OTC, two members of a Facebook Group, "What Oakham Needs", David Briant and Kate Waterton offered to mediate with him and other Councilors, but he refused their offer. Is that the sort of reaction of a responsible person?
Below is another of Martin’s emails to me
“I will get told of for repeating this but you might have missed it a new Cllr Councillor
has given evidence about bullying at Oakham Town Council and sadly has been bullied
by some of those in high regard. At the conclusion of the investigation this will become
public knowledge. I detest bullies and support the new Councillors who are working for the
good of our town. The truth is the old guard you name are scared that they are losing control
they have enjoyed for a number of years and I am sorry you find me pointing this out is vile.
PS thanks for providing the music from your mobile at the poorly attended council Christmas
party organised by the old guard.
John I wish you know bad just stop posting about me in the silly way you are Happy Christmas John
it does not make the neighbourhood coordinator look very good or grown up”.
For the record, I won a contested election, Martin Brookes was elected unopposed.
It is indeed true I have resigned from OTC. Cllr Brookes very kindly posted a copy of my personal message to Chair of Council on his blog, so I enclose copy below.
“Alf
In the light of all the petty emails that MB is sending out, I feel the council is going to look like a laughing stock.
I am sure this is exactly what he intends, even though I sent all his messages to junk, I still keep getting them on replies.
I would like to thank the majority of the councilors and the clerk who have been particularly helpful to me, including yourself, Adam, Stan, Joyce and the Michaels.
I feel MB and his two associates could cause serious trouble for the council as a whole and individual councilors too.
I therefore tender my resignation, with immediate effect, as I do not wish to be dragged into any litigation which may occur.
John”
The reason I left was due to what I consider the bullying by Cllr Brookes, the person who complains HE is being bullied.
His bullying of me started even before I was elected, when he made outrageous comments about myself and the other candidate, Jim Harrison.
We both, along with another Councilor made official complaints to the Police, but after investigation, it was felt although the blogs he published about us were serious, he had just about stayed within the law, but only just.
He classed me with "The old guard", who he constantly criticises. The members he is referring to are Cllrs Dewis, Lowe, Stubbs and Lucas. He claims he cannot work with these people, if he put as much positive effort in, rather than his current negative effort, maybe he could. I can only speak as I found "The old guard", who I found to be extremely knowledgeable, very helpful and certainly not bullies as he refers to them.
He has made accusations against one councilor, totally unsubstantiated, that could have cost him his job and did cause him to terminate his participation as a Special Constable. Fortunately, this Councilor still has his full time job, despite Martin’s efforts to have him sacked. He is one of the most personable guys I have ever met and the amount of work he puts into OTC is unbelievable, yet Martin continues to stab him in the back
Martin has now started a spat about a "charity donation", threatening legal action. As Chairman, Alf Dewis asked that no further comments be made, but Cllr Brookes did not listen and kept sending more and more emails on the matter. Due to the high level of totally unnecessary emails Martin kept sending out, I eventually had to block his messages, but as most of his messages produced replies from other Councilors, I still ended up receiving dozens of emails.
I only put myself up to be a Councilor to try and help the local community, but in the end I felt it would be a hopeless task, whilst Martin seemed to be running a one-man campaign to bring OTC into disrepute. I was not prepared to be tarred with the same brush as him and feel that the dangerous game he is playing could lead to legal action being taken against the Council as a whole and potentially against individuals jointly.
Martin always plays the martyr, from his time as a verger, in London, a fact I only found out about, today, as Martin posted the link in an email to the other councilors, as below.
“What the hell does this case have to do with any one in Oakham
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1354835/Verger-sues-over-drug-needle-litter.html
This was a very unpleasant incident in my life and the old guard here in Oakham keeping
bringing it up as if I did something wrong. They disgust me and sadden me they have
nothing else to talk about.
From
Martin
Cllr Martin Brookes
Willow Crescent”
He constantly plays the homophobic and bullying cards. It is not just OTC, he also had the campaign against RCC and Helen Briggs, he was even protesting there last Friday. He states in one of his many emails, he has instigated an inquiry into bullying, through RCC and that this is about to conclude In MY opinion, it is he who is the bully. I have NEVER heard any homophobic references about him, nor have I ever seen him bullied. What I have seen is Martin breaking protocol and being reminded by Chair, what the correct protocol is, he just does not know when to shut up.
He has too much time on his hands, which due to being in full time employment, I do not, so I suggest he steps back and takes a close look at what he is doing. Any decent person would then take the decent decision and resign and let people get on with trying to help the community.
In order to try and diffuse the battle Martin is having with OTC, two members of a Facebook Group, "What Oakham Needs", David Briant and Kate Waterton offered to mediate with him and other Councilors, but he refused their offer. Is that the sort of reaction of a responsible person?
Below is another of Martin’s emails to me
“I will get told of for repeating this but you might have missed it a new Cllr Councillor
has given evidence about bullying at Oakham Town Council and sadly has been bullied
by some of those in high regard. At the conclusion of the investigation this will become
public knowledge. I detest bullies and support the new Councillors who are working for the
good of our town. The truth is the old guard you name are scared that they are losing control
they have enjoyed for a number of years and I am sorry you find me pointing this out is vile.
PS thanks for providing the music from your mobile at the poorly attended council Christmas
party organised by the old guard.
John I wish you know bad just stop posting about me in the silly way you are Happy Christmas John
it does not make the neighbourhood coordinator look very good or grown up”.
For the record, I won a contested election, Martin Brookes was elected unopposed.
