"Garbage" of farewell tributes

A leading opposition member of Boston Borough Council has hit out at the "garbage" spoken at the secret meeting which saw the departure of former Chief Executive Mick Gallagher and his replacement by Richard Harbord to hold the fort for six months.
His response came after Boston Eye's piece on Friday on whether or not the former Chief Executive received some sort of compensation for his abrupt departure from the authority.
Councillor Rush told Boston Eye:"There is another string to this that worries me as an elected representative.
"It is common practice before full council meetings to have prayers, led by a local person of the cloth, asking for spiritual guidance on the issues to be considered discussed and acted upon."This same scenario was performed in response to said former Chief Executive's departure, followed by the proposal to accept the application for the interim Chief Executive."It may seem a less than Christian of myself and one or two colleagues, who could not contain our laughter at the irony of being expected to pray for the outgoing!
"The hypocrisy, by those present of praying for someone who had been considered a failure as a Chief Executive and whom we certainly had lost all respect for was completely against the grain.
"The final straw came for me when the Leader began to read out a kind of testimonial, outlining an almost shining legacy of service and creditable projects that Mr. Gallagher had led on over his tenure, which could have led spectators (if they not been excluded) to wonder why such a talent was being allowed to go!
"The feeling of frustration became too much. I could no longer listen to this garbage. I splutteringly told our Lady Mayor that I could no longer take part in such a farce, and made my exit.
"So the point I am trying to make is that on the one hand we call on the almighty to guide us in our duty to expend truth and honesty in our deliberations for the people we represent, quickly followed by an expectation that we condone a blatant lie....as well as being an obvious waste of the vicar's time.
"I, like you, am angered by being expected to uphold such false protective secrecy.
"Although I have never broken the code of conduct with regard to confidentiality, I utterly condemn the need for Pink Papers, except in matters of defending the public interest.
"And anyway what little tin god decides what the public should or should not know?"As far as I can see if this system was to disappear, then service accountability and responsibility may be more highly regarded than it is today in local and national government.
"I can`t shed any light on your pay-off question, I had no involvement in that, but with recent developments, I may at last be tempted by expectations of improvements to come.
"Just another little vacancy here and another one or two there, and you know what, I might regain some political faith in the whole damn panto."


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