Where's the Rush?

We mentioned the other day that a reader got in touch to question how assiduous one of our borough councillors was when it came to his civic duties.
The member in question was Councillor Paddy Rush, Better Boston Group member for Skirbeck ward, and a week ago today we sent him an e-mail to see what he had to say.
We wrote again on Sunday, requesting a reply by close of business on Tuesday night, as we intended to write a piece in Wednesday's blog.
As it happened, we spent more time on the Boston North West by-election debate than anticipated, which gave Councillor Rush another day in which to respond.
But he did not. Since then there has been a third request to him to respond to us - again unsuccessful.
He could have been away, but normal procedure is to set up an automated "out of office reply" which tells people who e-mail an individual that he or she is not available - and we didn't get one of those.
We briefly considered the telephone, but whilst 30 of the borough's 32 councillors provide a number at which they can be reached directly, Councillor Rush is one of only two who refers callers to Boston 314511 - the number for the borough's Civic and Member Services.
The only other councillor to use this buffer between himself and the punters is the former deputy leader Peter Jordan, who is not famous for his fondness for the great unwashed electorate.
So we decided to look a little further, and this is what we found.
Councillor Rush's photo is no longer on the list of councillors. Only one other councillor does not have his photo on the list - and as he was only elected in June, this is probably due to time considerations more than anything else.
In the borough's thumbnail sketches of its members, Councillor Rush is listed as a member of BTAC (the Boston Town Area Committee) and the International Links Committee.
However to call his attendance patchy could be considered an understatement.
A browse through the BTAC minutes shows that he was neither listed as attending nor apologising for the meeting of 6th July. He sent apologies for 29th January 2009, for 3rd December 2008 and 3rd September 2008.
He is listed as attending on 11th June, neither attending nor apologising for 5th March, 21st January, 28th November 2007, and apologising on 5th September 2007. Prior to that meetings were held under the former council.
Online minutes of the full council are a little haphazard, but they show that Councillor Rush sent apologies for the meeting of 25th June, and is neither listed as attending nor apologising on 18th June. He is neither listed as attending nor apologising for 2nd April, attended 2nd March, apologised 19th January, apologised 18th August 2008, attended 30th July and attended 26th June.This is a very poor attendance record.
A seat on two committees - one of which ... International Links ... seldom meets - puts Councillor Rush next to bottom of the list when it comes to shouldering the workload within Boston Borough Council.
Only BNP Councillor David Owens has less on his plate - and that is because of party political prejudice by the Bypass Independents who refuse to appoint him to any other committees. Councillor Owens declares on the borough website that he "is looking to gain permission to sit on many more, should council permit."
When seeking election, Paddy Rush wrote: "I have had a strong interest in politics. I feel that the voice of the younger person within the established parties has not been understood or accommodated until now."
He urged everyone in Skirbeck to vote for BBI, and was elected in May 2007.
He subsequently quit the BBI for the newly formed BBG in January 2008.
In his resignation letter he said: "It was the sad, but brave, departure of Councillor Tony Clarke, which gave me the courage to make this decision, and take this action, so that the people of Boston will know that there are still councillors who want to make a difference, and stand for what they pledged to try to do for our constituencies."
Hmmmm.
Calling Councillor Paddy Rush.....
Is anybody there?
Knock once for yes, twice (or thrice) for no.

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