Tell us why, Mr Kenny

With a General Election just around the corner, Labour's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Boston, Paul Kenny, is busy making the news - but not for the usual reasons.
Boston Eye first had dealings Mr Kenny, some months ago.
He wrote to us after we commented on what we saw at the lightness of his campaigning.
In the course of his communication, he challenged us to publish information concerning the Boston Bypass Independents which he said the local papers had failed to print because they had been "frightened off."
We accepted the challenge, verified the information, and gave Mr Kenny a date on which we would be publishing it.
It was therefore something of a surprise to see the self-same material appear two days before the agreed date on another alternative Boston website, and we mused why Mr Kenny had pulled such a strange stunt.
We're no closer to knowing, but since then Mr Kenny's name has popped up regularly in slightly off-kilter context.
There was the case of the Boston North West county council by election in which the successful Conservative candidate was knocked out on a technicality, then re-elected - only just - in a poll that saw the BNP almost claim the seat.
Then there was the complaint to Boston Borough Council's Standards Committee against Conservative Borough Councillor Myles Larrington over remarks made in his blog. The complaint was not upheld, but the act of complaining caused Councillor Larrington to review the dangers of exercising free speech and decide that blogging was not worth the candle.
Mr Kenny then turned his spotlight on to Conservative Councillor Raymond Singleton-McGuire, complaining about comments made in his blogs.
Councillor Singleton-McGuire has disclosed that between January and September this Mr Kenny has made 13 complaints of which only two have been processed so far - at a cost to the taxpayer of almost £2,150. The year before, he apparently complained against the entire Bypass Independent Party.
And it now appears that even more complaints by Mr Kenny against Councillor Singleton-McGuire are in the pipeline.
The raison d'etre for the complaints appears to be that although Mr Kenny often acts in the name of the Labour Party, when anyone dares to counter-attack, he responds as a member of the public.
It's an interesting mindset - if it can be called a mindset.
We asked Mr Kenny if he would care to expand on his reasons for being a costly serial campaigner, as it appears that if he hadn't protested so much, the next complaint to reach the council this year would be the first.
Mr Kenny did not bother to reply to us.
We also asked Councillor Singleton-McGuire for a comment, and he told us:-
"In the interests of everyone’s sanity and the obvious ongoing waste of public taxpayers’ money, I have, as a diligent and concerned councillor, attempted to raise with the Labour Party directly the matter of Mr Paul Kenny’s seemingly endless barrage of criticism and complaints about Boston Borough Councillors over the past two and a half years.
"Bearing in mind that politics and politicians in particular are not exactly the flavour of the month at present (what with the recent Parliamentary expenses issues and the impending Parliamentary Election next year), I am sure local taxpayers must be seething if not disgusted at the added burden of public taxpayers money being wasted by a politician, albeit a Parliamentary Candidate at that, based on nothing more than a seeming self indulgence.
"The term 'vexatious litigation' springs to mind – an activity generally frowned upon by the courts.
"For every £1 incurred through Mr Paul Kenny’s endless complaining, £1 less is spent on public services. It should come as no surprise that at a recent council meeting the point was made that Legal Service expenses are likely to be over budget. "Were it not for Mr Kenny’s endless whining, Boston Borough Council would still be awaiting a complaint to deal with this year!
"It is for these reasons and in the interests of public spending that I contacted Mr Richard Oliver of the Labour Party East Midlands selection body and Newcastle Office who deal with issues of complaint expressing the concerns of all.
"Disappointingly, Three days later I received a further seven complaints and/or matters of conjecture from Mr Paul Kenny!"
Boston Eye thinks that it is high time for Mr Kenny to take his knocks like the seasoned politician he claims to be rather than to run crying to hide behind the skirts of the complaints system.
Certainly, if he proposes to run his campaign by eliminating his Tory opponents one-by-one, he is in for a long and disappointing fight, and one which - regardless of the current of the political climate - would be certain to end in failure.
Mr Kenny should by now be preparing for a high profile public General Election campaign, not putting his efforts into niggling, petty stuff that wastes time and money to no real effect.
Once again, Boston Eye invites Mr Kenny to to put on his political hat and tell us what the trouble is, as so many frivolous complaints at such great cost is both a burden and an insult to the borough's taxpayers, and if our mediation would be of help, we would be happy to offer it.


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