Now Richard Leppington and I are a million miles from sharing the same politics, we do however share a view that local government should be exactly that , local . Local people doing their best for their local communities and that's what I and we ( all my cabinet members and supportive Cllrs) are trying to do.
We sometimes may screw up, sometimes we make decisions that leave some people thinking we are mad , or horribly corrupt or just plain stupid. But the truth is we make honest decisions with The Forest of Dean at the very heart. So when I see things like this or see that hes had his tyres slashed, or consider the online abuse I myself received.Or when I read the out and out lies printed in some political posts and leaflets we can do one of two things.
We can either accept these things happen, declare its part of political life , all part of putting your name down for representation. Or we can say you know what, its not acceptable, its not ok to bully , to lie to the public, to mislead people to get them to think and vote a certain way on falsehoods.
Politics doesn't have to be about sleaze , corruption , spite and competition, it doesn't have to be about lies or damaging someones property because you don't want them to win. It can be about trying to do the right thing..
A lie is a lie is a lie no matter from how lofty the seat from which it is spewed .
People have a choice as to which politics they want for the Forest , the county and then the country. I really think that they are beginning to see the value of voting for the substance of the person and not the rosette that they wear and that alone scares the wotsit out of parties and politicians.
And Richard , I oppose many of your views on a national scale as you know, but I stand shoulder to shoulder as will many others when it comes to this sort of bullying and cowardice.
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