Shirley marshall pockets another £900 this month and does not appear at a council meeting or anywhere else in the UK
Shirley marshall pockets another £900 this month and does not appear at a council meeting or anywhere else in the UK.
How much longer can the people of this area be treated with disrespect and how much longer should we pay for a councillor who is not in the country or doing her job. Jon Rogers may have the energy of two people but that is not the point we are paying for two councillors.
The last time the lib dems gave us an absentee councillor he was a pedophile banged up in Horfield. They just have no shame
And this guff is news why? From his other postings, "Poor Dear" is obviously just a Labour hack with too much time on his hands. Why don't you get out and help fix some of the mess your government is making instead of filling Indymedia with this guff?
It's news because it contains new information in the public interest regarding a public servant not doing the job for which we pay them.
Whether they are Labour, Lib Dem or Tory makes no difference: it's an abuse of public money and the democratic process, which to some of us is a big story.
The last time this happened was 2002 when Labour's John Channon, Lawrence Hill councillor, was being flown in from his home in Eire to take part in crucial votes at the Council House, particularly on the controversial Canon's Marsh development.
This story too was launched through local independent media - The Bristolian if memory serves correctly - before being taken up the Evening Cancer. It resulted in a by election in 2002.
CALLS FOR COUNCILLOR 'ABROAD' TO RESIGN
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07:31 - 22 May 2008
An MP has called on a Bristol city councillor to resign because she is spending long spells out of the country.
Liberal Democrat Shirley Marshall, who represents the council's Ashley ward, is being paid a basic councillor's allowance of more than £900 a month.
But opponents claim she has attended few meetings and is not available to meet people and deal with their concerns.
The Evening Post understands that Ms Marshall, 47, intends to bow out of political life and move to the United States to be with her husband Byron Brown, whom she married last August.
But the Post not been able to contact the Ashley ward councillor since April 29, despite a number of attempts.
An automated response to her council email address says she is "on leave" and she has failed to fulfil pre-arranged telephone interviews with the Post to discuss her situation.
Bristol East Labour MP Kerry McCarthy has this week suggested that a by-election might be necessary in Ashley Ward because of Ms Marshall's absence.
Writing on her personal website, Ms McCarthy claimed that Ms Marshall was "now living in the USA" and claimed that the city's Lib Dems had paid for her to fly to the UK to vote in a full council meeting.
Ms McCarthy said: "She is picking up public money for being a councillor.
"I don't think she can continue to do that job if she is not based in Bristol."
Backbench members of the city council receive an allowance of £11,000 a year. Council documents confirm that Ms Marshall received her full allowance for the year to March 31.
A council spokesman said: "If Councillor Marshall is not barred from office, she is still being paid."
By law if a councillor does not attend a meeting for six months, a by-election is automatically triggered, provided this happens more than six months before the next scheduled election.
Ms Marshall has fulfilled the minimum attendance criteria.
She attended a children's services scrutiny commission meeting on March 31 and a full council meeting the following day but was not at the annual council meeting earlier this month.
She also missed the budget setting meeting in February, further full council meetings in July and October 2007 and January this year, and children's services scrutiny commission meetings in January and February.
She was first elected in Ashley ward in 2003 and worked on issues including a campaign against knife crime and raising the achievement of black and ethnic minority school pupils.
But she was criticised by Labour ward councillor Dudley Saward for taking a two-month holiday to Jamaica just two months after she was first elected.
Mother-of-three Ms Marshall was re-elected a year ago but shortly afterwards was taken to hospital after a suspected stroke.
It was during a recuperation holiday in the United States last year that she married Mr Brown, 45, who lives and works in Florida.
She returned to Bristol and council work, as well as her job as a family support worker in Easton and a minister with Holiness Ministries, with pastoral responsibilities in Bristol and Wolverhampton.
In December, she again took a break for the sake of her health and went to the US for a holiday.
Her fellow Ashley councillor Dr Jon Rogers has been dealing with ward work while she has been away.
Lib Dem group leader Councillor Barbara Janke said last night that Ms Marshall had been ill. She said the party hoped to resolve the issue within the next week.
Mrs Janke said: "Shirley Marshall is a well-known local councillor, and people tend to miss her when she's away.
"It is common knowledge that Shirley recently married and spent some time with her new husband in the United States.
"I think it is only fair to say that councillors do sometimes have circumstances in their own lives that mean they are temporarily unavailable and colleagues provide cover in their absence.
"I am sure Shirley will soon be back in Bristol and working hard in her local community."
by Jon Rogers - Ashley Ward Lib Dem CouncillorFri May 23, 2008 16:15jon.rogers at bristol dot gov dot uk 20 Windsor Road, St Andrews, Bristol BS6 5BP 0117 914 2558
I have sent the following email to the Evening Post following their article...
Cllr Pickup is wise to preface his remarks here with the words "if this story is true". I call upon Kerry McCarthy MP to produce evidence to back the allegations she makes in her blog.
I am the other councillor in Ashley Ward and I have worked with Shirley for a number of years and know her to be a passionate and committed person. We have worked as a team in Ashley.
I think that it is common knowledge that Shirley has had a lot on her plate over the year since her re-election. Last summer she became engaged to Byron Brown (a US citizen) and married him in August. She has also had more than her share of health problems and, as the Evening Post reported, she even ended up in hospital with a suspected stroke.
The Evening Post has been sensitive to Shirley's situation, but they did need to report the allegations by Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP for Bristol East and the contact made to the Evening Post by Shirley herself. I note that the Evening Post were carefully pedantic when they said that it is Ms McCarthy, not the Evening Post, that claimed Ms Marshall was "now living in the USA".
She has not been "living in the USA". She did spend some time at the start of this year in the States, on holiday with Byron, on a visitor's visa. She flew on a return ticket, purchased, I understand, as a Christmas present by her children. When we spoke at that time, she was hoping that Byron would decide to come and spend time with her here in Bristol.
When last we met, we discussed ward and council issues. I confirmed that I remained happy to help Shirley with her casework while she decides on her next steps. Shirley has made it clear that if she is not able to return to full and active involvement in the ward then she will stand down.
She is due to meet Barbara Janke on Wednesday to discuss her situation, and I for one feel that after five years of service to Ashley residents and Bristol, we should allow her to do that with dignity and respect.
I'm a little disturbed by this mini-ruckus, conservative councillors in Bristol are very well connected with business interests throughout the city, and rumours of them making much larger sums of money out of corruption abound generally, I hate to say it but this story does smack a little of racism, I sincerely hope I am wrong and that there is no racism involved, and that if there are any non-white BIM readers reading this thread, that they are happy with this coverage.
In the larger council scheme of things, considering the budget it manages, this 'story' is very small beer indeed, and will not do race relations in Bristol any good at all in my opinion.
Easton's Labour Councillor appears also to be missing most of the time. He's missed loads of meetings this year, and the rumour on the Chelsea Road is that he's working in London!
Of course Farouk was never expected to win the seat, but he beat Lib Dem John Kiely after John foolinshly decided to privatise the Home Care service a few weeks before the election.
Please! Firstly, accusations of racism regarding this are so utterly offensive to the BME community it's untrue. Who has been racist and where? Do we not think if a white councillor was in a smilar position there would be a similar outcry?
Second, when you are elected as a councillor - which some people might just see as a privelege - you are committing yourself to representing your ward for four years. Of course, sometimes people's circumstances change, and they are unable or unwilling to continue that. In that case, ir's perfectly reasonable and honourable to step down. What's not acceptable is to think about it for a year and then step down.
Some questions for Jon:
1. I presume, from your rather evasive answers, that Shirley has been in the United States for much of the last six months. Do you think that is acceptable - even if you are covering her work? Surely we have two councillors a ward for a reason?
2. You said elsewhere that attendance at full council is not the sum of the value of a councillor. Fair enough. How many community meetings has Shirley been at since Christmas?
3. Do you know whether Shirley is still claiming her councillor's allowance?
4. If she is, do you consider that to be acceptable?
Look at this thread thru' the eyes of a non white person, how would it appear to them?
I would suggest that if bi-media had any non white readers, that they could make a case good case for the 'APPEARANCE' of racism on this thread, especially after the comments about a second non-white councellor.
Has bi-media got any non-white readers, what do they think?
Let me get this straight. Some people seem to be saying that only white people in public life should be subject to scrutiny (because of something to do with "race relations"?).
Then they announce that other people posting on here are racist?
"." writes; "Why no criticism of white councilors?" and asks what kind of readers bi-media has.
Well, ".", the more tiresome likelihood is that there is no racist conspiracy, merely that bi-media's readership is drawn in large part from certain sections of society (yes, we know who we are) in the Ashley and Easton areas that the two councillors in question are supposed to be representing.
This may go some way to explain why the white representatives of the good people of such places as Knowle, Hartcliffe, Withywood, Bedminster, Henbury, Southmead or St George appear to be passing their extended holidays unnoticed.
Anyway "." the ball's in your court - so why not start exposing the failings of some non-minority-ethnic councillors?
I really like the suggestion that the Councillor in question is "answering her critics."
Of course the case for the defence (such as it is) is put by Dr. John Rogers. The same councillor who has been covering all of Ms. Marshall's work during her absences. I wonder if she will ever speak for herself again.
The people of Ashley elected a person and not a party. Its time she resigned and returned the £900 a month which is rightfully ours!
Her racial origin is immaterial, her laziness is not
I realise you are used to speaking for her Dr. Rogers, but if she wants to defend her self to the people of Ashley... let her do so on her own.
No it isn't there are a large number of black people in Bristol who are ashamed that Shirley is seen as their representative when she does nothing. It is Shirley that is doing a disservice to the BMe community in Bristol, instead of being a standard bearer she is shirking her responsibilities.
We are yet to hear anything from her contradicting my claims or those of the ep
Ouch! Politics is a nasty business, isn’t it. However, it’s perhaps a little harsh to load all blame onto Ms Marshall.
As for “.”/Kofi - does it not occur to you that it could actually be the Parties; the Lib Dems and New Labour, that are acting in a racist (and sexist) manner?
One example of the problems being set up is the divisive identity politics being played by New Labour, particularly in working class areas, which has been exposed by Kenan Malik, for one. The government has racialised much community funding, channelling resources to ethnic “community groups” divided along ethnic lines - building up segregation, resource competition between different ethnic groups, and resentment (not least among the white working class who have been sidelined by middle class managerialists).
It is possible that the selection of candidates by New Labour and Liberal Democrat Parties in Easton, Ashley and Lawrence Hill wards also reflects an inverted racism and tokenism that has become institutionalised over the last decade. The Busharat Ali debacle even went national, and it seems entirely possible that Ms Marshall and Mr Choudhury are also prey to the respective Party machines, which appear to have been using them as pawns in cynical party politicking. If Ms Marshall and Mr Choudhury did fall short as councillors I, for one would hold the Party responsible on the grounds that it was the Party’s opportunistic selection of candidates which led to such misfortune for all concerned.
Indeed it might seem indicative that we have heard extensively here from Messrs Rogers and Hopkins but nothing from Ms Marshall, who seems to have been rendered voiceless. Has she been ordered to keep silence by the Liberal Democrat Party machine? Have they had the lady tied up and held incommunicado?
Developments awaited with sympathy for the individuals concerned.
Local Councillors are fantastic value for money given the skills and experience they contribute and responsibility. People get ill so what hardly some sh*t to drone on about if your so clever and don't ever get unwell step up to the plate and see how many voets you get.
What skills and experience are you talking about Gary? You're an insurance salesman with a daft moustache and Shirley's unemployed. We could save money on elections and pick people of your quality at random off the streets of Broadmead any time.
Anyway, quit your late night pissed ranting. Instead why not use your - ahem - "skills and experience" and show some of this much-touted responsibility and answer the bloody questions you've been asked.
Thankyou for the invitation, extended to all here, to stand for office. Things must be getting truly desperate at the Counts Louse.
Don’t worry, we’re at the endgame now. The system is rotten and society is breaking down under multiple interlocking crises. Who knows what the next decade will bring?
If Shirley Marshall is so ill, and clearly her electorate was pleased to see her at the council on Tuesday, then why oh why did she have such a large suitcase, complete with poster describing what she does in jolly old England for the folks back home. Was she ready to fly off for recuperation from a suspected illness in Sunny Old Florida? Or was it Easyjet back to Ashley?
make this your indymedia front page
Monday May 19, 2008 16:12
by poor dear
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21Where is the evidence?
Where's the Lib Dem denial?
And this guff is news why? From his other postings, "Poor Dear" is obviously just a Labour hack with too much time on his hands. Why don't you get out and help fix some of the mess your government is making instead of filling Indymedia with this guff?
It's news because it contains new information in the public interest regarding a public servant not doing the job for which we pay them.
Whether they are Labour, Lib Dem or Tory makes no difference: it's an abuse of public money and the democratic process, which to some of us is a big story.
The last time this happened was 2002 when Labour's John Channon, Lawrence Hill councillor, was being flown in from his home in Eire to take part in crucial votes at the Council House, particularly on the controversial Canon's Marsh development.
This story too was launched through local independent media - The Bristolian if memory serves correctly - before being taken up the Evening Cancer. It resulted in a by election in 2002.
Expect events to unfold similarly here ..
CALLS FOR COUNCILLOR 'ABROAD' TO RESIGN
Be the first reader to comment on this story
07:31 - 22 May 2008
An MP has called on a Bristol city councillor to resign because she is spending long spells out of the country.
Liberal Democrat Shirley Marshall, who represents the council's Ashley ward, is being paid a basic councillor's allowance of more than £900 a month.
But opponents claim she has attended few meetings and is not available to meet people and deal with their concerns.
The Evening Post understands that Ms Marshall, 47, intends to bow out of political life and move to the United States to be with her husband Byron Brown, whom she married last August.
But the Post not been able to contact the Ashley ward councillor since April 29, despite a number of attempts.
An automated response to her council email address says she is "on leave" and she has failed to fulfil pre-arranged telephone interviews with the Post to discuss her situation.
Bristol East Labour MP Kerry McCarthy has this week suggested that a by-election might be necessary in Ashley Ward because of Ms Marshall's absence.
Writing on her personal website, Ms McCarthy claimed that Ms Marshall was "now living in the USA" and claimed that the city's Lib Dems had paid for her to fly to the UK to vote in a full council meeting.
Ms McCarthy said: "She is picking up public money for being a councillor.
"I don't think she can continue to do that job if she is not based in Bristol."
Backbench members of the city council receive an allowance of £11,000 a year. Council documents confirm that Ms Marshall received her full allowance for the year to March 31.
A council spokesman said: "If Councillor Marshall is not barred from office, she is still being paid."
By law if a councillor does not attend a meeting for six months, a by-election is automatically triggered, provided this happens more than six months before the next scheduled election.
Ms Marshall has fulfilled the minimum attendance criteria.
She attended a children's services scrutiny commission meeting on March 31 and a full council meeting the following day but was not at the annual council meeting earlier this month.
She also missed the budget setting meeting in February, further full council meetings in July and October 2007 and January this year, and children's services scrutiny commission meetings in January and February.
She was first elected in Ashley ward in 2003 and worked on issues including a campaign against knife crime and raising the achievement of black and ethnic minority school pupils.
But she was criticised by Labour ward councillor Dudley Saward for taking a two-month holiday to Jamaica just two months after she was first elected.
Mother-of-three Ms Marshall was re-elected a year ago but shortly afterwards was taken to hospital after a suspected stroke.
It was during a recuperation holiday in the United States last year that she married Mr Brown, 45, who lives and works in Florida.
She returned to Bristol and council work, as well as her job as a family support worker in Easton and a minister with Holiness Ministries, with pastoral responsibilities in Bristol and Wolverhampton.
In December, she again took a break for the sake of her health and went to the US for a holiday.
Her fellow Ashley councillor Dr Jon Rogers has been dealing with ward work while she has been away.
Lib Dem group leader Councillor Barbara Janke said last night that Ms Marshall had been ill. She said the party hoped to resolve the issue within the next week.
Mrs Janke said: "Shirley Marshall is a well-known local councillor, and people tend to miss her when she's away.
"It is common knowledge that Shirley recently married and spent some time with her new husband in the United States.
"I think it is only fair to say that councillors do sometimes have circumstances in their own lives that mean they are temporarily unavailable and colleagues provide cover in their absence.
"I am sure Shirley will soon be back in Bristol and working hard in her local community."
I have sent the following email to the Evening Post following their article...
Cllr Pickup is wise to preface his remarks here with the words "if this story is true". I call upon Kerry McCarthy MP to produce evidence to back the allegations she makes in her blog.
I am the other councillor in Ashley Ward and I have worked with Shirley for a number of years and know her to be a passionate and committed person. We have worked as a team in Ashley.
I think that it is common knowledge that Shirley has had a lot on her plate over the year since her re-election. Last summer she became engaged to Byron Brown (a US citizen) and married him in August. She has also had more than her share of health problems and, as the Evening Post reported, she even ended up in hospital with a suspected stroke.
The Evening Post has been sensitive to Shirley's situation, but they did need to report the allegations by Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP for Bristol East and the contact made to the Evening Post by Shirley herself. I note that the Evening Post were carefully pedantic when they said that it is Ms McCarthy, not the Evening Post, that claimed Ms Marshall was "now living in the USA".
She has not been "living in the USA". She did spend some time at the start of this year in the States, on holiday with Byron, on a visitor's visa. She flew on a return ticket, purchased, I understand, as a Christmas present by her children. When we spoke at that time, she was hoping that Byron would decide to come and spend time with her here in Bristol.
When last we met, we discussed ward and council issues. I confirmed that I remained happy to help Shirley with her casework while she decides on her next steps. Shirley has made it clear that if she is not able to return to full and active involvement in the ward then she will stand down.
She is due to meet Barbara Janke on Wednesday to discuss her situation, and I for one feel that after five years of service to Ashley residents and Bristol, we should allow her to do that with dignity and respect.
Jon Rogers
I'm a little disturbed by this mini-ruckus, conservative councillors in Bristol are very well connected with business interests throughout the city, and rumours of them making much larger sums of money out of corruption abound generally, I hate to say it but this story does smack a little of racism, I sincerely hope I am wrong and that there is no racism involved, and that if there are any non-white BIM readers reading this thread, that they are happy with this coverage.
In the larger council scheme of things, considering the budget it manages, this 'story' is very small beer indeed, and will not do race relations in Bristol any good at all in my opinion.
Easton's Labour Councillor appears also to be missing most of the time. He's missed loads of meetings this year, and the rumour on the Chelsea Road is that he's working in London!
Of course Farouk was never expected to win the seat, but he beat Lib Dem John Kiely after John foolinshly decided to privatise the Home Care service a few weeks before the election.
What exactly is happening on this thread?
Anarchist Tom might have a very serious point about racism here, two councilors, both not white and being criticised on Bristol - Indymedia,
the vast majority of Bristols councilors are white,
Why no criticism of white councilors?
This does not look at all good, in fact it stinks!
Please! Firstly, accusations of racism regarding this are so utterly offensive to the BME community it's untrue. Who has been racist and where? Do we not think if a white councillor was in a smilar position there would be a similar outcry?
Second, when you are elected as a councillor - which some people might just see as a privelege - you are committing yourself to representing your ward for four years. Of course, sometimes people's circumstances change, and they are unable or unwilling to continue that. In that case, ir's perfectly reasonable and honourable to step down. What's not acceptable is to think about it for a year and then step down.
Some questions for Jon:
1. I presume, from your rather evasive answers, that Shirley has been in the United States for much of the last six months. Do you think that is acceptable - even if you are covering her work? Surely we have two councillors a ward for a reason?
2. You said elsewhere that attendance at full council is not the sum of the value of a councillor. Fair enough. How many community meetings has Shirley been at since Christmas?
3. Do you know whether Shirley is still claiming her councillor's allowance?
4. If she is, do you consider that to be acceptable?
Look at this thread thru' the eyes of a non white person, how would it appear to them?
I would suggest that if bi-media had any non white readers, that they could make a case good case for the 'APPEARANCE' of racism on this thread, especially after the comments about a second non-white councellor.
Has bi-media got any non-white readers, what do they think?
Let me get this straight. Some people seem to be saying that only white people in public life should be subject to scrutiny (because of something to do with "race relations"?).
Then they announce that other people posting on here are racist?
Get a grip.
"." writes; "Why no criticism of white councilors?" and asks what kind of readers bi-media has.
Well, ".", the more tiresome likelihood is that there is no racist conspiracy, merely that bi-media's readership is drawn in large part from certain sections of society (yes, we know who we are) in the Ashley and Easton areas that the two councillors in question are supposed to be representing.
This may go some way to explain why the white representatives of the good people of such places as Knowle, Hartcliffe, Withywood, Bedminster, Henbury, Southmead or St George appear to be passing their extended holidays unnoticed.
Anyway "." the ball's in your court - so why not start exposing the failings of some non-minority-ethnic councillors?
Perhaps you should consider renaming 'Bristol Indymedia' - 'Ashley and Easton Indymedia instead?
I really like the suggestion that the Councillor in question is "answering her critics."
Of course the case for the defence (such as it is) is put by Dr. John Rogers. The same councillor who has been covering all of Ms. Marshall's work during her absences. I wonder if she will ever speak for herself again.
The people of Ashley elected a person and not a party. Its time she resigned and returned the £900 a month which is rightfully ours!
Her racial origin is immaterial, her laziness is not
I realise you are used to speaking for her Dr. Rogers, but if she wants to defend her self to the people of Ashley... let her do so on her own.
No it isn't there are a large number of black people in Bristol who are ashamed that Shirley is seen as their representative when she does nothing. It is Shirley that is doing a disservice to the BMe community in Bristol, instead of being a standard bearer she is shirking her responsibilities.
We are yet to hear anything from her contradicting my claims or those of the ep
Ouch! Politics is a nasty business, isn’t it. However, it’s perhaps a little harsh to load all blame onto Ms Marshall.
As for “.”/Kofi - does it not occur to you that it could actually be the Parties; the Lib Dems and New Labour, that are acting in a racist (and sexist) manner?
One example of the problems being set up is the divisive identity politics being played by New Labour, particularly in working class areas, which has been exposed by Kenan Malik, for one. The government has racialised much community funding, channelling resources to ethnic “community groups” divided along ethnic lines - building up segregation, resource competition between different ethnic groups, and resentment (not least among the white working class who have been sidelined by middle class managerialists).
It is possible that the selection of candidates by New Labour and Liberal Democrat Parties in Easton, Ashley and Lawrence Hill wards also reflects an inverted racism and tokenism that has become institutionalised over the last decade. The Busharat Ali debacle even went national, and it seems entirely possible that Ms Marshall and Mr Choudhury are also prey to the respective Party machines, which appear to have been using them as pawns in cynical party politicking. If Ms Marshall and Mr Choudhury did fall short as councillors I, for one would hold the Party responsible on the grounds that it was the Party’s opportunistic selection of candidates which led to such misfortune for all concerned.
Indeed it might seem indicative that we have heard extensively here from Messrs Rogers and Hopkins but nothing from Ms Marshall, who seems to have been rendered voiceless. Has she been ordered to keep silence by the Liberal Democrat Party machine? Have they had the lady tied up and held incommunicado?
Developments awaited with sympathy for the individuals concerned.
Local Councillors are fantastic value for money given the skills and experience they contribute and responsibility. People get ill so what hardly some sh*t to drone on about if your so clever and don't ever get unwell step up to the plate and see how many voets you get.
What skills and experience are you talking about Gary? You're an insurance salesman with a daft moustache and Shirley's unemployed. We could save money on elections and pick people of your quality at random off the streets of Broadmead any time.
Anyway, quit your late night pissed ranting. Instead why not use your - ahem - "skills and experience" and show some of this much-touted responsibility and answer the bloody questions you've been asked.
Or can't you?
Poor Gary, you really have lost it haven’t you.
Thankyou for the invitation, extended to all here, to stand for office. Things must be getting truly desperate at the Counts Louse.
Don’t worry, we’re at the endgame now. The system is rotten and society is breaking down under multiple interlocking crises. Who knows what the next decade will bring?
If Shirley Marshall is so ill, and clearly her electorate was pleased to see her at the council on Tuesday, then why oh why did she have such a large suitcase, complete with poster describing what she does in jolly old England for the folks back home. Was she ready to fly off for recuperation from a suspected illness in Sunny Old Florida? Or was it Easyjet back to Ashley?
I know what my money's on!