Well the news has come in from multiple sources this weekend that senior Children and Families officials, Christine Mackay, Derek Suttie (the man who went to a Unison meeting and asked the union to approach the council to make sure that EdSucks couldn’t appear on council computers), and Paul James are now spreading the word that the coup d’etat of Children and Families is now in place.
Mike Rosendale will be the new director of Children and Families and he will ensure John Travers is finished. Mackay told staff that Ewan Aitken has told Mike the job is his and the position will be filled before the May 2007 election. It is widely believed that the labour group want to appoint Mike Rosendale to ensure the My Edinburgh/City connect corruption can be kept under wraps.
This has taken a terrible toll on the already rock bottom morale within the Children and Families department with the following information coming EdSucks way……
What staff cannot fathom is how can £400,000 be missing and the police not be called in and an independent investigation into this whole matter. What have senior staff to fear if according to Mike R it was just sloppy accounting. As long as senior staff are allowed to investigate themselves then what chance has anyone got at getting at the facts, the ,truth or justice being done.
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Staff have pointed out that these senior council staff can and do use Legal Services to hide their corruption. For example the use of council lawyers and advocates to fight cases against John Travers and Christine Fitton. This is clearly a misuse of council taxpayers money and could be seen as maladministration.
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The council’s policy should be according to Audit Scotland principles, where there is corruption, to expose it and deal with the perpetrators. The comment from a staff member whose family member is an advocate is that the use of council lawyers/advocates to defend senior staff and corrupt practices is an abuse of position and could be classed as a fraud within itself.
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Staff are truly sickened by Rosendale and Mackay who have set out to destroy John Travers reputation and health. Mackay acts this way because she believes she is untouchable because she sleeps with Rosendale while Rosendale believes he is untouchable because the full financial and legal might of the council can be marshalled to ensure the corruption he is evidently responsible for is not exposed to the elected members by the subordinate staff in his department.
The major question is whether the position will last after the 2007 election. The Liberal Democrats have been asking a lot of questions in the Council about the whole Rosendale/City Connect/Whistleblower fiasco and if they are asked to form a coalition, one would hope that if Rosendale was sitting in the Directors position, he would be removed before any coalition was formed. Perhaps the solo labour rebel and now SNP councillor should be asking some questions as well as they are expected by Labour to take some of their seats.
If it is true, and we have no reason to doubt the news, that Ewan Aitken has told Rosendale that the job is his, then it is obvious that what we have been speaking about for the last year or so is only the tip of the iceberg. There must be even bigger webs of deceipt that we don’t even know about if someone who has already admitted that because of what is on EdSucks he would never get another job outside Edinburgh Council manages to take over the top position in Children and Families with the same council.
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