Brighton city councillor appeals action

8:00am Monday 2nd August 2010 in News By Tim Ridgway, Local government reporter

A Brighton and Hove city councillor facing suspension for putting webcasts of council meetings on YouTube has appealed.

Jason Kitcat, who is a Green Brighton and Hove city councillor for Regency ward, was ticked off by the local authority's standards committee assessment panel last month.

He was found to have breeched the Members' code of conduct after uploading five clips of meetings to the website.

Coun Kitcat was told he would be suspended from his duties until he had written an apology to Conservative councillor Geoffrey Theobald, who featured in the video footage.

Coun Kitcat has refused to apologise and has now appealed the decision.

A separate incident panel will now make the final ruling on the case.

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Comments(17)

Fight Back says...
10:58am Mon 2 Aug 10

If the council were actually more open and webcast all their meetings then it wouldn't take a councillor to do this.

Jason Kitcat shouldn't be apologising to Councillor Theobald - Councillor Theobald should be apologising to the voters for trying to prevent open and transparent local politics.

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Off my CHEST! says...
11:20am Mon 2 Aug 10

Rules are Rules! He broke them. This is what is wrong with the whole Society The Police break them, the Council break them Children have no respect for the law. Apologise Mr Kitcat (Great name!) Stop wasting Council money and bey the rules!
There! I have got that off my Chest!

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Serenus Zeitblom says...
11:55am Mon 2 Aug 10

The real waste here is being perpetrated by the Tory councillors who have brought this absurd action. Cllr Kitcat linked to an existing Council webcast on YouTube - thus making something the council already provides more widely available, at no cost to anybody. Brighton's Tories seem to be incapable of understanding that the public domain means precisely that.

Far from being suspended, Cllr Kitcat should be commended for helping to make Council processes more open to the public. But then perhaps that's his offence.

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Christophe Hawtree says...
12:05pm Mon 2 Aug 10

By posting an extract from the webcast on YouTube, Jason Kitcat has simply done the technological equivalent of quoting from minutes of a meeting. The Tories have not woken up to a new world around them; indeed, they want to drag things backwards by their recent new rule of allowing Councillors only one Question each at the Full Council meeting, which is where, under the Leader and Cabinet system, most councillors only get a chance to put forward points of view. This situation means that the current local election campaigns will be very interesting.

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censored says...
12:18pm Mon 2 Aug 10

This just makes the Tories look vindictive and stupid.

Which, I suppose, is what the Conservative party is all about...

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MarcoPolo says...
12:41pm Mon 2 Aug 10

"Breeched" - has he been trousering Council funds?

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Andre Spooner says...
12:43pm Mon 2 Aug 10

This is very concerning! I do hope this will not set some kind of precedent!


Me and my Mighty Horse have a fine selection of videos of Cllr Geoffrey Theobald (OBE) performing a variety of entertaining and suprising stunts and 'party tricks' - does this mean we will not be allowed to post these on Youtube? There is an incredible one where Cllr Theobald sneaked his way into the sea lion arena in the Sea Life Centre and starts grappling with one of the sea lions in the manner of a wrestler! Now, a sea lion is a tough beast, but he is not to meddle with the power of Theobald! With a great bear-like roar, Geoffrey Theobald swings the unfortunate pinniped around his head several times, before releasing the poor beast, causing it to hurtle across the area and splash-down into the pool! At this point, Theobald performs a victory dance which can only have come from the contemporary school of movement, whilst chanting his victory song:


"Beware, sea lion, beware!


Beware, Kit-Kat, beware!


For I, G to the T, OBE!


Will hurl the sea lion into the pool!


And you, Kit Kat!


Shall face the same fate!


If you point that camera in my face one more time!


I'll show you, sonny!


We shall fight the same duel in the sea life centre!


And you shall achieve the same watery fate!


Beware, sea lion, beware!


Beware, Kit-Kat, beware!"


Both me and my Mighty Horse reckon this would quite clearly out-trump the Mayor of Worthing crowd-surfing. Is there anyone here who would not like to see Cllr Geoffrey Theobald wrestle with a sea lion?

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Jo Wadsworth says...
1:01pm Mon 2 Aug 10

Fight Back wrote:
If the council were actually more open and webcast all their meetings then it wouldn't take a councillor to do this.

Jason Kitcat shouldn't be apologising to Councillor Theobald - Councillor Theobald should be apologising to the voters for trying to prevent open and transparent local politics.
for clarification, the council do webcast their meetings on their website.

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Andy R says...
1:39pm Mon 2 Aug 10

Off my CHEST! wrote:
Rules are Rules! He broke them. This is what is wrong with the whole Society The Police break them, the Council break them Children have no respect for the law. Apologise Mr Kitcat (Great name!) Stop wasting Council money and bey the rules! There! I have got that off my Chest!
So what rules do you think he has broken then?

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Charismatic Andrew says...
1:57pm Mon 2 Aug 10

Jo Wadsworth wrote:
Fight Back wrote: If the council were actually more open and webcast all their meetings then it wouldn't take a councillor to do this. Jason Kitcat shouldn't be apologising to Councillor Theobald - Councillor Theobald should be apologising to the voters for trying to prevent open and transparent local politics.
for clarification, the council do webcast their meetings on their website.
And also Councillor Theobald has nothing to apologise for (on this occasion). He doesn't sit on the Standards Committee Assessment Panel, he hasn't requested an apology and he didn't make the original complaint.

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Serenus Zeitblom says...
2:52pm Mon 2 Aug 10

Charismatic Andrew wrote:
Jo Wadsworth wrote:
Fight Back wrote: If the council were actually more open and webcast all their meetings then it wouldn't take a councillor to do this. Jason Kitcat shouldn't be apologising to Councillor Theobald - Councillor Theobald should be apologising to the voters for trying to prevent open and transparent local politics.
for clarification, the council do webcast their meetings on their website.
And also Councillor Theobald has nothing to apologise for (on this occasion). He doesn't sit on the Standards Committee Assessment Panel, he hasn't requested an apology and he didn't make the original complaint.
... which is one of the odder aspects of this whole sorry affair. Cllr Theobald appears to be completely relaxed about the videos going on Youtube. But it was others within the Tory group, including Mary Mears, who made the complaint. Why?

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Morpheus says...
6:11pm Mon 2 Aug 10

As I understand the situation Kitcat edited the webcasts in someway to make the mayor and councillor look stupid. All the Argus has to do is to explain the background but it hasn't done so. If what appears on You Tube is the same as the council webcasts then there cannot be a problem.

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Alison Smith says...
6:38pm Mon 2 Aug 10

"The Tories have not woken up to a new world around them; indeed, they want to drag things backwards"......is this from the same chap that constantly complains on this site, about the lack of 19th Century paper books in the city's libraries?

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Roy Pennington says...
10:07pm Mon 2 Aug 10

Jo Wadsworth wrote:
Fight Back wrote:
If the council were actually more open and webcast all their meetings then it wouldn't take a councillor to do this.

Jason Kitcat shouldn't be apologising to Councillor Theobald - Councillor Theobald should be apologising to the voters for trying to prevent open and transparent local politics.
for clarification, the council do webcast their meetings on their website.
whilst this council do web-cast some of their meetings, they do not web-cast all of their meetings.
And they still have a ban on third-party recording in audio or video: if a member of the public were to ask to record some or all of the meeting, it is in the gift of the chair to allow that recording.
It is rare and a good reason has to be made out to over-ride the constitutional ban.
And the copy right stays with the council.....

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mtmoocher says...
1:37am Tue 3 Aug 10

Give him a break!

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JKW says...
6:30am Tue 3 Aug 10

I think the Greens just need to get with the way of the council and stop trying to break the rules.
The public will pick up on this soon and votes will go.

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Jo Wadsworth says...
9:33am Tue 3 Aug 10

Morpheus wrote:
As I understand the situation Kitcat edited the webcasts in someway to make the mayor and councillor look stupid. All the Argus has to do is to explain the background but it hasn't done so. If what appears on You Tube is the same as the council webcasts then there cannot be a problem.
If you follow the link to the original story in related links, you can see one of the five clips Coun Kitcat uploaded, and more detail about the complaint, including a link to the council report compiled for the hearing.

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