Brighton council leader criticises revealing of CEO shortlist

3:00pm Monday 24th September 2012 in News By Tim Ridgway, Local government reporter

A council leader has criticised the leaking of a shortlist for a town hall chief.

On Saturday, The Argus published the names of the four people in contention to be the next chief executive of Brighton and Hove City Council.

But council leader Jason Kitcat described the leaking of the information as “extremely disappointing” and said the confidential process was “betrayed”.

He added the local authority's acting chief executive and head of law had been asked to carry out an urgent investigation into the incident with the help of external agencies.

Coun Kitcat said: “As leader of the council, I have a duty to ensure that the way the city council undertakes its business is consistent with the standards expected of a responsible council.

“I will make it absolutely clear to the people of the city that it sadly appears unscrupulous moves are afoot that seek to undermine the CEO recruitment process as well as much of the Green-led council's work.”

Coun Kitcat admitted he used his casting vote to finalise the shortlist as there was not a unanimous decision by the cross party panel of six.

Coun Kitcat added: “It seems sadly that the leadership of the Tories and Labour are desperately trying to block this city and its council progressing.

“They have been taking turns running our city for decades and still cannot accept any 'newcomers' leading the city.

“Under the Green administration, the council has made great strides driving costs down, improving services and raising confidence in our great city. These improvements have all been recognised by independent observers.

“As leader of the council I will not accept voices from the past dragging us backwards.”

Comments(17)

F in L says...
3:08pm Mon 24 Sep 12

A council leader has critisised the leaking of a shortlist for a town hall chief.

'critisised?' REALLY! Come on Timbo, spell check it if you are in doubt!

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salty_pete says...
3:17pm Mon 24 Sep 12

Oh dear
"“Under the Green administration, the council has made great strides driving costs down, improving services and raising confidence in our great city. These improvements have all been recognised by independent observers. ""
As clear an example of double speak as I have ever read. These "independent observers" wouldn't be aliens by any chance ? As you would need to be a space cadet to believe this tosh from Kitcat. I have read that self delusion is a sign of an unstable personality.

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Charismatic Andrew says...
3:32pm Mon 24 Sep 12

Brilliant. So after spending an astonishing £30,000 with a recruitment agency to hire a new CEO, we're now going to use external agencies and the valuable time of the acting chief executive and head of law to carry out an investigation into the leak.

You can certainly see where Coun Kitcat is coming from with his claim that “under the Green administration, the council has made great strides driving costs down".

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Martha Gunn says...
3:32pm Mon 24 Sep 12

So we are told 'unscrupulous moves are afoot that seek to undermine...much of the Green-led council's work' and Comrade Kitcat will not accept 'voices from the past dragging us backwards.'
This is the use of language redolent of the old Soviet Union with its purges and show-trials. One would have thought the Brighton Green Party had had enough of show trials for a bit.
But what are these dark and unnamed forces that are moving in this way? And what precisely is the Kitcat politburo going to do silence them? This is frightening language from a terrifying administration.

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bruce_ says...
4:26pm Mon 24 Sep 12

Confidentiality is important, especially to candidates; but transparency is much more so, and as we are paying for the new leader, is is good for us to know a little more about those in the running.
JK really should watch out: he's getting a reputation for keeping things dark, and.like most of his fellow-Greens, for intolerance!

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leobrighton says...
4:27pm Mon 24 Sep 12

Martha Gunn wrote:
So we are told 'unscrupulous moves are afoot that seek to undermine...much of the Green-led council's work' and Comrade Kitcat will not accept 'voices from the past dragging us backwards.'
This is the use of language redolent of the old Soviet Union with its purges and show-trials. One would have thought the Brighton Green Party had had enough of show trials for a bit.
But what are these dark and unnamed forces that are moving in this way? And what precisely is the Kitcat politburo going to do silence them? This is frightening language from a terrifying administration.
What utter rubbish

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ruberducker says...
4:45pm Mon 24 Sep 12

leobrighton wrote:
Martha Gunn wrote:
So we are told 'unscrupulous moves are afoot that seek to undermine...much of the Green-led council's work' and Comrade Kitcat will not accept 'voices from the past dragging us backwards.'
This is the use of language redolent of the old Soviet Union with its purges and show-trials. One would have thought the Brighton Green Party had had enough of show trials for a bit.
But what are these dark and unnamed forces that are moving in this way? And what precisely is the Kitcat politburo going to do silence them? This is frightening language from a terrifying administration.
What utter rubbish
and i suppose caroline lucas dosn't avoid tax in switzzzerland at a cheaper rate than the uk ,her kids dont go to school here,and are any of the proposed"up for the leader"actually from brighton,or just another londoner down here in this "town"

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ruberducker says...
4:52pm Mon 24 Sep 12

only brighton born and bred should have a right to run brighton..you have more of a idea what is best for your own town,and for the benefit of the people.

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Phani Tikkala says...
4:55pm Mon 24 Sep 12

They should have included Jenny Rowlands on the shortlist. Not one of the supposed "candidates" knows Brighton & Hove as well as she does.

I wonder if the fact that they left her off the list, and that the list got leaked, and that Kitcat is seemingly peed off, are by any chance related?

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Lady Smith says...
5:01pm Mon 24 Sep 12

ruberducker wrote:
only brighton born and bred should have a right to run brighton..you have more of a idea what is best for your own town,and for the benefit of the people.
Oh please, get real...that's pure 'League of Gentlemen', parochial nonsense. 'Are you LOCAL? This is a shop for LOCAL people only!'
We need the best-qualified/exper
ienced person in the job, not someone who's CV only boasts that they were born in the Royal Sussex and went to Coombe Road Primary, then to Varndean...

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rolivan says...
7:12pm Mon 24 Sep 12

Lady Smith wrote:
ruberducker wrote:
only brighton born and bred should have a right to run brighton..you have more of a idea what is best for your own town,and for the benefit of the people.
Oh please, get real...that's pure 'League of Gentlemen', parochial nonsense. 'Are you LOCAL? This is a shop for LOCAL people only!'
We need the best-qualified/exper

ienced person in the job, not someone who's CV only boasts that they were born in the Royal Sussex and went to Coombe Road Primary, then to Varndean...
I believe anyone running for Council should have resided in the City for 10 years and be a permanent resident not flitting about to just suit their own Personal Ambitions.Furthermor
e how can a CEO run a business they know very little or nothing about.Every City and Town throughout the World is different and requires local knowledge.

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george smith says...
9:24pm Mon 24 Sep 12

Hopefully someone will tip the candidates off about the joys of the adminstration

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leobrighton says...
9:56pm Mon 24 Sep 12

There is no need for a CEO at all. We have a council leader and council to make decisions thats what we vote for thats their purpose. Its just another taxpayer funded income for an establishment twit.

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Kate234 says...
3:35am Tue 25 Sep 12

“Under the Green administration, the council has made great strides driving costs down, improving services and raising confidence in our great city. These improvements have all been recognised by independent observers.

Is this man living on the same planet as the rest of us? Obviously not. He has clearly not seen the negative national publicity about the parking charges in Brighton. Does anyone (not under psychiatric care) have more confidence in Brighton as a result of these dangerous muppets running the council?

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Andy R says...
8:14am Tue 25 Sep 12

leobrighton wrote:
There is no need for a CEO at all. We have a council leader and council to make decisions thats what we vote for thats their purpose. Its just another taxpayer funded income for an establishment twit.
Actually, I think you are right! Years of working in local government have convinced me that it is a completely unnecessary (and considerable) expense.

Jason does indeed sound very paranoid, and is he seriously going to waste time and money on an investigation? It doesn't take a genius to work out where the leak came from. He should move on.

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General Dreedle says...
1:23am Wed 26 Sep 12

Waaahh, it's not fair Dad. Unscrupulous moves are afoot to undermine much of my work.This never happened to you when you were running Lloyd's bank or to me when I was running the dorm at public school. Grow up Jason, you're playing with the medium sized boys now and the game is politics. There is an element of the pot calling the kettle black here. If you allow your Green Group colleagues to leak confidential information about the Councillor Summers enquiry and don't take any action, like launch an investigation then you can hardly complain when someone else leaks information about another issue. As Leader people look to you as a role model. You can't turn a blind eye on one issue and then expect to be treated in a different way yourself. Get your own house in order before you criticise anyone else sonny.

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General Dreedle says...
1:46am Wed 26 Sep 12

“As leader of the council I will not accept voices from the past dragging us backwards.”

Yes we all know you won't accept views other than your own Jason and we have seen how you deal with them, well some of them. we note you let your missus off the hook. Newsflash Jason. This is still a democracy and all voices have a right to be heard, even the ones you don't agree with. When you have real power you can stamp out the dissenting voices but until then you have to put up with it. We haven't heard from you for a while after the Summers thing but if your comeback quote above was meant to be your hard-boy Demosthenes moment, don't look around for armies following you.

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