ON March 27 the Argus published a letter under the heading: If officers rule the roost, why bother to vote?
It was inspired by one of the paper’s regular columnists, John Keenan, who said that it was not often that Brighton and Hove councillors flew in the face of advice from officers and that their bravery ought to be recognised when it occurred.
In other words, the normal course of events was for the council to agree with the opinions of its paid employees, with the elected councillors very occasionally disagreeing.
The letter writer was of the opinion that it should be the councillors who direct the officers, with the officers being the ones to show ‘bravery’ when they disagree.
He continued by throwing out a challenge to the city’s councillors by saying that he was looking forward to reading letters from them in The Argus, assuring the electorate that they really were the ones in charge and that it really was worth bothering to vote.
A month has since passed but not one such letter has appeared.
So I conclude either the paper did receive some but chose not to publish them, or none of the councillors felt able refute the charge that the officers do indeed rule the roost and that it will not be worth turning out to vote on May 7.
Eric Waters
Ingleside Crescent, Lancing
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