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Our attacks are not personal - but voters have a right to be told what you earn from 'public service'
(April 24, 2013)THE Conservative candidate for Warminster Broadway has accused us of 'descended into the realms of personal attacks ' on his election website.
Presumbly he doesn't like us highlighting the £100,000 plus he has received in allowances and expenses over the past four years, the fact that 92 per cent of the voters rejected his plans for the Assembly Rooms or the latest outrage of spending public money on an advert in the journal just three weeks before election day.
Humphries' views are subjective while our information is a matter of public record.
Steve Dancey, one of three independent candidates for Warminster east, said: "He's right I'm not a fan but it isn't personal. He should hang his head in shame every time he drives past the Town Hall as he is one of those who has failed us on this issue.
"But it goes deeper. If councillor Humphries thinks it okay to earn £28,000 plus as a councillor that is up to him but most local people, many of whom struggle on half that sum, are aghast when they read it.
"If he wants to earn more than the national average wage then he should go into the labour market and try to get a proper job, not sit back, rake in council taxpayers' cash that is supposed to go on services and pretend to do public service.
"The real fault however lies with the last Labour government which introduced the cabinet and leader system replacing the committees where councillors were equal.
"Now councils are run by a clique of big bucks paid councillors and the ordinary members have been neutered and made largely redundant. This is why the charade of the 'area board' was dreamed up.
"Small wonder that so few people wanted to stand, that six electoral divisions are uncontested and the quality of Wiltshire Council's membership is so debased."