Item 17 not listed
13.7.13
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Email from Ann Were
To: Jill Mills - David Murray
CC:wgprc@lists.greenparty.org.uk
Subject:[WGPC] Complaint
against a Green Party member.
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From:
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ann were <ann_were12@yahoo.co.uk>
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To:
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Jill Mills <jlsmills@tiscali.co.uk>; David Murray <david.murray@greenparty.org.uk>
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CC:
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wgprc@lists.greenparty.org.uk
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Subject:
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[WGPC] Complaint against a Green Party member.
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Date:
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Sat, 13 Jul 2013 18:38:08 +0100 (BST)
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Dear GPRC/David Murray,
As you are aware, on the 9th May Pippa Bartolotti submitted a
complaint against Max Wallis to David Murray, which was eventually passed on to
you. At that time Wales had not adopted an official complaints procedure.
Last week you requested that Wales deal with it as we now have a
complaints
procedure in place. Wales Green Party held a telephone conference on
11th July to discuss this issue and to decide a way forward.
The Council was unanimous in agreeing that we are not in a
postion to handle this dispute on a local or regional level for the
following reasons:
The newsletter about which Pippa has complained went out to all members.
We cannot, therefore, be confident of finding people to sit on a
complaints
panel who have not already formed an opinion, as per our complaints
procedure.
We have already requested DRC to intervene but they have refused as they
feel they do not have members with enough experience to deal with such a
difficult matter.
We decided that, in relation to this particular issue, we would not
suspend Max Wallis (the subject of the complaint) from the Regional Party.
However, at the same meeting we discussed a separate matter which, we
felt, did warrant his suspension from the
Regional Party under clause 6 of our Complaints
Procedure.
Clause 6 says:
6)You may suspend individuals from your local or regional party or
exclude them from meetings on the grounds of safety or peace of other members
or unimpeded progress of business. If they are to be suspended from the
national party for the same reasons this request has to be submitted to GPRC
via the CEO. Expulsion may only be carried out by GPRC at a meeting. Some local
parties have their own membership schemes and therefore have the right to expel
members who do not have a national membership- and if they are not members of
the national party they have no right to the national party procedures or
sanctions- this should be made clear in the local party constitution.
This relates to Max's inappropriate use of the membership data he was
given in order to carry out his duties as Newsletter Editor and we feel we have
a duty to consider the wellbeing of the Party
To expand, Max sent out a Newsletter on the 9th March which contained a
link to the Socialist Unity website which heavily criticised the disciplinary
process GPRC had carried out concerning Anne Greagsby and Marc France. Wales
Council members expressed disapproval of this inclusion as we felt it was not
an appropriate link to include in a member's newsletter.
However, on the 4th May,
Max produced another Newsletter (the one which is the subject of Pippas
complaint) which included an anonymous letter and a link to a spoof
blog.
At our meeting on the 11th May we decided to suspend Max from his role
of
Newsletter Editor. The selection procedure for our Euro list had just
begun but we felt we had no option but to put that on hold while the ERRO got
advice on how to proceed. Max was informed of the decision and asked to destroy
the membership details he had been given. Note, please, that he attended the
meeting
initially but chose to leave before the matter was discussed.
Subsequently, we found that confidential emails had been leaked to a non
party member so, on 23rd May, we felt we had no choice but to suspend him from
Wales Green Party Council altogether. Again, Max was informed and reminded to
destroy the membership details.
Unfortunately, on 5th July, Max chose to send out another Newsletter.
This
newsletter claimed that I had been remiss in my duties in informing
members of the WGPC meeting taking place on the 6th July, but this was not the
case as I had already done it on 11th June.
Max claims that the meeting where he was suspended as Newsletter Editor
was
inquorate and that he was justified in sending out another newsletter.
We
understand that he had asked another member for advice before sending it
and had been advised against it. We are confident that the meeting was quorate
and that the decision we took was justified.
We have received numerous messages from Party members expressing
disappointment in the recent events within Wales Green Party and who are
questioning their membership. For the sake of party unity we felt we had no
option but to suspend his membership.
We would be grateful if GPRC would now consider both of these matters in
order that we can move forward in peace.
I have attached the draft minutes of the telephone conference where both
these decisions were taken.
Please note that I will be away for the next fortnight so please direct
any
queries you may have during that time to Chris Simpson or Jane Cooke.
Ann Were
General Secretary,
Wales Green Party.
Ann Were.
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