Jackdaw - My Right of Reply " Speaking For Myself "
I love Malmesbury and care about the people who live here. So, for the last 15 years, I have been an been a volunteer supporting and fundraising thousands of pounds for local community groups. Also, since 2011 I have been privileged to serve as a Town Councillor, working on many projects for our town including the Neighbourhood Plan. So imagine my upset and disgust to read the nasty and ill informed articles about me and other members of the Town Council in the last Jackdaw magazine!
In my view, the people of Malmesbury deserve so much better from our local magazine, and much, much better than the unsubstantiated, derogatory venting by David Witt, the author of these articles and co-editor, however I understand he has now resigned from this role.
I have always supported the Jackdaw, firstly buying it and with a subscription and even supplying photos on a couple of occasions. So to me, it is a huge shame this has happened. The magazine has some really interesting local history related articles and amusing comments on Malmesbury happenings from other local contributors, but in my view, they and we the readers, have been sadly let down.
In my view, the people of Malmesbury deserve so much better from our local magazine, and much, much better than the unsubstantiated, derogatory venting by David Witt, the author of these articles and co-editor, however I understand he has now resigned from this role.
I have always supported the Jackdaw, firstly buying it and with a subscription and even supplying photos on a couple of occasions. So to me, it is a huge shame this has happened. The magazine has some really interesting local history related articles and amusing comments on Malmesbury happenings from other local contributors, but in my view, they and we the readers, have been sadly let down.
Just to mention here that I, like others, have taken previous Jackdaw mentions in 'good part', but I felt that these last nasty articles did cross the line into untruthfulness and unwarranted character assassination and that reluctantly I could not allow this to pass. So, you will have guessed by now that I have been given a 'right of reply' here and also an apology to set the record straight. This has come about because David Witt and the other co-editors of The Jackdaw were faced with the responsibility and consequences of publishing false and defamatory statements.
What I fail to undertand is why David Witt wrote these unsubstantiated and defamatory articles in the first place? Why did he and his co-editors think it was OK to publish them without evidence or corroboration to back up all of the statements? Of course, I have asked this very question. His answer was because a 'reliable' person told him so on more than one occasion and because he has had comments from people. He will not say who this so-called 'reliable' person was though. Basically he did not check all of his facts and relied on what one must assume was malicious gossip.
There are several points in the articles I object to and I was going to refute them individually, but actually I don't want to perpetuate this misinformation any further. I do wish to mention one point however, because I feel it is most offensive and personally upsetting:
“Sadness in Kim Power’s non-election as Mayor as, if the prevention of Martyn Snell’s accession as Mayor in 2013 hadn’t been handled in such a way, one reason for the ‘putsch’ against her would not have been there.”
David Witt has also taken the trouble to have this statement officially notarised at a solicitor's office to 'prove' to me that he was given this information by his 'reliable' source, whom he will not name.
After I contacted David Witt about the articles, he advised me of the following by email on 6th June 2015:
"I had been informed several months ago that another councillor was determined to avenge what happened to Martyn. You weren’t the only one involved in that but you were standing as mayor".
Personally speaking, I find this shocking. However, if this allegation about an anonymous councillor is in any way correct, then I believe residents of Malmesbury would be as disgusted as I, to know that another Councillor might actually want to stop me being Mayor, because of some kind of misguided revenge. If this is so, then this person must now come out and explain what their evidence is to warrant such an unfair attack on me and the democracy of our Town.
To clarify from my perspective, I have not become the Mayor this year, but I have been given no real reason by those who voted against me as to why they did so. I had fulfilled all of my duties as Deputy Mayor for the previous year and a great deal more. I also had the backing of five other Councillors, two of whom were ex- Mayors, the longest serving on our Council and another being our Wiltshire Councillor. However usual custom was put to one side and Cllr. John Gundry was proposed and voted in with a small majority to be Mayor.
Lastly, let me categorically state, that I did not 'mishandle' any situation regarding the late Councillor Snell, for whom I hold a deep respect for his years of service to the Town. I had previously given Cllr. Snell my backing to become the Mayor for 2013-14, as had others. My subsequent part in his non-election was essentially the same as most of the other Councillors, which was to make a very difficult decision in unhappy circumstances. Thereafter, Cllr. John Gundry took his place as Mayor for that year. I continued on a good working relationship with Martyn, until illness prevented him from attending Council meetings.
Here is an email sent to me by Cllr. Snell on 13th March 2013, when I and Councillor Killane both put ourselves forward for consideration for the role of his deputy and I wholeheartedly concur with Martyn's words:
There are several points in the articles I object to and I was going to refute them individually, but actually I don't want to perpetuate this misinformation any further. I do wish to mention one point however, because I feel it is most offensive and personally upsetting:
“Sadness in Kim Power’s non-election as Mayor as, if the prevention of Martyn Snell’s accession as Mayor in 2013 hadn’t been handled in such a way, one reason for the ‘putsch’ against her would not have been there.”
David Witt has also taken the trouble to have this statement officially notarised at a solicitor's office to 'prove' to me that he was given this information by his 'reliable' source, whom he will not name.
After I contacted David Witt about the articles, he advised me of the following by email on 6th June 2015:
"I had been informed several months ago that another councillor was determined to avenge what happened to Martyn. You weren’t the only one involved in that but you were standing as mayor".
Personally speaking, I find this shocking. However, if this allegation about an anonymous councillor is in any way correct, then I believe residents of Malmesbury would be as disgusted as I, to know that another Councillor might actually want to stop me being Mayor, because of some kind of misguided revenge. If this is so, then this person must now come out and explain what their evidence is to warrant such an unfair attack on me and the democracy of our Town.
To clarify from my perspective, I have not become the Mayor this year, but I have been given no real reason by those who voted against me as to why they did so. I had fulfilled all of my duties as Deputy Mayor for the previous year and a great deal more. I also had the backing of five other Councillors, two of whom were ex- Mayors, the longest serving on our Council and another being our Wiltshire Councillor. However usual custom was put to one side and Cllr. John Gundry was proposed and voted in with a small majority to be Mayor.
Lastly, let me categorically state, that I did not 'mishandle' any situation regarding the late Councillor Snell, for whom I hold a deep respect for his years of service to the Town. I had previously given Cllr. Snell my backing to become the Mayor for 2013-14, as had others. My subsequent part in his non-election was essentially the same as most of the other Councillors, which was to make a very difficult decision in unhappy circumstances. Thereafter, Cllr. John Gundry took his place as Mayor for that year. I continued on a good working relationship with Martyn, until illness prevented him from attending Council meetings.
Here is an email sent to me by Cllr. Snell on 13th March 2013, when I and Councillor Killane both put ourselves forward for consideration for the role of his deputy and I wholeheartedly concur with Martyn's words:
I hope this 'Right of Reply' has gone some way to setting the record straight! Let's hope that this will be the end to negative, unsubstantiated articles and please can we have more interesting and amusing pieces in the future!
Kim Power
Kim Power