Thanet District Council
| Case no. | SBE18691.07 |
| Member: | Councillor Doug Clark |
| Authority: | Thanet District Council |
| Date received: | 15 Jul 2007 |
Allegation:
The member failed to treat others with respect.
Standards Board outcome:
The ethical standards officer found that in the circumstances of this case, no further action needs to be taken.
The complainant, a member of Thanet District Council, alleged that Councillor Doug Clark made an anti-Semitic comment to the complainant’s wife about a Holocaust Memorial Day service, referring to it as “the Jews’ do”. It was also alleged that Councillor Clark made comments to the complainant’s wife about the complainant’s religion and his attitude towards Christmas and questioned the complainant’s religious beliefs in relation to his non-attendance at certain civic events. It was further alleged that at his retiring ball as mayor, Councillor Clark was aggressive towards the complainant, subjecting him to a physical and verbal assault by aggressively accusing him of not participating and trying to pull him by the arm.
Councillor Clark stated that he had read the words “Jews’ do” from his diary, where he had written them to save space and because his dyslexia meant that he could not spell ‘Holocaust’. However, the ethical standards officer considered that in reading the words out, Councillor Clark was offensive and disrespectful, particularly as he was aware of the complainant’s Jewish heritage and that his wife was present.
In respect of the alleged remarks about Christmas, the ethical standards officer concluded that in the context of the conversation they were not disrespectful. The ethical standards officer also found no evidence that Councillor Clark’s language had been unreasonable or discourteous in the discussion about attending civic events.
With regards to the altercation at the Mayor’s Ball, the ethical standards officer noted that Councillor Clark may have started the dispute. Based on the eyewitness’ evidence, she concluded that physical contact had probably not occurred. She further concluded that even if Councillor Clark had behaved as the complainant and other members of his political group had alleged, his behaviour would not have been sufficiently disrespectful to be a breach of the Code of Conduct.
The ethical standards officer found that no further action needed to be taken.Relevant paragraphs of the Code of Conduct
The allegation in this case relates to Paragraph 2(b) of the Code of Conduct.
Paragraph 2(b) states that a member must "treat others with respect".
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