15 July 2003
Hall's well that ends well Old Grumpy had a pleasant surprise on Saturday morning when a copy of a letter from Brian Hall's solicitors landed on the doormat.
Solicitors' letters are usually about as welcome as a wasps' nest in the attic, but this one brought the welcome news that Cllr Hall, having earlier paid £250 into court, had now agreed to pay a further £3,300 towards my costs in respect of a libel action I had brought against him.
My action was founded on two letters from Cllr Hall to my future and past employers.
The first, dated 18 May 2001, was to Keri Jones the Managing Director of Radio Pembrokeshire, who were, at the time, competing to win the county's commercial radio franchise and had written to all members of the county council seeking their support.
Mr Jones had offered Old Grumpy a fairly low-key job as a part-time presenter which I had accepted.
News of this appeared in the Mercury and prompted Cllr Hall to write to Mr Jones informing him that he couldn't support his attempt to win the franchise because "I have read in today's Mercury that you have recruited [Old Grumpy] to present a weekly talk show. I have to tell you that my solicitors are pursuing a claim for defamation against [Old Grumpy] and his former employers [Newsquest Ltd, owners of the Western Telegraph and Milford Mercury] following a reference to me in an article by [Old Grumpy]. On this basis alone, I could not possibly support your application."
Clearly, the intention was to persuade Mr Jones to withdraw his offer to give me a job, why, otherwise, mention my "former employers" unless to suggest that my future employer might befall the same fate.
Not only was this an attempt to interfere with my basic right to work but the claim that he was "pursuing" an action for defamation against me had little or no connection with the truth.
I was aware that Cllr Hall, backed by Pembrokeshire County Council's Chief Executive, had fired off several letters to Newsquest, and their solicitors, but he had never contacted me directly.
In any case, there is a twelve-month limitation period for suing for defamation and, as the "offending" article had appeared in the Mercury in March 2000, and Cllr Hall's letter to Mr Jones was dated 18 May 2001, he was out of time.
Another thing that concerned me was that Cllr Hall's letter to Mr Jones was typed by a county council employee: the Chairman's secretary Denise Dawes.
I did write to the Council's Monitoring Officer, Huw James, suggesting that providing councillors with secretarial assistance for the purpose of pursuing their own personal spats with members of the public, was an inappropriate use of taxpayers' money, but he assured me that it was perfectly OK.
I would have let the matter pass but for another letter sent by Cllr Hall's solicitors to Eileen Opie the Newport-based Regional Managing Director of Newsquest Ltd.
This second letter followed a report in the Mercury, based on information provided by me, and headlined: "Cllr's expenses claim reported to police."
I have to be careful what I say about this because the police tell me that the file has been forwarded to the Crown Prosecution Service.
The Mercury's report infuriated Cllr Hall whose solicitors wrote to Newsquest accusing me of carrying out a "Jihad or crusade" against their client and, at another point, "pursuing some sort of Jihad or Holy War against one man and his family."
Coming just five weeks after the September 11 attacks in the USA, this was extremely offensive language.
But what really got up my nose was the allegation, clearly designed to undermine the Mercury's editor, that I was "still running the newspaper" and that there was "a lack of editorial control".
So, reluctantly, I decided to sue Cllr Hall, though, considering his solicitor's claim in their letter to Newsquest that "We can assure you that these allegations [about his travelling expenses] are wholly and absolutely unjustified and our client can provide evidence to prove it if necessary", it comes as something of a surprise that it was not the other way round.
Early in the piece, Cllr Hall's solicitors, in a letter dated 12 May 2002, explained their failure to reply to a letter from my solicitors: "... we are trying to take instructions but our client is abroad with his wife who is seeking medical attention."
Strange, then, that the minutes of the County Council record Cllr Hall's presence at the meetings of full council on Thursday 9 May 2002 and Friday 10 May 2002.
Those solicitors were soon replaced by a firm from Cardiff and the blame for the use of "Jihad" and other immoderate language was quickly laid at the door of the ex-lawyers.
I had already heard the claim that the letter had been sent to Cllr Hall in draft form, and that he had made amendments and sent it back for retyping. But, unfortunately, the solicitors neglected to make the required alterations and sent the unedited version to Newsquest Ltd.
Or as his new solicitors put it: "... the letter was written by the Defendants then solicitors ..., upon the Defendant's instructions as to the substance thereof but not as to the form thereof in that the wording particularised in [the Jihad paragraphs] were the words of his former solicitors."
There is one rather serious question about this explanation - the words "C C David Evans Esq by hand" at the foot of the letter.
My information is that the delivery boy was Cllr Hall and that the letter was delivered to Mr Evans' home in the evening
Is it suggested that he delivered a letter that he hadn't read?
As to why he forked out £1.50 in bridge tolls and and unknown sum for diesel, rather than popping the letter in the post along with the one to Eileen Opie, one can only speculate.
The one serious drawback in accepting Cllr Hall's offer to settle out of court is that it meant passing up the chance to question him about these matters under oath.
I am sure other opportunities will arise.
Money for old rope The Welsh Assembly, in its role as Fairy Godmother, has decided to give long-serving County Councillors, who promise not to offer themselves for re-election, a large golden goodbye.
The scheme will allow councillors over 60 of age, with 15 years service, to shuffle off into the political twilight with a handy £15,000 payout. The payouts will be increased by £1,000 for each year of service over 15, up to a maximum of 20.
Old Grumpy hears that some of the more ancient members, who were not intending to stand next May, anyway, are delighted with this unexpected windfall, though they can't resist one last slurp in the trough by demanding that the payouts should come tax-free.
Six months ago, I drew attention to potential problems with the County Council's pension fund (see Pensions liability).
During last October's public audit the council produced figures which showed that, as of 31 March 2002, the pension fund,with assets of £147.6 million and liabilities of £136.6 million, had a healthy £11 million surplus.
However, as I pointed out at the time, the stock market had been in virtual free fall through the summer and, with its high exposure to equities (65% of the pot), the council's pension fund had almost certainly taken a hit.
The latest figures which are to be presented to the council on Thursday seem to bear out my prediction because the fund is now showing a deficit of £28 million.
Unfortunately, ten minutes in Milford Haven library was not sufficient time to get my head round all the details but it was long enough to notice that the fund suffered an actuarial loss (whatever that is) of £41.35 million and its equity holdings; valued at £121 million in March 2002, were down to £98.6 million by the end of the financial year.
No doubt some of our brighter councillors have noticed this wild swing in the fund's fortunes and will come to Thursday's meeting armed with the appropriate questions.
Footnote. £41 million equates to over £800 per Band D Council Tax property.
Fair cop According to Private Eye, Ray Mallon the Mayor of Middlesbrough has hit on a novel scheme to reduce the cost of councillors' expenses.
Mallon, who came to fame by introducing zero-tolerance policing in the town, insists that councillors produce receipts to back up their expense claims.
This has led to a reduction of almost 40% in the members' take.
I am not so sure about the Eye's description of this scheme as 'novel'.
Old Grumpy introduced a similar, though informal, scheme in Pembrokeshire some years ago with the result that, over a period of four years, Cllr Alwyn Luke's intake of taxpayer-funded food plummeting from over a hundred freebies per annum to nearer ten; eventually leading to his been stripped of the coveted "Monster Lunch Muncher" title.