Dear Sir,
I have no need or wish to deceive, mislead or self gain from my Election address – every word is the truth.
This is election time so I can understand Julie Adams, wife of a Labour candidate, getting jittery and worried about her husband’s chances.
She failed to state that it was many years ago that he was a Town Councillor from 1983 until 1994 when he left to take up a position as a lecturer at Darlington College. Is he going to give this up if elected, as being a County Councillor involves many day time meetings and to be involved in the Community is a full time job.
I stand by what I said, and was co-opted onto the Town Council 5th December 2001 and remained there through two elections to the present day. I was elected to the County Council in 2005 for Shildon East which covers Aycliffe, Middridge and part of Shildon.
In 2007 I was elected to Sedgefield Borough Council until the Unitary Council Elections in 2008. I won the seat for Shildon East with a Labour Councillor serving with me to the present day.
I am one of seven sitting councillors representing Newton Aycliffe on Durham County Council, the 8th Councillor represents Shildon and the boundary changes now reflect the fact that it is no longer included with Aycliffe.
I was de-selected by Julie Adams’ family block vote and I think that is quite obvious. There had to be three separate meetings to decide the candidates for Labour West Ward. Kate Hopper and Mark Catmul were only kept by using the block vote.
I was asked to stand at Evenwood on recommendation and by my previous work record in the Community
The Labour Party would not allow me to stand down from the Evenwood seat in January to contest the vacancy in West caused by Mr Catmull’s resignation after moving out of Town, yet Eddy Adam was allowed to be added to the panel at that late stage to be considered for selection! He was selected by his family/friends to represent West Ward.
I stood down from Evenwood and now stand as an Independent as I realised that I could not continue the work I was doing in Aycliffe and give 100% effort to Evenwood.
At the selection meeting Mrs Adams refers to, only 23 people were voting including 9 members of the CLP executive. I was beaten by 14 votes to 9, her family block vote of 5 votes says it all.
If in her opinion the best candidates were selected on ability why did her family need to cast 5 family votes to prevent me being selected?
As for topping the polls, I got more votes than any other Labour Candidate in Newton Aycliffe in 2005 when I received 827 votes. In 2008 Brian Stephens got more votes from the Shildon part of the ward, but Shildon no longer figures in our Ward boundaries.
Dorothy Bowman.
