Letter: Complaint Against Councillor – What Hypocrisy

Published on: 7 Sep, 2017
Updated on: 7 Sep, 2017

Cllrs David Reeve (GGG), Paul Spooner (Con) and Caroline Reeves (Lib Dem).

From Ben Paton

In response to: Complaints Against Guildford Greenbelt Group Councillor To Be Heard in Public

Let’s compare two complaints against borough councillors at Guildford Borough Council (GBC).

On the one hand we have the quiet-mannered, meticulous, cerebral Cllr Reeve. He has taken it on himself to spend hours analysing in detail documents produced by or on behalf of GBC such as the Green Belt and Countryside Study. The public has benefited from this application of his training as an engineer. His qualifications are authentic and his analysis intellectually honest.

On the other hand we have the case of former councillor Monika Juneja, who was the deputy leader of the Guildford Conservatives and the lead councillor for the Local Plan. This lady held herself out to be a qualified barrister and brazenly threatened to sue those who questioned her qualifications.

GBC failed to investigate the authenticity of her qualifications – even when put on notice by the Bar Standards Board. A subsequent police investigation led to a successful criminal prosecution and convictions for fraud and forgery.

Subsequently the GBC Scrutiny Committee ordained that there had been no breaches of its Code of Conduct! Unabashed Ms Juneja then arranged signatures to be collected by students (paid a fee per signature) for a petition that forced a referendum for an elected mayor.

Mr Reeve holds no office in GBC. His loyalty is to the truth. Ms Juneja, by contrast, was pretending to be a qualified lawyer, was in charge of the Local Plan and would have been responsible for overseeing Section 106 agreements worth millions of pounds.

Cllr Spooner, Cllr Caroline Reeves and GBC never brought a case against Ms Juneja. No torch was shone on her conduct in office. Now they are eager to bring a case against Mr Reeve, who does not hold any office.

Such crass hypocrisy! Such a laughing stock!

Mr Reeve’s analysis has revealed some inconvenient truths. The public needs more people like Cllr Reeve to work on its behalf. He should be encouraged and not harassed.

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