Second conduct rap for town councillor

A long-serving Herefordshire town councillor has been rebuked a second time – partly over failing to apologise or undergo training following a previous complaint over an inappropriate joke.

The more recent complaint against Coun Tony Bradford, a member of Ledbury Town Council (LTC) for over 20 years, was made to the county’s monitoring officer by the town council’s chair Coun Liz Harvey on behalf of its Resources committee.

Among the seven charges made were that Coun Bradford had refused to apologise or undertake training over what was previously described as a “sexually inappropriate” joke he told, which was overheard in the council offices.

Coun Bradford clarified that the joke, attributed to veteran US standup Rodney Dangerfield, ran: “I went to the doctor, he told me to do press-ups in the morning.

“But I don’t wear pyjamas, and I forgot about the mousetrap.”

A report at the time by Herefordshire Council’s monitoring officer said Coun Bradford’s response to the complainant objecting to the joke had been to say he would deny telling it.

A formal Herefordshire Council Standards Panel, concluded in April last year that the joke “could only be considered as of a sexual nature”, the monitoring officer reported.

The monitoring officer now says she agrees with Coun Harvey that Coun Bradford had “clearly” breached the requirement to comply with sanctions imposed over the joke episode.

He had also later “harassed” the town clerk by “repeatedly questioning her impartiality, professionalism, judgement and competence” in an email over the previous complaint, the monitoring officer said.

Two similar later emails this April to additional recipients “compounded the impact” of the previous email, and “demonstrated an entrenched position” on Coun Bradford’s part, “which he has not been able to address”, the monitoring officer added.

But despite these “clear breaches of the Code of Conduct”, she concluded on this occasion it was “not in the public interest to pursue this matter by formal investigation”.

She suggested that “in order to rebuild relationships with councillors and officers”, Coun Bradford might “reflect again on the outcome” of the two complaints – adding this may be “an unrealistic expectation”.

Coun Bradford said he had wanted this second case to be heard by Herefordshire Council’s Standards Panel, as the previous case had been.

“People would be amazed they tried to ban me, 12 months later, over a joke,” he added, and confirmed he would not resign.