Why do the LibDems choose such slime for local government?

As the established parties desperately try to smear UKIP candidates just before the May 2 local elections, over the last couple of days, I’ve been listing a few Tory and Labour councillors with somewhat unsavoury backgrounds. Today, it’s the turn of the LibDems.

A former LibDem leader of Derby City Council has been jailed for five years for child sex offences. He admitted 11 counts of indecently assaulting a boy under 14. He was Liberal Democrat leader of the council from 2003 until July 2005 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-14502471

LibDem councillor allegedly attempted to secure an advantage or disadvantage over a council matter and that she allegedly failed to declare a personal interest. The complaints are also that she allegedly failed to withdraw from a meeting at which she had a personal interest and that she allegedly sought to influence a decision in which she had a prejudicial interest. It was revealed that a farmhouse with an acre of land owned by china clay firm Imerys was sold between 2001 and 2003 to the councillor for £7,500. The land was then sold for £170,000 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/cornwall/6243795.stm

Two Liberal Democrat councillors from Lancashire have been jailed for trying to rig an election http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/6178224.stm

A former Bristol city LibDem councillor has been sentenced to five months in prison after pleading guilty to 11 charges of electoral fraud. He had served as a Liberal Democrat councillor for the Lawrence Hill area of the city. He is already serving a 19-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to offences involving child pornography http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/3695072.stm

A councillor, who represents Bolton and Undercliffe for the Liberal Democrats, has been jailed for five years after molesting two 11-year-old girls while he was a school governor. Bradford Crown Court convicted  him of eight charges of molesting two 11-year-old girls, including one of attempted rape http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/6302707.stm

A prominent LibDem/Green Worcestershire councillor has been charged with possessing indecent photographs of a child. The Malvern Hills district councillor is accused of 17 separate counts of possessing indecent photographs http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/display.var.1322894.0._child_councillor_is_charged.php

Disgraced councillor  resigned following sex convictions relating to a 16-year-old child. The former Stockport Council environment leader and national general secretary of the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors gave up his council seat after weeks of pressure. The LibDem councillor pleaded guilty to one count of assault and one count of trying to buy sex from a 16-year-old boy in woods near Half Moon Lane in Offerton . The shamed councillor was caught by police with red underwear, plastic gloves and a condom as he went to meet the teenage boy after they had agreed to see each other the day before. The child had spoken with the councillor in the woods. He then agreed to meet the councillor for £25 but instead told his mother of the ordeal http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/disgraced-councillor-quits-1176554

In Peterborough, a Liberal Democrat councillor was jailed for eight months after pleading guilty to 19 charges of defrauding the Department of Social Security and of fiddling council expenses. He was terribly innovative: apparently, he claimed allowances for 21 community health council meetings that he never attended, claimed cash for a meeting in the city when he was at the Liberal Democrat party conference in Eastbourne, made attendance claims for two different meetings that were held the same time, and inflated his mileage claims by as much as half as much again  http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmstand/a/st000608/am/00608s02.htm

There are plenty more I could list here. But you probably already have a pretty bad taste in your mouth. One could wonder why there are so many scumbags in local government. I suspect that when they’re elected, they feel they are pretty important people and that they can use their power to get away with things that ordinary citizens wouldn’t dare doing.

Hopefully I’ll find something more pleasant to write about tomorrow.