City chief broke rules with road tolls mailshot

Maureen Child, the city's finance leader, was brought before a Standards Commission hearing yesterday after she printed the newsletter using council equipment shortly before the vote on road tolls.

She was found to be in breach of the code and was censured, avoiding possible disqualification from being a councillor for up to five years.

At the hearing in the Menzies Belford Hotel in Belford Road, Councillor Child was found to have contravened the code despite having checked the rules with council officials and paying for the facilities used.

The decision comes despite the fact that she was cleared of breaking any regulations or guidelines by an earlier council probe. In her evidence to the original inquiry, Cllr Child said she had been "utterly exhausted" and "probably not thinking straight" when she used envelopes and the council's mailroom and franking machine to send out more than 3000 newsletters.

The code of conduct for councillors states council facilities must only be used for carrying out council duties and never for party political or campaigning activities.

Opposition councillors today applauded the finding and said it was a lesson to Labour members who behaved improperly.

The row was sparked after it emerged Cllr Child used council equipment to send copies of her "Milton Special" newsletter, which features the Scottish Labour Party logo, urging constituents to vote in favour of the congestion charge in last February's referendum.

Okain McLennan, chairman of the Standards Commission panel, said they had decided on the balance of probabilities that Cllr Child had breached the code.

He said: "Councillor Child has breached paragraph 3.17 of the code by using council facilities for party political and campaigning activities and in addition she failed to comply with the rules governing local authority publicity."

But it was accepted that she had done it in "good faith" and "without financial impropriety" and it was recommended the "bottom end" of the range of sanctions would be appropriate, so she was given a censure.

Cllr Child now has 21 days from the date of the written document to appeal the decision.

The Labour councillor said: "I believe I acted openly and honestly and there was no cost to the council. I acted entirely in the spirit of the code of conduct.

"Looking back I would have asked for advice from a more senior officer and acted accordingly with that."

City Tory leader Iain Whyte said: "Cllr Child should not have been using council facilities to promote congestion charging."

Lib Dem leader Jenny Dawe added: "At the time we all felt she had acted inappropriately as you have to draw a line between what you do as a councillor and as a party member."