"I regret that Ms Raybould has associated herself with what I view as the vicious hate campaign currently being waged by members of the discredited Keenan/Canvin administration and their supporters against the current Chair of Somerton Town Council. This is a clear and undisguised effort to undermine the local democratic process by intimidation, harassment and threat.
Ms Raybould demands that Somerton Town Council and its members disassociate themselves from Muck&Brass. I have no problem with that because there is no association. In making her demands, Ms Raybould simply repeats the same fictitious information circulated in anonymous leaflets distributed in Somerton over the last two years by ex-Cllr Martyn Smith and others, and also within the anonymous Somerton Sanity website.
Ms Raybould and her associates continue to project their delusions upon anyone who will not agree with them. They would have the public believe that Muck&Brass is at the nexus of a conspiracy to control and guide: Avon & Somerset Police; the Audit Commission; Somerton Town Council; the External Auditor and anyone else who dares to question the activities of the Keenan/Canvin administration. Whilst I am flattered to have such 'super-powers' attributed to me, the attribution is pure fantasy.
What Ms Raybould and her associates, particularly ex-Local and ex-District Cllr Mountain, have made abundantly clear is that, in their view, the law in this country can be applied, selectively, by them. The parts of legislation that they don't like, they seek to ignore. The hypocrisy of this view is breathtaking. Individuals like Mountain, Keenan, Canvin etc sought the legitimacy of elected office through Parliament's legislation but when the External Auditor, Parliament's representative, finds the Keenan/Canvin administration seriously deficient, all of a sudden, those awkward parts of legislation don't apply.
Ms Raybould wants everyone to disassociate themselves from Muck&Brass as if that will remove the blot on the democratic landscape that was the Keenan/Canvin administration in Somerton. Ms Raybould wants Muck&Brass to disappear only because it reminds her and her associates of their mistakes.
If Ms Raybould wants 'healing' then she should look to the South African experience in their 'Truth and Reconciliation' process. For the process to work, the 'wrong-doers' need to admit their guilt and failings and make amends. Ms Raybould's suggestions simply draw attention to the state of denial that surrounds the Keenan/Canvin administration and their supporters."