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Whilst the first minister Jack McConnell was in Edinburgh today, we have been informed that the Bunty Backhander dossier which you have been reading snippets off here was handed over to the First Minister telling him that whistleblower protection was required for employees of PEP and Pilton Partnership.

It will be looked into…..  more to come

Not long to wait until May 3rd when this community has the chance to get rid of inactivity and corruption. The voters of the newly formed Forth Ward have a simple choice,do they vote for more of the same,or a change of plan. Let us not complicate matters with so called promises which fools nobody but the die hards. Labour have failed this community and on top of the revelations surrounding Councillor McGinnis,enough is enough.

There is a growing feeling that their days are numbered 4 to be exact,and that fresh ideas are needed to take this community forwarded,not the same old crap that is designed to keep us in the dark and servants at the masters table. Lies on top of lies,so much so we have gotten used to it,and expect it. Now with the disgraceful behaviour of Councillor McGinnis out in the open,what many people have suspected for a long time has now been confirmed,so much for threating to sue community menbers for expressing  what many others already suspected.

The lady doth protest to much,and she gave the game away by threatening a community member with legal action,which was pathetic  to say the least. Now the shoe is on the other foot,with the full facts of corrupt practices out in the public domain. Make the choice get rid of these crooks and give this community a real fighting chance. Not voting is exactly what they want you to do so they can be returned and mantain their hold over us.

Recently Councillor nowght to do with me Fitzpatrick was overheard telling someone what the result would be,not only is that complete stupidity but down right arrogant,but it tells us a story,one of complacency and treating the voters as fodder for the Labour Party. What nowght to do with me Fitzpatrick does not realise,is that times have moved on,people now realise how  the labour Party have conned the voters and not for the first time. Can our good friend and regular sucks reader put his hand on his heart and honestly say he has done the best job he could for the punters.

In reality they have seen more of his back running away from anything that even smelled problematic. He is seen as tired and empty of any kind of ideas on how to take this community forward. In truth he can’t even be bothered to get the holes in the roads and pavements fixed,truely he has lost his way. This becomes clear as the ruthless and corrupt Ms. McGinnis is doing her utmost to distance herself from him. In the light of what has become clear concerning Ms. mcGinnis Mr. Fitzpatrick may well be breathing a sigh of relief.

The best place for these two is in the memory bank,surely the voters cannot be conned again,but hey who knowe’s.

To Whom It May Concern.

The manager[Elizabeth McGinnis] has employed unqualified/untrained staff of little experience to run the NEIGHBOURHOOD GROUP as well as other groups run by PEP. The NEIGHBOURHOOD GROUP- basically the ex-MUIRHOUSE SIX CIRCLE GROUP- is comprised of people with mental health problems,disabilities,learning difficulties,offenders and the unemployed.

Major issues within the group are Service Users suffering from regular epileptic and diabetic seizures,challenging behaviour-from individuals including people with long and enduring mental health problems some may be from secure units,offenders of whom some may have committed capital offences and are on placement from prison,staff must have ability/training/qualifications in supporting and enabling such a mixed group to manage a variety of complex issues.

For the past six months the manager has employed MH to run the NEIGHBOURHOOD GROUP an individual who has no qualifications,little training,only some experience of some of the issues involved and for the past year JC who also has no qualifications,training and very little experience and was previously employed as a PEP bus driver.

MH and JC who run the NEIGHBOURHOOD GROUP AND ARE UNQUALIFIED/UNTRAINED as previously stated have been seen by staff attending a Service User who had taken an epileptic seizure “mimicking” how they had seen previous staff attend the Service User WG.

On one occasion JC panicked in the main office in front of staff when finding out what a new/previous Service User’s HH supports needs were,stating she was not qualified or trained to deal with such support needs. This was also witnessed/overheard by LISA ROSS from the Drylaw Inclusion Project [SEPTEMBER 05]

HH is now escorted by a member of staff at all times from the Inclusion Project while attending PEP were before Muirhouse Six Circle staff attended to HH’s needs.

Little or no genuine keyworking is being done for the members of the NEIGHBOURHOOD GROUP or PEPS volunteer’s due to the manager employing unqualified,untrained inexperienced staff with no concept of the theories,assessment/medical knowledge and practicalities of keyworking such a complex group.

Truely shocking and a daming insight into how Councillor McGinnis mis-manages this project with it’s vunerable service users. We demand as a matter of urgency the removal of Councillor McGinnis as manager of PEP and her immediate resignation as Councillor.

This report in all it’s tragic detail has been forwarded to the following people.

Ms. Helen Morgan,Contracts Officer, Social Work Department Edinburgh-0131-553-8362

Ms.Lawrie Davidson,Care Commission,Stewart House,Eskhill Musselburgh-0131-653-4100.

The Office of Scottish Charities Regulator,Investigation Teams,Dundee-01382-220446

Gordon Smaill General Auditors[Scotland] 18 George Street Edinburgh-0854-1461010

Malcolm Chiscolm[MSP] 86-88 Brunswick Street Edinburgh.

The Big Lottery Fund 1 Atlantic Quay Broomielaw Glasgow-0845-4102030.

Pilton Sucks has had time to digest the full implications of the detailed document which shows Councillor McGinnis to be dis-honest and the complete dis-regard for the community she is supposed to represent. On detailed examination of this document it is truely shocking in it’s ramifications for the bent councillor.

Edinburgh Sucks who broke the story has done this community and city a favour and now it is time for the nick-named  Bunty to leave the political scene and really do this community a service. Malcolm Chisholm will have by now received a copy of this dossier and we expect him to act on it,anything less will be seen as a cover up. The mere fact that Chisholm’s name appears alongside that of Ms. McGinnis will prove a great embarrassment for the MSP.

There is now a growing call for Ms. McGinnis to resign,and the whisper from her pals at the Pilton Partnership is that she should go and go now. There is nowhere for this disgraced Councillor to go now except resign and the sooner the better for all concerned.

A blatant abuse of position and a mis-use of public funds is to much to stomach and the little credibility she had has gone replaced by the taint of sleaze and corruption. She must now realise that her time is up no matter what kind of spin she tries to put on this,no-one will now take her seriously and contempt is all that is left. Twenty years of Councillor McGinnis is more than enough and has now got to end, an end which has come amidst sleaze and lies. Oh how the self important fall.  

As this community reels from the revelations of mis-use and abuse by Councillor McGinnis,she ignores calls for her resignation and is asking the voters of the Forth Ward for their trust. As her support dwindles and her fair weather friends desert her,we remind our readers that above all things we must be able to trust the people we elect to work in our interests.

Not only has Councillor McGinnis broken that trust she has worked in her own interests and mis-used public money in the process. How was she allowed to get away with it? The answer to that no doubt will come out in due course. A complete dis-regard for everything that this community has fought for. In one fell swoop she has managed to blacken a communities fight for improvement. These shocking revelations have rocked this community and it will be some time before we will fully recover. But recover we will but without her,for even if she does not do the decent thing and resign,and by some major fluke wins re-election,she will have lost all credibility and will just be a lame duck councillor.

One of her leaflets has quotes from a former Democratic Presidential candidate,and to read them shows just how much she has lost the plot. It’s over, she has by mis-use and abuse thrown shit in our faces and laughed at us. No more the games up and you have had your last throw of the dice.

As the scandal surrounding Elizabeth McGinnis begins to deepen and threatens to throw the Forth Ward election into chaos. We can today reveal more of the daming evidence against this tainted politician. Councillor McGinnis has abused her position of trust with this community and mis-used public funds.

1. The manager[Ms. McGinnis] stubbornly refused to put Six Circle’s services into the PEP business plan,after being strongly advised to do so by Don Millar[Six Circle Management Committee] the result was seemingly an eighteen thousand pound reduction in PEP’s proposed funding for the running of SixCircle’s services.

2. The manager did not want to take over the Six Circle premises, which were situated locally,and had a pepper corn rent of one pound a year paid to the Social  Work Department. Instead the manager preferred to pay the West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre one thousand four hundred and forty pounds for the rental of some of their rooms for six months, the manager eventually recognised PEP was unable to financially sustain this and now the Neighbourhood group are crammed into PEP’s lounge,which is inappropriate to say the least.

3.The manager sanctioned-after PEP’s merger with the Six Circle Project- a significant proportion of the funds to run the previous Six Circle services to bring PEP staff up tp full-time status and to totally overhaul PEP’s computer system,a sufficiently good system for the projects needs,creating an unnecessary surplus of quality computing equipment,that the manager decided to give FREELY away rather than seek reasonable reimbursement to reduce costs.

4.The manager has been pressurising staff to relabel existing and funded schemes to gain DOUBLE FUNDING so funds can be SIPHONED OFF elsewhere I.E. the manager asked FD[FRANCIS DURIE] if she could not describe some of her social trips/groups as educational as there was educational funding available[JULY 05]

5. The manager is taking funding from one section/scheme/project or another-including RING FENCED FUNDS and using them to shore up other parts of the project.

6.The manager is chasing any funding available with little resources to fulfil any obligations she may take on-the project is struggling as it is-”just to keep the balls in the air”. Her latest foray being nearly ONE MILLION POUNDS of lottery funding of which she has already received THIRTY-FOUR THOUSAND POUNDS for a feasibility study.

7. the manager has stated members of the Neighbourhood Group “have to pay for everything” tea, coffee,meals,trips their annual holiday “become self sufficient like the other PEP groups” when there is money allocated in their funding for their expences. Yet again this money will be SIPHONED OFF to be used elsewhere,not only is this another abuse of public funds but money is also being STOLEN OUT OF THE POCKETS OF THE MOST VUNERABLE AND DEPRIVED GROUPS IN THE COUNTRY.

8. The manager runs the Management Committee,due to her position through intimidation and manipulation.

There is more much more. To read this fact filled document is incredible to say the least. Councillor McGinnis has lied to the funders, has abused her position as Councillor has betrayed this community and has taken a salary from public funds which she should at the very least pay back. She should return every penny she has taken and be removed both as Councillor and as manager of PEP.

We now speak to the community as a whole. We demand the immediate resignation of Councillor McGinnis,she should not be allowed to stand for re-election and be barred from ever holding any kind of office again. The Pilton Partnership must also look at itself and question why they to allowed themselves to be manipulated by this disgraced Councillor.

Councillor nowght to do with me Fitzpatrick cannot hide away and as usual turn his back. He to is up to his neck in this disgracful situation and hiding away will not help him this time. Why did he not speak up when he knew what was going on? His credibility is now on the line and he to deserves the boot. He knew that she was up to her neck in conflicts of interest but said or did nothing. He knew that by setting up a consultancy business together with Ian Cooke manager of the same Pilton Partnership which granted PEP so much public money was wrong but again he said or done nothing.

This is corruption of the tallest order and reaches right into the heart of the community including those who hang off Ms. McGinnis and her every word. Their funding must also be looked at. We would remind readers that Caroline Pickering a fair weather friend of the disgraced Councillor has received very large amounts of public money for the project she manages The Granton Information Centre, and rumours are abound that this project is favoured far more than it warrents.

Ms. McGinnis has been allowed to run wild and mis-use and abuse both her position as PEP manager and local Councillor. It is far better she goes now than when this fully detailed document hits the press. Pilton Sucks offers Ms McGinnis some words of good advice something she is far to arrogant and stupid to take. FOR GODS SAKE GO AND GO NOW.

Today readers we are truely schocked,and that is an understatement. Late last night we received a detailed document outlining corruption,fraud and downright deceit. We had to read this document several times just to digest it’s severity.

Councillor Elizbeth McGinnis who many in this community had suspected for a long time had been underhand in the way she conducted herself is the subject of this detailed dossier. This detailed document outlines in graphic details some of the practices which she has been up to.

This document is too long and detailed to be printed here and it has been forwarded to the appropriate people,but we will give you a little taste of what has been going on.

We have in our possession what is described as an amateur standard letter from the manager [Ms. McGinnis] to referring agencies as proof of the manager misleading referring agencies by stating named staff were all appropriately qualified staff Karen Newmarch was employed as a Mental Health worker to lead the neighbourhood group and has no Mental Health qualifications. Gerry Imrie who supported the group and ran his own group was the only qualified member of staff directly supporting the groups and was made redundant by the manager for questioning the running of the project.

Janet Cook-Mills had no qualifications/training and was previously a bus driver for PEP. Staff later replacing redundant staff were also unqualified.

The manager defrauding the Department of Works and Pensions by paying people on benifits to help with driving the projects fleet of buses for ten pounds a shift. Or staff on benifits at the project are paid a great deal more hours than they are legally entitled to,so much so they were recognised and refered to as members of staff by members of staff and service users.

The manager defrauding the Inland Revenue by paying staff cash payments,not declaring them and cash payments for work done at the project-including the managers own son-was not declared to the Inland Revenue[We are talking about a leading Edinburgh Councillor here]

Service users files and information from them went missing when the only qualified member of staff running the Neighbourhood group was made redundant in July of last year,the manager blamed this occurrence on this individual. But staff witnessed the files and some of the information was there after this individuals departure. There is no doubt this was the manager trying to cover up her victimisation of staff as the files were of a higher standard of work than  produced by other staff directly supporting the group. Records in black and white show how unnecessary the redunancy was and the abuse of over  NINE THOUSAND POUNDS OF TAXPAYERS MONEY AS A REDUNDANCY PAYMENT.

What we have here is a corrupt official manipulating,abusing and using the system at the expence of the most vunerable in society,at one turn able to put a tear in her eye and play the victim and on the other treat nearly everyone around her with contempt even to the stage of bragging she is squeaky clean to the community.

Elizabeth McGinnis the manager of the Pilton Elderly project[PEP] having manipulated and railroaded a merger with the Muirhouse Six Cirle Project[MSCP] arrogantly listens to no one when it is obvious to most of those around her she has little knowledge or experience to manage the services she has taken over to the detriment of the Service Users,their familes/carers,staff,customers and the community.

The manager organised a PEP development day in Dublin[Nov-05] and booked the project into the Dublin Dorchester for 2 days and had dinner at Brown’s of St Stephen’s Green at £75 pounds a head. When the manager was questioned about the use of public funds the manager boasted about being one of the funder’s ‘bosses’ then added what they do not know about,will not hurt them. [This despite a good standard of corporate hospitality and training services provided locally by years of successful community funding at greatly reduced costs] Unfortunately it did not stop there PEP’s administrator could not differentiate between 6am and 6pm,also  the manager did not supervise work she delegated other’s to do,so when PEP turned up at Dublin Airport for the flight home at 6pm the manager was informed their flights had left at 6am that morning. It was the last straw for many of the staff who did not want to travel to Dublin in the first place,others terrified of flying,some where in tears,the manager gathered the project together,informed them that the project had purchased the only other flights available and that was to Glasgow! She would get a PEP driver and bus to pick them up from the airport and BEGGED THE GROUP NOT TO LET THIS GET INTO THE COMMUNITY.

There is much much more to this detailed document and it is a blatent mis-use of both her position as PEP manger and local councillor.

We demand as of this moment that her total dis-regard for the community she is supposed to serve makes her position impossible and she must resign as this document will get published and possible criminal charges could come from it.

Elizabeth  McGinnis has lost the trust of this community and she has lied to them,there is no-where now for her to go except resign and save the party flag she hides behind further embarrassment. 

There is of course the question of what part Councillor Fitzpatrick played in this corrupt deceit,he too has much to answer for,nowght to do with me is not on. 1. Did he know what was going on. 2. It seems clear that Mr. Fitzpatrick knowes more that he cares to let on.3.Since he has tied his flag firmly to Ms McGinnis surely he must do the right thing and go too. 4. Once this becomes wide spread in the community and further afield Mr. Fitzpatrick’s position in all this will be imposible. He knew that the consultancy business that she set up was wrong but said and done nothing. He knew that her conflicts of interest were huge but again said and done nothing. He again asks for the trust of the voters,he must be joking.

We are horrified with what this document contains with it’s wide scale corruption and abuse,it is frightening she was allowed to get away with it for so long. Serious questions must also be asked of the management of the Pilton Partnership from which PEP has received large sums of public money. They do not escape this tangled web of deceit.

It is now very clear that what many people have suspected for a long time is true,Ms McGinnis is finished she has no credibility left and must go and go now. This sorry state of affairs has some way to go yet,but it is sure that we must now have seen the last of former councillor McGinnis.

Pilton Sucks asks the question which we have asked before,why was workplace bullying at Muirhouse Social Work Department-Criminal Justice-Community Service team allowed to take place and damage members of staff,and in one case forced a member of staff to make an attempt on his life?

The carnage that one person caused is simply unbelievable.and even more unbelievable that even when senior management new this kind of behaviour was taking place did nothing to prevent it. The real truth of what went on in this dreadful place is in the damage that was caused to employees by this bully. A major cover up has gone on in order to protect,in the first instance incompetent management who failed to deal with this thug,and in the second instance in not removing this individual from having any kind of authority over others.

It is well known in Criminal Justice circles that bullying was going on and this individual was known to be a bully,yet still nothing was done. A don’t rock the boat attitude is unacceptable as a duty of care to staff was completly undermined and ignored and gave a green light to this detestable character. We will not go into a bullys characteristics,but to a reasonably trained eye they are there to be seen,and still nothing was done. We have said the police should have been brought in when this behaviour was first spotted some years ago,but they weren’t.

Serious questions which require answers from senior management must be asked and cover ups will not be accepted. This community which as we have already said has it’s own problems,we do not need or want a serial bully responsible for vunerable people to be any part of it. Pilton Sucks demands again a major investigation into the terrible events that went on in this office,and why no-one noticed that members of staff where being ill treated,to the point of one individual trying to take his own life.

We have as many fair minded people been sickened by the reports of ill treatment as they reached our ears. A local authority department who have a duty of care to both service users and staff should hang their heads in shame,this is an utter disgrace,and blame must ultimately stand at the door of those entrusted to manage this department.

Oh we all know that these managers are past masters at bullshiting and pulling the wool over the eyes of those who would seek the truth. They cannot bullshit Pilton Sucks,so don’t even try. We again repeat our demand for the truth to come out and let it publicly be known what has been internally known for a long time,that a serial bully is plying his trade in our community,in an office whose sole purpose is to serve the community. We demand that the Muirhouse Social Work Centre be brought to account for it’s behaviour,absolutely nothing less will do.

WE ARE WATCHING.     

As Bill nowght to do with meFitzpatrick plays hide and seek with the voters so they forget how useless he really is,it is left up to the discredited Councillor McGinnis and our man of principles and Mathew Corbett look alike Malcolm Chisholm to press the flesh. As Labour continues to flag in the polls Councillor and Waterfront queen McGinnis who has lost the trust and faith of many in the community due to her perceived shady dealings has only her dwindling band of hangers on to tell her how wonderful she is.

From talking to a number of people in the community the growing feeling is that she has abused her position as councillor to advance her own interests. Pilton Sucks believes that both Fitzpatrick and Ms. McGinnis should have done the smart thing and stepped down to avoid what might be humiliation at the ballot box.

We have reported to you over a period of time about the scandal surrounding the Infamous Muirhouse Social Work Centre,which both these councillors are well aware of,yet they do nothing,so what chance does anybody else have if they approached any of these two with a problem to deal with. Councillor Fizpatricks favourite party piece is his very own catchphrase nowght to do with me and then turn his back and walk away. He must be praying the voters forget the last four years of inactivity and back turning and return him for another four years of nowght to do with him.

While of course regular sucks reader and jinglin Geordies regular Fitzpatrick has been content to avoid dealing with anything problematic but seek the praise when something is achieved,our friend Waterfront Liz has been hard at it,not we may say in the interests of her punters,oh no that would never do would it? Instead Lizzie has built herself up a nice little earner but needs re-elected to continue raising her bank balance. How did she ever get away with it? But the time has come to put a stop to it,so don’t be fooled by a list of so called achievments.

She tells us that she wants more local employment on the Waterfront development,why now? why not from the start.When she is booted out a community chair should be put in place on the Waterfront board carrying the community message,not the secrecy that exists at the moment. Why after over 20 years will we be left with a legacy of high unemployment poor housing,poor health with some of the most shocking figures in the country. That is the legacy these two will leave behind,and they have the brass neck to ask for the voters trust once more.

Even their own election agent the disgraced former Tory leader Christine Richards,who was overheard in conversation with one of her Tory pals saying that it would be a miracle if Fitzpatrick and McGinnis where re-elected. We would not go that far but then again we don’t have a soft spot for the Torries like Ms. Richards does.

So as Lizzie and Malcs go door to selected door trying to save her skin and using Chisholm to do it,would it not have been more honest to just resign and go away. Chisholm of course is not safe either and his political savy has deserted him if he thinks Lizzie can help him get re-elected. Chisholm we have always found to be an aloof,snotty individual who gives the impression that he would not piss on you if you where on fire. All he is interested in is himself,testement to that is what he has actually done for this community.

The only reason he is standing is nobody stood against him in the re-selection contest if you can call it that. If somebody else had actually bothered it is likely he would not have been standing again, that proves his unpopularity within his own party,or what’s left of it. But we hope the people of the Forth ward come to their senses and rid this community of uselessness and blood sucking. We shall see.

10 DAYS AND COUNTING.     

Well friends and readers it is time for a Community Council update. There did not seem much to report until Alan one of our associates showed us a copy of the NEN. And there on the front page was Royston/Wardieburns campaign to keep the existing 32 bus service. This kind of activity is to be applauded and shows that Royston/Wardieburn Community Council is setting a good pace.

We managed to speak to one of their members who told us that there was a good feeling about the council and that she was encouraged with the progress they where making. We had expressed doubts about the very survival of this Community Council,but since Fred Marinello has been chairperson we have been,and we are happy to say made to eat our words. We contacted Mr.Marinello and he was happy to tell us that it is very much a team effort with every member playing an active role.

He also said to us that while the campaign for the retention of the 32 bus service was an important one he pointed out that the rentention of all the buses that served the community was equally important and that point should not be lost while the campaign on the number 32 continues. 

We firmly are of the view that Community councils can play a vital role  for the community and more of the services that play a part in this community should be devolved to the Community Councils. As communities evolve in the 21st century we feel that the people should play a far more prominent role,and a community agenda be put forward and acted on. This is something not to be afraid of but to be embraced with enthusiasim,for the people know best what is required in their community.

All the Community Councils have a crucial role to play in this and would be wise to set aside any personal differences and meet the challenges to come with a united front. This coming election may throw up a few suprises and the Councils must be fit and ready to adjust to what changes may come. It does not however change the remit of Community Councils,arguing for the best possible deal for their community. Community councils must at all times be free to push for what they think is best for their community and never be mouth pieces for politicians or spring boards for their ideas.

As the Community councils find their feet and begin to formulate ideas and policies we may yet see truer democracy spreading throughout this community.