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KS/MH/151
PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE (99th Meeting)
27th April 2018
(Meeting conducted via electronic mail) PART A (Non-exempt)
All members were present, with the exception of Deputy S.M. Brée of St. Clement , from whom apologies had been received and Deputy S.Y. Mézec of St. Helier , who was conflicted.
Connétable L. Norman of St. Clement , Chairman Connétable D.W. Mezbourian of St. Lawrence Deputy J.A. Martin of St. Helier
Deputy K.C. Lewis of St. Saviour
Deputy S.M. Wickenden of St. Helier
In attendance -
L.M. Hart , Deputy Greffier of the States
K.L. Slack, Clerk to the Privileges and Procedures Committee Note: The Minutes of this meeting comprise Part A only.
Commissioner A1. The Committee received a report from the Commissioner for Standards (the for Standards – Commissioner'), following his investigation into a complaint that Deputy S.Y. report in Mézec of St. Helier had breached the Code of Conduct for Elected Members (the respect of a Code'). The Committee recalled that the Commissioner was required to report to it complaint on the outcomes of any investigation referred to him.
against Deputy
S.Y. Mézec . The Committee noted that Mr. J. Haworth had complained to the Commissioner on 1497/99/1(16) 31st March 2018, alleging that Deputy Mézec had breached the Code by publishing
comments on Facebook', which claimed that Mr. Haworth had threatened to kill a politician's landlord, had harassed victims of child abuse and was a sick and twisted maniac'.
The Committee was mindful that the Commissioner was, as a matter of policy, reluctant to adjudicate in relation to exchanges on social media, but had indicated that some might fall within the provisions of Article 5 of the Code and merit investigation, where there was the presence of aggravating factors, such as foul language, or clear evidence of malice.
In this particular case, the Commissioner had decided that the allegations warranted investigation and having received Deputy Mézec 's response to the complaint, accompanied by supporting documentation, had decided that he had not breached the Code.
The Committee decided, as it had done in relation to previous complaints against Members of the States, to publish the Commissioner's report in the Reports series, without the attachments which had been provided by the Commissioner. It requested the Committee Clerk to append a preamble from it to the report and to send it to Deputy Mézec , in advance of arranging for it to be presented to the States.
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99th Meeting 27.04.18