bloodnock wrote:
They can all cosy up and milk the system when the likes of me has to fight for Scottish government funding to help pay a family member to assist my disabled offspring because it may appear employing a family member is a bit suss.
And ironically Kenny Gibson employed his wife at taxpayers' expense in some sort of invented job before she got on the MP gravy train. (See highlighted section below.)
Kenny Gibson's Wikipedia page suggests he's got quite a colourful history
Quote:
In March 1993, when Gibson was a Councillor for Mosspark a warrant for his arrest was issued following his failure to appear for trial in connection with an alleged offence under the Representation of the People Act.
In February 2000, The Sunday Mail reported allegations from a disabled SNP member, Gill Strachan, that Kenneth Gibson had pushed and abused her during the SNP Conference in Inverness in October 1999. Strachan subsequently resigned from the SNP, accusing the Party of mounting a cover-up of the incident.
In 2009, Kenneth Gibson was criticised by other MSPs for writing to North Ayrshire Council in support of a planning application for 24 houses made by a friend, Billy Maclaren, while failing to disclose either the friendship or his financial relationships with Maclaren.
Gibson was identified as one of 12 Holyrood politicians employing a close family member in 2013, but declined to provide information on the salary, work hours, or whether the job had been advertised. His wife, Patricia Gibson was employed as a policy adviser. Employing family members was declared bad practice in 2010 and outlawed in 2015.
In March 2017, Holyrood's Standards Committee admonished Gibson for failure to make an oral declaration of a registered financial interest. The Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland submitted a report to the Procurator Fiscal. However, the alleged offence was "time barred from criminal proceedings." Political opponents called for his suspension from the SNP.
The [edited by admin] North Constituency Association issued "an urgent call" for members to come forward to challenge Gibson to be the SNP representative for the area in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election campaign. In October 2020, it was reported that Gibson would face a reselection challenge for the [edited by admin] North Seat.
On 14 October it was reported that 2 SNP party officials resigned in protest, with allegations that Gibson had been 'aggressive and abrasive' bullying, 'especially of women'. The article quoted [edited by admin] North Constituency Organiser Dr Malcolm Kerr as saying "the allegations against Mr Gibson include bullying, harassment and abuses of parliamentary expenses rules." Shortly after this, the SNP suspended the selection procedure in [edited by admin] North in response to these allegations.