London Mayor Suspended
London Mayor Ken Livingstone, was suspended by the Adjudication Panel for England for 4 weeks for comments he made to a reporter. Who is the Adjudication Panel for England? Good question. Apparently, it’s some 3-person judicial panel that reviews the conduct of authorities. Were the comments criminal? No. Were they in bad taste? You decide…
Livingstone: Are you a German War Criminal?Reporter: No, I’m Jewish, I wasn’t a German war criminal. I’m quite offended by that.
Livingstone: Ah right, well you might be, but actually you are just like a concentration camp guard, you are just doing it because you are paid to, aren’t you?
The reporter was supposedly harassing Livingstone as he left a "predominantly gay" public event. Livingstone refused to apologize and the matter was brought to the Adjudication Panel.
The issue raises the question about who has the right to remove a publicly-elected official and what kind of behaviour warrants removal. Personally, I think it was a stupid way to make his point, but I can’t see how this thing can fly in a democracy. I think that an elected official should not be removed without due process from an elected assembly. Three guys in some back room doesn’t cut it.
