Marden's Missing Councillors - UK Media Comment - Liz McGannan
this is kent (Kent Courier) 24 October 2003
Borough member resigns

Councillor Elizabeth McGannon has resigned as one of the three Maidstone Borough Council ward members for Marden and
Yalding.
Mrs McGannon, of Marden Thorn, was elected in May, 2000 and was due to be up for re-election next May. Notices have been
displayed at Maidstone Borough Council offices and in the two villages.
Chairman of Yalding Parish Council Geraldine Brown said: "It is probably the best thing as we have never seen her. She has not
been very effective, I have never really had any dealings with her as she has not been to any of our meetings.
A Maidstone Borough Council spokesman said: "An election will be held if two local government electors for the Marden and
Yalding ward call for an election.
"The election would be held within 35 working days of the receipt of their request."
Mrs McGannon was unavailable for comment.
Kent Messenger 25 October 2003 by Angela Zigler
I was truly stitched up
A Tory borough councillor who resigned week after coming under fire for failing to fulfil some of her duties claimed she had been
"stitched up" by the local Conservative group. Cllr Liz McGannan, who represented Marden and Yalding, officially resigned her post
on Tuesday forcing a by-election. She maintained for some time that she planned to stand down before the next local
government elections in May 2004, due to business commitments.

But rumours had circulated that her previous resignation letter, given to Conservative group leader Cllr Eric Hotson this year, had
been mislaid and so was not submitted. At a Marden Parish Council meeting on Tuesday, Cllr Rod Nelson-Gracie (Con), another
Marden and Yalding borough councillor, said the letter's loss was a result of a "foul-up". Cllr Nelson-Graciee said: "There was a
foul-up in the paperwork and, as a result, she (Cllr McGannan) reluctantly agreed to stay for her final tenure."

However, in a letter dated September 4, 2003, which has been seen by the Kent Messenger, Cllr McGannan wrote to Cllr Hotson:
"I was angry beyond words when I learned from Rod Nelson-Gracie that, for whatever reason, my resignation - which had been
acknowledged in writing - had not been notified to the borough council and I was expected to continue as Conservative councillor
for Marden." "You failed to find another candidate to replace him (Cllr Simon Antonisz), so I was left holding the baby. I was well
and truly stitched up by the Conservatives." She added: "I think the decent thing for you to do would be to come clean and
give an honest account of events surrounding my original resignation."

This week Cllr Hotson refused to comment on the letter's content, except to say: "I have replied privately to that."

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