Northamptonshire councillor rapped over 'hole in condom' tweet
- Published
Jason Smithers sent the tweets soon after being elected to Northamptonshire County Council
A councillor who called a cabinet member "as much use as a condom with a hole in it" on Twitter brought the authority into disrepute, a panel said.
Northamptonshire County Council's Jason Smithers sent the tweet in February to then finance councillor Robin Brown with a link to a story about cuts.
He also sent a tweet to then council leader Heather Smith, which she believed to be "bullying".
The standard hearings panel ordered all councillors to have refresher training.
Conservative Mr Smithers was elected to the council on 15 February as the member for Higham Ferrers, two weeks after the authority was banned from all new spending.
But 12 days after his election sent a tweet to fellow Tory Ms Smith where he said: "I hope that the SFO is brought in to investigate your conduct."
Ms Smith claimed the SFO he referred to was the serious fraud office, but he said he believed there was a scrutiny finance officer in the council which he was referring to.
"At no time did I think I was referring to the serious fraud office, and I was not implying that either of the councillors had committed any fraud," he said.
Mr Smithers has since apologised to Ms Smith.
On the same day he sent a tweet about a local newspaper story entitled "Northamptonshire County Council revised budget puts 21 small libraries at risk".
He added: "This sucks Cllr Robin Brown you have been asleep at the controls. Your (sic) about as much use as a condom with a hole in it. #failedleadership"
Mr Smithers claimed he was not attacking anyone personally, but the investigating officer said that, "given the Cllr Brown was named in the first sentence of this post, this could reasonably be considered by a reader as addressed to the named individual".
He was found to have brought his "office or Authority into disrepute" by the panel.