Politician resigns to avoid harassment investigation

[NitroNine]

Stephen Cooper, a former TUV councillor, has resigned after the party started an investigation following a complaint from a female party member alleging harassment.

Apparently he thought they should just have taken his word for it that he hadn’t done anything wrong:

"I'm disappointed that the party did not back myself as a longstanding member of the party and an elected representative. My resignation now negates any further investigative procedures, I hope.”

I hope that they keep right on investigating, because that’s a man with several things to hide…

He's identifying as innocent and expects everyone to validate that identity.

I suppose he was hoping that given the TUV’s approach to David Tweed they’d brush whatever he’s done under the carpet too. The TUV felt it was reasonable that not just after he was charged with multiple counts of CSA but after he was convicted & awaiting sentencing Tweed should be allowed to remain not only a party member, but a member of Ballymena Borough Council. TUV’s bizarre justification for this was that the sex offences related "to a period long before he was a member of this party".

For anyone unfamiliar with Tweed, the girls he raped included his 4 daughters & one of his nieces; & he used to batter his wife. His daughters gave up their anonymity despite the immense stigma involved in cases of incest because after his sudden death in 2021 Unionist politicians were falling over themselves to eulogise him despite him having been released from prison only 5 years earlier.

Given that, you can see why he might have hoped they’d be on for just ignoring whatever he’d been up to.

I have no words. That is the most incriminating resignation statement I've ever seen from a politician.

It’s astonishing, isn’t it NeighbourhoodWatch? I don’t know anyone who could legitimately make enquiries of the TUV as to whether they’ll be completing their investigation, or I’d try to find out. (My Protestant relations are not the TUV sort. Which is good, because your own family thinking you’re in league with the AntiChrist makes things terribly awkward.)

As a protestation of innocence, "You shouldn't be looking. Please stop looking." does seem to lack a certain something.

Although as you say - perfectly reasonable in a TUV context. After all, this is the party that had a woman stand for an elected job on the platform that women shouldn't work. Expecting sense from them is a doomed enterprise.

yy, the stop looking at me is very strong. FFS.

Is there any way for outsiders to influence the party into continuing this investigation? Asking for me.

His statement reminds me of what Sir Terry Pratchett wrote about Spill Words: the words people nearly say, but they just manage to hold back. This must be what it's like to be Tiffany Aching, because I swear I can hear something he's not saying!

Seems shortly before he resigned he officially accused Sinn Féin of being controlled by the IRA & had a tantrum over the Independent Reporting Commission telling him to feck off & stop being a weirdo.

Apparently he’s feeling disillusioned with politics - and, er, had some “personal issues” with the TUV. Can’t help but wonder if those issues include him harassing a female party member 🤔

Honestly don’t know if the TUV will listen to outsiders. Or indeed the Council itself, given he’s remained in post as an independent 🤨 Would the TUV respond to a reminder of their failure to act with Davy Tweed? 🤷‍♀️ There’s not really anything you can do but contact them & see if they’ll engage.

@NeighbourhoodWatchPotholeDivision the TUV listen to no one about anything. This is a party founded by a man, Jim Allister, K.C., for whom the DUP were not sufficiently anti- catholic, anti-Irish, anti-progress that he felt compelled to leave and form his own political party. The whole party is a disaster as it’s only foundation is the leader’s own Paisley-on-acid version of regressive, dogmatic unionism, which remains q popular to some of the electorate, doling out all the old sectarian hits. He praised David Tweed to high heaven and has not fully retracted his comments on his death despite Tweed’s very brave daughters coming forward thereafter to reveal the horror of his abuse publicly. Thing is the TUV leader knew all that anyway as he is a KC (NI legal world is very small, no way he didn’t know every bit of what Tweed was charged and convicted of) and oh yes was a long standing friend who continued to sit in the pew behind Tweed every Sunday at the Church they both attendee. Allister and others spent a good couple of days trying to undermine the convictions in the media and further traumatising the courageous survivors of his abuse after the story broke.
In short I’m actually genuinely surprised that the TUV even commenced an investigation in to the complaint of sexual harassment, which would lead me to think that it was probably quite serious in nature, the victim was preparing to release her story and/or that, well, there may be more women this guy has harassed. Purely my own speculation of course.