A newly-elected Elgin councillor has sparked fury by quitting after just four days on the job.
Sandy Cooper’s hasty exit from the chambers means Moray Council will have to spend £25,000 of taxpayer money on staging a by-election.
Mr Cooper was elected to represent the Elgin City North ward as in Independent candidate in Friday’s local authority elections, winning 532 first preference votes.
The 72-year-old’s resignation follows mounting criticism of some “unethical” campaign promises.
Mr Cooper had vowed to donate £5,000 annually from his council salary towards the schools in his ward.
But the Electoral Commission warned him that he could face a bribery investigation if he followed through on the pledge – while election opponents said if he did not, voters would be aware he had broken his commitment to them.
Last night, Mr Cooper conceded that “perhaps” the job of councillor was more challenging than he envisioned.
He said: “I would like to sincerely apologise to all the people who voted for me for letting them down so badly.
“This was a very tough decision to come to.”
Moray Council published an excerpt from the resignation letter Mr Cooper handed chief executive, Roddy Burns.
It stated: “After careful consideration, I wish to tender my resignation as councillor for the Elgin City North ward.
“I apologise most sincerely for the great inconvenience and cost which this will involve.
“I am most grateful for the help, advice and assistance given by so many members of your staff during my training.
“I wish Moray Council every success in the future.”
Mr Cooper spent his brief stint as a councillor attending induction briefings on Monday and Tuesday.
Last night, both Labour and the SNP argued that Mr Cooper had cost both their candidates a seat in the chambers.
Labour claim their analysis of the results suggest their candidate Nick Taylor would have won had Mr Cooper withdrawn from the race ahead of polling day.
But the SNP said his victory had in fact cost Patsy Gowans her place.
Moray Labour’s election agent, Stuart MacLennan, said Mr Cooper’s colleagues would be “glad to see the back of him”.
He added: “That is the only positive from this otherwise shameful episode.
“Mr Cooper waged a campaign based upon questionable ethics, and had he stood down when we first called him out on it then our candidate, Nick Taylor, would have won a seat in Elgin North.
“To say that we are incandescent that it has taken Mr Cooper this long to go is an understatement.
“Given his behaviour through this campaign I suspect that this is less a ‘road to Damascus’ moment and more likely a realisation of the serious consequences that might flow from his outrageous conduct during the campaign.”
Mr Taylor added: “While I’m obviously disappointed that Mr Cooper has only seen the error of his ways after costing me a seat, the voters of Elgin North will rightly be outraged.
“Mr Cooper spent his campaign promising to donate £25,000 over the course of his five years in office to local schools.
“Instead, he has quit and he’ll end up costing local taxpayers £25,000.”
The co-leader of the SNP group, Graham Leadbitter, added: “This resignation will be deeply shocking to people in the Elgin City North ward, and the wider Moray electorate.
“The result of this is a £25,000 by-election bill to Moray Council and huge frustration for voters who are being asked to go to the polls to elect a councillor just after they thought they had done that.”
Moray’s Labour group yesterday called for its Tory and SNP counterparts to abstain from contesting the by-election caused by Mr Cooper’s sudden departure.
Labour staff say they have analysed the results of last Friday’s council elections, and deduced that Nick Taylor would have won a seat had Mr Cooper withdrawn from the race ahead of polling day.
The group has now called on the area’s other parties to “recognise that Nick Taylor was robbed of a seat by a dishonest campaign”, and to not oppose him in the upcoming by-election.
But last night, the SNP and Conservative groups confirmed that they would both seek to claim Mr Cooper’s vacated seat.
Nine SNP and eight Tory councillors were elected last week, and both are now trying to entice some of the council’s seven Independents into forming a coalition to run the authority.
Tory leader James Allan, said: “I have some sympathy for Labour, but the Conservatives polled very highly in Elgin City North and we see this as a strong opportunity to gain another seat.
“I’m annoyed at what has happened on behalf of the council staff who have worked so hard on last week’s election, and are now faced with arranging a by-election.”
The SNP’s co-leader Graham Leadbitter argued that Mr Cooper’s victory had in fact cost Nationalist Patsy Gowans her place on the council.
And he confirmed that his group would “contest to win” the vote sparked by Mr Cooper’s resignation.
Mr Leadbitter said: “Sandy Cooper’s election blocked well-respected local SNP representative, Patsy Gowans, from continuing her hard work on Moray Council.
“That he should resign within only days means there will need to be an unavoidable by-election, which the SNP will contest to win.”
