Tag: Property

Boris Johnson has been accused of “an over-casual attitude towards obeying the rules of the house” after a Commons standards watchdog found he had failed to declare his share of a property in Somerset on time. The Commons standards committee said the former foreign secretary had breached rules by failing to declare a financial interest within the required time limit. The committee dismissed Johnson’s claim that he had not fully understood the rules. The committee said this offence followed a previous failure to register a financial interest. “The committee noted with concern that two investigations by the commissioner in rapid succession demonstrate a pattern of behaviour by Mr Johnson which reinforces their previous view that he had displayed an over-casual attitude towards obeying the rules of the house,” the ruling found. “Although Mr Johnson argued that the house’s rules were confusing, the committee concluded that the problem lay not with the relevant rules, which they consider to be clear, but with Mr Johnson’s failure to consult the guide to the rules. He has apologised for the breach. The ruling follows an earlier warning from the watchdog after Johnson was found to have failed to declare almost £53,000 of earnings before the 28-day deadline. Johnson apologised in the House of Commons for the breach. Last year, Johnson was also found to have broken rules that prevent former cabinet ministers taking up new jobs for three months after leaving office, by signing up for his £275,000-a-year Daily Telegraph column.

Pursuing a rare opportunity, Madison may soon spend $5.5 million to buy 3.65 acres of shoreline property on Lake Monona next to Olin Park. Ald. Allen Arntsen, 13th District, who represents the site, two other council members and Mayor Paul Soglin on Tuesday will introduce a resolution to purchase properties at 330 and 342 E. Lakeside St. from the Wisconsin Medical Society. The property is currently improved, with a two-story, 41,026-square-foot office building and a surface parking lot. “The acquisition of lakefront property by the city is rare,” parks superintendent Eric Knepp said. “The Parks Division has successfully acquired a few individual lots of lakefront property to expand existing parks in the past decade — Merrill Springs and Esther Beach Parks — but it is very uncommon to have a 3.65-acre acquisition on the lake adjacent to an existing park. The city has long eyed the property as an addition to its parkland holdings and has held a first right of refusal to buy it since 1996, when the city purchased adjacent land from the medical society. The society contacted the city to discuss its interest, and the sides have been negotiating for the past few months, Knepp said. The medical society acquired the property in 1955 and began construction on an initial structure there that year with additions in the late 1960s and 1990s, said Dr. The medical society has long envisioned following its initial sale to the city decades ago with a sale of its headquarters property to the city for more parkland, and now that the building is far larger than the society’s needs, it’s time to make the transaction, Chumbley said.