The official watchdog shredded West Dunbartonshire Council for poor management, and Labour Party headquarters purged its members over recent months.
Now, Labour's answer to its troubles in West Dunbartonshire Council is to put up a member of the exclusive club of Leading Women Enterpreneurs of the World for election on May 3, in the hope that her skills can help turn around the political and social problems in one of the most deprived parts of Scotland.
Ann Rushforth grew up in Haldane, near Balloch, where she is standing for a council seat. She intends to remain in control at the headquar- ters of her business on the banks of the Clyde at Old Kilpatrick, despite the challenge of merging her £11m turnover business with another company.
But there's a catch. Her business is in one of the more controversial areas of private provision for public services, providing up to 1000 agency nurses per week to hospitals, care homes and prisons.
Labour has previously pledged to stop the use of agency nurses, believing the profits being made by the agencies were a drain on NHS finances.
Mrs Rushforth, a nurse who set up ScotNursing 20 years ago, argues the sector has been much misunderstood.
She has sought to work with the NHS through contracts, providing a route into part-time and flexible work for nurses who would not want to go full-time or into a staff job.
But that has not stopped her opponents claiming a conflict of interest. SNP group leader Craig McLaughlin asked why a multi-millionaire would want to be a £15,000 a year councillor. "Labour is trying to pull in some big guns from outside to salvage its poor reputation in the area," he added.
Mrs Rushforth said she had contracts with most councils in Scotland, adding: "If there was any conflict of interest, I would just step back from having anything to do with a decision."
The 48-year-old mother-of-three, who is married to a rail industry executive, has been a Labour Party member in East Dunbartonshire for more than 10 years. "I've always thought I would like to be more involved in politics," she says. "This is earlier than I'd planned, but because we've had issues in West Dunbartonshire, this was the time to step forward."
That does not extend to parliamentary politics yet: "If people feel what I have to contribute is what they want, that may be something for the future, but for now, my commitment is West Dunbartonshire, and the first thing is to get elected."
Mrs Rushworth denies knowing much about the internal party warfare that saw the West Dunbartonshire group split.
"I was not involved in the detail of what happened, but for a party that can run the country effectively, we must be able to run councils effectively and fairly."
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