The 'B' word - and the elephant in the room
The Mayor and his 'extemporaneous interviews'
It started in a remote Otago pub, and has led to an investigation, apologies, statements and now the resignation of the deputy mayor.
And it is not over, far from it.
You would have seen my newsletter last night about Cr Barker’s resignation.
That led to me racing from my morning police briefing (another sad tale of youths causing issues after stealing booze), to get to the Dunedin City Council’s Community Services Committee meeting at the DPAG on Wednesday.
I got there five minutes before the 10am start, had some interesting chats with a few councillors, and almost got a half smile from Cr Lee Vandervis. Almost.
It was nice to be at a council meeting again. I’ve been guilty of watching too many of them online, via YouTube.
But like most things in life, you can’t beat being there in person
Obviously the meeting was conspicuous by the absence of Cr Sophie Barker, who until yesterday was the Deputy Mayor of Dunedin.
An hour into the meeting, chair Marie Laufiso (who runs a good meeting) moved that Cr Barker be excused from the meeting. Noted.
A high point was Cr Mayhem-Bullock adding that she was now a property owner, with that to be added to the declaration of interest. That’s to avoid any clashes when potential conflict arises.
But I digress.
I’m going to give some free PR advice, it is not rocket science, it is bloody obvious. But for a certain sector of our society, middle-aged white dudes (I am in this bracket), it is a very hard thing to do.
So what is it? It is saying ‘sorry’, not just for the offense you have caused, but because you mean it.
That was lacking in the Barry Williams scandal. It was missing when Mayor Jules Radich minimised the community board chair’s appalling comment, which he knew, in an ill-advised interview on RNZ.
And I say ‘ill-advised’ because I understand he effectively acted rogue on this, by agreeing to do an RNZ interview despite council saying it would not comment further on the Williams’ affair.
This is touched on in the statement from Barker, when she wrote “extemporaneous interviews”:
“It is hard to imagine that these have not undermined the integrity of the council,” she wrote.
She has a point. The mayor has had a couple of interviews on RNZ where his comments have later been walked back, with the Williams’ example being the latest.
Those around the mayor should probably tell him not to do live interviews. Maybe not ever, but at least for a while. Interviews can go south very quickly. If you want an example of this, please watch Jack Tame’s excellent interview with Christopher Luxon:
This is also great: Tova O’Brien with Chris Hipkins.
As an aside, Hipkins is in Dunedin on Wednesday. Dunedin is viewed as a Labour stronghold and he desperately needs a bump in the polls.
Eat a dozen cheeserolls and then smash a goon on Castle St, that’s my free PR advice.
Back to council.
So with Barker not at the meeting, where do things proceed from here?
Well, council is expecting to issue a statement this afternoon. This may be an acknowledgment of Barker resigning, an indication of her replacement, and perhaps a nod to the Code of Conduct. Maybe all three!
Another development will be at the meeting of the Strath Taieri Community Board in Hyde on Thursday.
Obviously I’ll be interested in how Williams handles the matter.
This is obviously also a blow for Radich, who reached across the political divide to announce Barker as his deputy mayor, that way keeping the highest polling candidate nice and close. But that relationship is all but over, and while he has the numbers on council, that will be far more eyes on him for the rest of the term.
I should mention that the council meeting had some interesting discussion on live music, theatre spaces, public art, and housing.
I wrote this piece about the live music scene, this sounds really promising.
I’m not sure if you read Dudley Benson’s post on the court releasing the full list of the 89 people who wrote letters of support for James Wallace, who, when he asked for that support, had already been found guilty of sexually assaulting three men.
That list included a few names you will recognise, you can read that here.
The Otago Regional Council sent a statement about its management plan to protect the upper Taieri River’s unique scroll plain. This is about protecting those important wetlands from the likes of grazing cattle. I was particularly taken with the supplied pictures.
My eldest son is due to start studying geography as one of his chosen subjects, and I can’t wait to bore him with my extensive knowledge of oxbow lakes.
Anyway, you can read more about that here:
If you know where the below was taken (not Greece, not Italy), please let me know in the comments.
A bit rushed this week (I’m not doing the newsletter tomorrow), but I will leave you with song I’ve been playing on repeat. Play them loud.
And:
Great taste Mr Mish - my favourite band of all time. I once interviewed Dave Saunders for a school music project when he worked at Echo Records. Thats going back a few haircuts!
3Ds remain my favourote band of all time the Dust EP has some great B sides