Sue has a dream but Whanganui has a nightmayor
Forty-two years ago, Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech ignited the passions of his 250,000-strong audience and acted as a wake-up for hundreds of millions more.
Today, in Committee Room 2 Cr Sue Pepperell presented her dream of a place where the “dominant” culture respects the culture and value of the earliest settlers. Where petty, ephemeral political posturing is denied the ability to wreck a gradual, hard-won progress towards the kind of community many like to think can thrive in Aotearoa.
Sadly, her impassioned plea to keep the Whanganui H debate off the referendumb fell on the mostly glazed, Diva-doped skulls of a majority of those who pose as "leaders" of this place. The black and white minstrel chorus of McGregor, Dahya, Lindsay, McKinnon, Stevens and Hughes found it convenient, even in the absence of the Diva, to ignore Cr Pepperell’s warning of the potential division ahead as Michael Laws pours his own brand of high octane fuel on the simmering embers of Moutoa Gardens.
Some classic quotes from Sue P: Putting H on the referendumb is "disingenuous"… "farcical"… "using democracy as a tool to marginalise Maori"... "we were not elected to just represent the majority, but the whole community"... "It was the mayor who proposed it and I’ve said to his face I think it was unnecessary and provocative to put it out there".
LawsWatch salutes Cr Pepperell and those who supported her in voting to keep the H off the tick-the-boxes farce – Crs Bullock, Westwood and Wills. To the rest, we hope you get a bad case of indigestion when you realise just how well you have served Laws’ second-year strategy of a racial donnybrook to rival Paikatore - guaranteed to land him on the 6pm headline news and to cause further scars that will still be healing long after he and his diVision mates and hangers-on have slunk off into political oblivion.
THE RIVER QUEEN jinx continued its merry run as Deputy Dot ordered a command preview for councillors. A feisty laptop ignored Fairy Godmother Jenna Lee’s attempts at technological superiority. Sensing Miss Lee’s growing frustration, Cr Ray Stevens offered some helpful advice: You can always throw it out the window – it’s been done before. Now, what can he have been talking about, we wonder.
REFERENDUMB chickens are coming home to roost in Visionville. A suggestion that proceeds from selling "non performing assets" be used to cover a $110,000 shortfall in funding for the proposed riverbank walkway development got shot down in flames with Crs Bullock and Westwood leading the charge. As they pointed out, the Diva's generous promise to flog off assets to fund any damn thing that won enough ticks on the referendumb is just a load of pie in the sky. That swimming pool oughta have first call on any ready cash, said Cr Bullock. And Cr Westwood laid it on the line: "assets" may have more value than the ready cash this Flog It! mayor is chasing. So, it’s back to the drawing board for the riverbank funding and hopefully a lesson chalked up for the non-thinking members of the Vision caucus.
Update (7.10 pm Friday): If anyone would like a copy of Sue Pepperell's speech notes, please email us at lawswatch-at-hotmail-dot-com and we'd be happy to forward you a copy.
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24 comments:
Thanks for this guys. Meanwhile, on page 2 of the Chron:
"...he [ML] was less than happy [when the Chron. questioned him over his absence from the retreat]...
"Mr. Laws then refused to comment unless the Chronicle named the tipster on his non-attendance.
When the Chron. refused, he commented anyway..."
Then he slagged off councillors for...you guessed it...non attendance. What a hypocrite.
Sue Pepperell for mayor. The Chron. front page confirms her remarks about getting in Michael's face. Go Sue, strong women make Lawsy very uncomfortable, as is normally the case with misogynists.
And who was it claiming that Rangi Wills is Visions Jim Anderton? More evidence that lawsmob are full of it.
One swallow does not a spring make and one vote by Rangi Wills on a Maori issue does not an independent free-thinking councillor make. He has been well rewarded with the baubles off office for his 99& pure diva-aligned voting record. This was merely a flash in the pan.
We've now seen Sue P stand up to the petty tyrant with her apology over the arts abuse, the community contracts debacle and now the H. That doesn't make her a Vision refusenik either. Let's not get carried away here. Laws will be applying his particular brand of persuasive poison and we've seen how able she is to get over these single-issue disappointments and vote with the mob when he's staring her down at the council table.
That's not to saw LawsWatch isn't right to applaud her stand on this one.
Hey, cool, I just realised it's laws-free Friday. Perhaps there'll be civilised debate in here today. There often is on Wednesdays.
Sounds like Dotty's organising some potential trouble at Castlecliff beach on Guy Fawkes. No cops there to police the liquor ban, Dotty says Council won't give koha to Maori wardens as usual...perhaps with the rates increase no-one will be a ble to afford booze.
Dotty.
"We've now seen Sue P stand up to the petty tyrant ...with the mob when he's staring her down at the council table."
There is also the possibility that she votes according to her principles. After all the problem with Michael is not that his policies are always wrong. The problem is the tactics he uses to support his position, the hypocrisy, the lies, the bullying.
As Kermit might have said:
It's not easy being principled
Hey Wastchers
Let's say neigh to Laws and Dotty and get behind the Bad Horse for Mayor and Courtney Place as deputy.
"Mr. Laws then refused to comment unless the Chronicle named the tipster on his non-attendance.
_________________________
His non attendance was posted on this site last week.
A very quiet week for council.
The Diva has only been in attendance for two half days this week. As I understand it he flitted off to Ozz yesterday. Then moans about other councillors non attendance. Oh well that's the Diva's grandstanding once again.
"Mr. Laws then refused to comment unless the Chronicle named the tipster"
Grandstanding Lawrence? I'd say he was looking for someone to abuse. This is why so many of us prefer to remain anonymous; it deprives Mickey of his favourite pastime.
Maybe Sue should just give in her notice, that really would get Laws attention as to how strongly she feels on this subject.
Sue should do no such thing. She wouldn't need to resign to publicly ditch Vision, but then since she isn't the one who has created Vision's negative image. Mickey is the one who should resign.
Get Laws' attention? I think SP has probably had enough "attention" from Laws to last her a lifetime.
No, I don't mean that sort of attention!
Hey LawsWatch you didn't mention Dotty's predictably embarrassing performance.
She had a dollar each way, rabbited on about how she respected "things Maori" but didn't want the H because "I don't like hearing Fonganui".
DOH!
What's Maori for dumbkopf, and does it have an H?
Fool - Hakawa
mabe that should be akawa, since that's no more a word in te reo Maori as Wanganui is.
What did Ray S. mean but that remark in council?
Watchers, please do not feed the troll ;-)
Sorry but I'm new to this site ...
Ask Ray. It's gossip.
Hey Michael, read this
Whanganui
Whanganui
Whanganui
Whanganui
Whanganui
so what are you going to do about it?
Anon said Ask Ray. It's gossip.
Actually fiction may be a better term, but when you wrote it it sounded good. After all while this site may be humerous, derogatory and an attempt to get under the skin of the Mayor - it isnt really about truth.
So newbies dont get confused and expect unbiased reporting of events.
Talking of which, the mayor has stated his preference over the H, but this is not necessarily Vision policy, where is the list of where Councillors stand on this at present. NOT did they vote for it in the referendum, but whether they support an H. Try and do something useful for a change and research.
Anon said Ask Ray. It's gossip.
No smoke without fire.
Yes smoke without fire. When has the truth ever stood in the way of a good rumour on this blog. A pack of losers sitting around making up bullshit stories.
When the cat's away ... even the Chron comes out to play.
On page 3, Dotty forgets that it's Vision policy to treat any reporter's inquiry about "sensitive" topids with contempt and says she'll have the offending diVision sign removed from Guyton St. Oh Dotty, there'll be tears before bedtime on that one.
Then on page 4 Terry Sarten has a bit of fun at the "prince's" expense on the retreat.
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