Well, if we ain’t Elmer (be)Fuddled
Outpourings from the mouths and keyboards of our beloved leaders over the last few days had Watchers reaching for their almanacs to see if it was full moon. Yesterday’s Council Comment piece by Deputy Malaprop under the heading Bringing the community closer seems to confirm that something at the council is barking, and it’s not just at the dog pound.
Deputy Dotty, Watchers will recall, set herself up as leading candidate for the Mrs Malaprop title last month when she delivered an own-knockout blow by telling us that Wanganui had received a brickbat (which) was that for a regional city of 45,000 people, we are 'punching above our weight'."
Not to be outdone by herself, Dotty this week has used the Council Comment banner in the dear old River City dePress to share her profound ignorance of … well, just about everything.
At the time her boss was declaiming about that dead old Middle Eastern despot King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia at the last council meeting, Dotty apparently was "giggling like 14-year-old schoolgirl" because she found such great "mirth in a word". The "word" in Dotty’s case was Professor Phard", she tells us in RCP.
She manages to slag off or otherwise offend most non-Vision councillors as she makes her way to the sign-off paragraph in which she entreats us to "Laugh at yourself this week. If you don’t, someone else will!"
Well, Dotty, we don’t know whether to laugh or cry though it is certain the councillors you mentioned in this piece of juvenile trash are not in the least amused. We do understand however that you are merely following you boss’s lead in going out of your way to prove just how daft were his post-retreat claims of a united council. While it might be good for your boss's celebrity profile, trying to make long-serving councillors like Bullock, Westwood, Dahya and Stevens look foolish is bad politics and we can hear the sound of further nails being hammered into your political coffin.
But it was a week, after all, when you boss was strutting the stage at the Fed Farmers conference entertaining them with his oft-repeated view of councillors just like you:
"No other sector of New Zealand society as 'loony' as local government. Every personality disorder represented, and attracts crazies to its fringes like cowpats attract blowflies. Some even get elected."Comments on this post are now closed.
37 comments:
This stuff from Dot is rather sad because before she fell under the Laws spell many people in town, and especially in business, had a modicum of respect for the community work she'd done, her business achievements and her personal achievements.
There's not much of that respect left now.
The mayor made it obvious how little HE respects her with the way he handled the diVision sign business.
I wonder why Dotty's Disaster hasn't appeared on the Council website yet. Surely if Mickey can say what he likes about citizens and Councillors, Dotty should be awarded the same priviledge. Or does she have to be watched constantly so that she doesn't mess herself?
I thought the spin fairy was supposed to be vetting the published writings of people like this.
At the very least, there must be some sort of automated online stupidity checker they could run this stuff through.
I doubt that Dotty was laughing her way through the River Queen secret meeting last week.
They kicked the public out on grounds of commercial sensitivity but it seems to have more to do with political sensitity.
Lighten up - Dot is allowed to have a bit of fun with her column.
The mayor is right about the loonies - look at all those Code of Conduct complainers. They were hardly normal! Paul Holmes had a field day with them.
How's Lisa Talbot's privacy complaint going? I've heard that she is complaining about her official info request being made available to the Chron.
Yes, the Code Complainants. A Doctor, a businesswoman, a self-employed designer, two local characters...nothing normal about that lot at all. And I suppose you consider yourself a paragon of normalcy, anon.
A psychiatrist who was let go by the DHB, an obsessive stalker, an unemployed 'artist' and two idiots - yep they were normal all right.
Not to mention the lord high loonie of them all, a man obsessed with cleanliness yet possessed of a potty mouth, so terrified of germs that he can't shake hands. Mr. Ego himself, Brian.
who's the unemployed artist? Are you projecting your fantasies on Matt Dutton again?
Paul Holmes had a field day with YOU,celebrity Mickey.
It's touching to see Michael defending his deputy so effectively .... by slagging off anyone he can think of.
Calm down Matty. Get a job.
I;m not ML and I described Kuten as a broken down psych because we saw him in the DHB and he was a disaster. Everyone knows Matt Dutton doesnt have a job.
troll
Matt Dutton is self-employed, you moron. He's been self-employed for the last 12 years. Haven't you ever wondered how he can afford all the art he buys?
An honest troll though :)
Matt doesn't buy art - he retails some crap from his mates.
This is great fiction, keep going.
Were the Code of Conduct people strange? Definitely - they were a mass of anger and Laws milked them for all the publicity he could get. Then they lost.
The ones who lost were Dotty and the dwarves - they lost all their meagre credibility, and now the chickens are coming home to roost.
Tell us how much you earn a year, Matty. And how much welfare you've had over the past 12 years.
I had a grant to start up the business in 1992, since then I've never claimed a cent in welfare. My income is my concern, but I do pretty well.
If you want any more info - make an appointment.
good on you ,matt
Laws said it all, really, when he explained to the farmers this week why Dotty got the most powerful committee chair:
Put your like-minded in key chairmanships ... Seniority and long service are no indication of talent.
ie her mind is the closest he could find to his.
Anyone read the NBR editorial today? Praise and more praise for the mayor. Any chance of posting it LW?
NBR? What's that?
National Business Review.
Editorial reads -
"The rule of Laws"
Not happy reading if you're a LawsWatch reader.
It’s sad to see NBR running a self-promotional press release and calling it an editorial but at least John Drinnan did his homework on the “low key” start of Radio Death Watch. He points out that six months post-launch it was rating below its predecessor Pacific which is now the preserve of racing.
A media company head said he was surprised at the woeful 2.3% national rating and had expected 4%. It also points out that not only did Laws’ outfit not touch Newstalk ZB but that Newstalk actual moved up 1.9 points “despite the arrival of a competitor”.
Oh, there’s more - Newstalk’s Leighton Smith was up 2.7 points against Michael Laws.
The NBR praises Michael Laws for his mayoralty and the Wanganui "revolution". That's why we elected him & he's doing a fantastic job. why don't you print it LawsWatch???
Anon should quote the WHOLE article in the NBR on the radio ratings especially the quote from Kath Wilson, managing director of media buying agency OMD who said
"Radio Live was still in start up mode and she had no concerns. It does not affect our thinking at all Talk stations take a long time to get going, and that was the case when Newstalk ZB started."
As another poster said who obviopusly understands radio you need to compare ratings after 2-3 periods and then make judgements.
The Mayor versus Black Power -
a piece in the NZ Herald today is illustrative.
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Gang out to protect its image
12.11.05
By Juliet Rowan and Simon O'Rourke
Black Power members were so keen to distance themselves from the abuse inflicted on a 2-year-old boy that they asked police holding two men charged with the crime if they could have their gang regalia back.
One of the men, Harley Mac Wharewera, 19, has begun a 10-year jail term for beating the boy daily for seven weeks.
His acts of cruelty included forcing him to eat dog faeces dipped in tomato sauce.
While police have no doubt the offenders have strong ties to the gang, Black Power president Mark Pitman contacted the Herald to say that Wharewera and his associate Kane Jeremy Tawa, 23, were nothing to do with it.
Mr Pitman said other gang leaders were furious Black Power was being implicated in the case. Certain behaviour was unacceptable to members, he said.
"In our national rules we don't condone any child abuse," he said.
However, Detective Jon McKenzie, of Whakatane police, said it was "utter bull" to suggest that Wharewera and Tawa were not affiliated to the gang.
"Those guys are clearly and strongly affiliated with the Mangu Kaha chapter of Black Power."
He said a pair of "senior Black Power" members had walked into the station this week and asked him to strip the two charged of the crime of all gang regalia. "They asked for their colours back."
Mr McKenzie said he obliged because it was a property ownership issue. "If a policeman loses his job he has to hand in his uniform."
The regalia included patched T-shirts sporting the gang's logo.
Mr McKenzie said the T-shirts were an integral part of the gang's regalia, and not just anybody could decide they wanted to wear it.
"If you came to my town and wore that [without authorisation], you'd get the bash," he said.
"If [Mr Pitman] wants to contact me directly I'll give him the names of the people who came in and saw me."
Mr Pitman suggested that police were making the incident up.
Mr McKenzie said the gang was trying to distance itself from a case in which its "culture of violence" had played an undeniable part.
"The behaviour that those two offenders inflicted on that little boy was learned behaviour from involvement in the gang," Mr McKenzie said. "Until New Zealand society is ... prepared to deal with the gang issue in a serious way, we'll continue to have these kind of incidents."
Judge Peter Rollo, in sentencing Wharewera on Wednesday, said there was "an element of gang culture" in slamming, tackling, whipping, kicking and humiliation of the boy.
Mr McKenzie said the case had affected him more severely than any other in his 17 years in the police force.
"Standing and looking at what was done to that little boy would break any person's heart."
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Black Power = Scum
anon "The NBR praises Michael Laws for .."
You mean Michael Laws praises Michael Laws - so what's new?
Can anybody tell us why Michael Laws spends so much time posting stuff on this blog when he has carte blanche to push his barrows and slag off critics on the Council's (ratepayers) Website?
I posted the NBR story and I'm not ML. You guys should get less paranoic. However I admit to being a supporter of what he and his council are doing and that stiffing you whingers is one of the entertainment options that we enjoy. So why not report the editorial, Lawswatch? Why are you afraid of the truth so much?
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