Bemoaning the "moaners"

Displaying the sort of nonsensical syllogism which only Mickey can spew forth (bad parents harm their children; some Maori harm their children; therefore Maori are bad parents), his latest free election advertisement column in the Chron targets people who "moan". Indeed, such is his disapproval of such people that he spends well over 500 words... well, moaning about them.

The particular syllogism of this column runs: many people oppose me; some of those who do have a tendency to moan; therefore anyone who opposes me must be a "moaner". To support this argument he draws on opinion pieces evidently written by former Mayor Chas Poynter and former MP (and chairman of the council's economic development committee) the late John Lithgow.

Both men chastised the "moaners, groaners and whiners" who criticise every new council initiative - and want to keep Wanganui in a developmental straitjacket. They considered that there was a "negative element" in the city who never saw any good in anything. They were right.

He doesn't, of course, offer the thinnest shred of evidence that either man held such opinions: we have to take his word for it. And the phrase "moaners, groaners and whiners" is wrapped in quotes but not attributed to anyone in particular. Which wouldn't be a huge problem, except that he devotes some of the rest of his space to moaning about people who make statements but "offer not a skerrick of evidence". But that only applies, of course, to people who disagree with the Mayor.

Wanganui does possess a "chip on the shoulder" brigade who can't conceive that the district can ever prosper without their direct imprimatur or involvement... They tend to express this irritation through... nonsensical submissions to annual or long-term plans. If one was to distil their advice into a phrase, then it would be this: don't do anything unless I, personally, can gain a direct benefit.

Again, not a skerrick of evidence to support this remarkable assertion. Certainly not on the Council website LTCCP section, the most obvious place to make them available, where it would have been a simple matter to compile the submissions received. After all, they've had since 12 May. Just how many of the submissions were "nonsensical"? Why? And most importantly, how many failed to declare some conflict of interest, admitting that if their submission was accepted, they would "gain a direct benefit"?

So we have the Mayor of Wanganui alleging that an unspecified proportion of those citizens who made a submission to the Annual and LTCC Plans were fruitcakes and/or crooks. But not a skerrick of evidence - this too we are expected to take entirely on trust.

Then there are the heated imaginings of some letter writers that council has a secret plan to sell Wanganui Gas. Unlike most conspiracy theorists, they offer not a skerrick of evidence. Nor even the shadow. If we were going to sell it, we would have put it in our 10-Year Plan to be formally adopted this week. We haven't... It is currently a good investment. It is staying a ratepayer-owned asset. End of story.

We're meant to have confidence that an asset won't be sold by a Council which recently "found" additional surplus properties which were, in fact, for sale but weren't on the register. Okay... make a note, Watchers. That's as close to an unequivocal assertion from Mickey as you're ever likely to see. But given that if the Splash Centre budget looked any more pear shaped it'd be in an Alison Holst recipe book, start deconstructing that "promise" for loopholes now, just in case.

On to a predictable but somewhat unwise spray at Rosemary Hovey, which we won't repeat here as the whole business is likely to end up in messy litigation and we're running low on rupees here at the Cave. But then this...

...it didn't stop a former councillor coming out in support. Who would not have had a clue as to the redundancy process at council, nor the individual case.

So former Community Committee chair Vivien Eyers burst forth with a statement to the Chron without knowing even the basic facts of the Hovey case? She never discussed the circumstances of Hovey's redundancy with the person concerned, let alone read any of the many public statements made by the CEO, Cr Higgie and others putting the Council's point of view before offering an opinion? Then either she is incredibly stupid, or the Mayor of Wanganui has just made a baseless accusation of stupidity against a former councillor without a skerrick of evidence. We know which option we're backing.

Little wonder then that I smiled in empathy at the comments of Chas Poynter and John Lithgow. And a few other councillors sitting around our table would have done so as well.

We're sure Michael Laws was smirking - after all, that and a scowl is pretty much his full range of facial expression. But as for Dotty, Muzza, Nicki and the rest: someone should tell the Diva the difference between a smile and an idiot grin.

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