Another one bites the dust

As the future prospects of one tyrannical egomaniac start to look somewhat short-term, we felt it an opportune time to publish this piece, contributed by a couple of Watchers who want to remain anonymous.

A look back, if you will, at the reign of one lunatic while the world breathes a sign of relief at the demise of another. Wouldn't it be ironic if what brought both of them to an end eventually was the use of gas? But we digress...

How To Build Your Own Fascist State
In 13 Easy Steps (and counting)

1. Choose a number of well meaning, completely inexperienced, not particularly bright people to run for council, convince them they must always vote with the group even if it might contravene their consciences and then support them with enough financial backing (ask Joan Street about this) and professional promotion to assure they are elected and feel indebted to you. It is helpful if these people do not have a long association with the community (self evident).


2. Take back your extra vote. (Minutes of Triennial Council Meeting 22 October, 2004)


3. Install your freshly elected neophytes in positions of power on key council committees. (Audit & Admin: Laws - Chair, McKinnon - Deputy Chair; Strategy: Taylor - Chair; Community: Pepperell - Chair; Economic: McKinnon - Chair, Wills - Deputy Chair; Hearings: Hughes – Chair were the first ones to hold these positions this term) They will turn to you for advice about pretty well everything that comes up. Hey presto, you control the committees! Juggle the membership of the committees around. (3 times in the 24 months so far) This will keep any fast learners from being too effective and let them know that they have to keep following orders to keep their perks. If something awkward and newsworthy, like the 'Osama Bin Loggin' business happens, barge right in and take over. (Randhir Dahya was Environment Committee Chair at that time and was completely cut out of the loop when headlines became a possibility) NB: The importance of marginalising independent councillors with knowledge specific and useful to committees can’t be overemphasised – keep them away from positions where they can be effective.


4. Change the way council minutes are recorded so they focus on resolutions rather than debate. (Chron meeting report 7/12/04 Sean Hoskins)


5. Disregard due process. It is amazing how frequently and easily you can get away with this if the majority of councillors around the table don’t know how local government is supposed to run. (COC, Representation Review)


6. Gain control of the media by whatever means is necessary. Flattery, bribery and bullying all work well, separately and in various combinations (the method is surmise, whilst the control is self-evident).


7. Use the media to ridicule and abuse anyone who opposes you (too many to list, just grab a recent handful).


8. Steamroll over any dissension around the council table. (Quote from November 25, 2005 Admin & Finance Committee meeting re concern about public’s lack of information on growing debt servicing costs, raised by Westwood and Bullock: "They are not for discussion now, they are not for discussion next month, they are not for discussion next year".)


9. Use referenda to lull people into thinking they are participating in the decision making process. Select issues (a) which will create division and acrimony within the community (e.g. fluoridation and spelling of the city's name) – this will weaken potential coalitions which might be an effective opposition and might have the bonus effect of attention by the media if enough dissent is created; (b) are subtle and/or complex and depend very much on point of view (e.g. abolition of urban & rural wards); and (c) have great populist appeal (e.g. Splash Centre, riverside development). NB: Be very optimistic about the costs of these projects – you can always ratchet up the numbers after the suckers have ticked the boxes. It is extremely important when using this process to keep information about the issues to an absolute minimum and as vague as possible (such as information on reducing councillor numbers in the last referendum glossy).


10. Clear the decks of any council officers knowledgeable enough to work around you. These people will recognise that the changes you instigate are funneling power away from the electors and into fewer hands, so get rid of them. The more competent they are, the greater stumbling block they represent (Kevin Ross & Keith Hindson (demoted) are the only remaining originals).


11. Snatch decisions which have considerable significance to the community away from council by declaring them 'management issues' (Wanganui Inc. and Queen’s Park).


12. Pay careful attention to the calendar and clock. Scheduling of events, timing of meetings and rearranging the order in which issues come up at meetings, or whipping items off or on to meeting agendas can be powerful tools to help achieve the results you want (e.g. the timing of the by-election, various canceled and rescheduled meetings, the councillor numbers debate)


13. Use the word 'efficiency' to justify all of the above.

We have not added step 14, which would be "Reduce the number of Councillors", even though Dotty has listed it among Vision's 20 miracles. You never know, they might not get to do that.

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