Take a spoonful of sleaze & call the doctor in the morning

Shocking as they are, the revelations reported in the Chron(ic) and DomPost about the sordid goings-on and contempt for employment law shown by CEO Dr David Warburton following the firing last year of Wanganui District Council’s community development manager, it will have come as no surprise to Watchers who remember LawsWatch’s revelations about the then newly-appointed CEO. (NB:For the benefit of those who foolishly rely on the Chron(ic) for their information, we hear that after pouring good ratepayers’ money after bad at the Wellington lawyers running the case, the good doctor made an acceptable offer at the end of a torrid two-day hearing to settle the case.)

On Friday, September 9, 2005, this blog reported that the good doctor’s Kaitaia timber company Tanner Group had recently lost an Employment Relations Act case in which it was alleged to have "threaten[ed the] applicant with disciplinary action over [a] term of employment that had not been directly and expressly negotiated and [the] contents of which remained uncertain between parties".

“Hopefully”, we told Watchers with amazing percipacity at the time, “Council staff have dotted the i's and crossed the t's in their employment contracts”.

We also noted that Dr Warburton’s list of achievements included the fact he was also a director of Fibrecraft Industries, placed in liquidation in Wanganui High Court on 2 June 2004 on petition of Nuplex Industries. Interestingly, Warburton’s fellow director in the failed fibreglass venture, Bruce Nicholson, was installed as a director of Wanganui Inc, about the same time as Mayor Michael Laws, deputy Dot McKinnon and the rest of the capitalist raiders were finding their new CEO (and we all know what happened with WINC, don’t we).

Meanwhile, back in Kaitaia in 2005, according to MP Sue Bradford, “in (Warburton’s timber company) TGL ... we have a company that has obviously kept its workers in the dark for some time and has then attempted to make itself look good by offering a fig leaf of consultation."

Welcome to the world of Dr David Warburton, whose contempt for employment law obviously was not left at the door to 101 Guyton St. As for his pretence of recognising the fundamental provisions of the Local Government Act 2002 -- “I will need to learn to work within the constraints of the Local Government Act,” he said at the time of his appointment – the DomPost coverage of last week's Employment Relations Authority hearing revealed he may have missed the bit about the CEO – not the mayor – being responsible for hiring and firing staff.

As commenters have pointed out, Sally Patrick hasn’t exactly covered herself in glory since taking her seat at the right-hand of Warburton and Laws, and it was no surprise to experienced Watchers to see her name on the roll of shame of the “anonymous” Greek chorus of letter writers eventually outed by Warburton and listed on the Chron(ic)'s front page. There she is, with the Spin Fairy's former squeeze Julian Rewiti, the impeccably pedigreed Stephanie Rose and non-entity Jill Jones.

Another area of CEO responsibility for political neutrality that seems to have escaped Dr Warburton’s notice has become glaringly apparent in the first week of what the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) calls “the pre-election period”, ie the three months leading up to the October 13th election. According to the LawsWatch calendar, that started July 13th -- but you wouldn’t know it from the likes of Philippa Baker-Hogan who commandeered the ratepayer-funded Councillor Comment advert in the July 18th MidWeek, and on the WDC website, for a fevered bout of electioneering.

Like many “watchdog” provisions, the OAG’s Communications Guidelines are the sort of toothless tigers that Mayor Mickey, his Visionaries and their pet CEO routinely treat with utter contempt. But it’s safe to assume the OAG is keen to hear about blatant flouting like we’re already seeing, and no doubt will be seeing much more of ,in the next 12 weeks. You can read the full Guidelines here

You can find contact details for the OAG here if, like us, you find it hard to see why Warburton thinks he can continue to turn a blind eye to Vision’s contempt for clauses like these in the OAG’s guidelines:

Principle 12: Communication of a Member’s personal views or opinions using Council resources is unacceptable during a pre-election period.

Principle 13: A Council’s policy should also recognise the risk that communications by or about Members, whether in their capacities as spokespersons for Council or otherwise, during a pre-election period could result in the Member achieving electoral advantage at ratepayers’ expense. The Chief Executive Officer (or his delegate) should actively manage the risk in accordance with the relevant electoral law.

Principle 14: The use of Council resources (including stationery and internet, e-mail and telephone Communication facilities) for re-election purposes is unacceptable.

The princess & the plonker: a Grim tale

Gather round, Watchers, for a story by the Brothers Grimly.

Once upon a time there was a far-away place by the river with lots of lovely old buildings. On the top of the hill in the middle of the town lived a beautiful princess who had so many books she kept running out of room for them.

Next door to her were some people who lived in a very beautiful old building. They loved paintings and because they were such nice people they were given lots of lovely paintings and they tried very had to look after them but they didn’t have enough room, either.

Down at the bottom of the hill were two more big buildings. One had lots and lots of very old stuff in it and the people who lived there also tried to take good care of their old stuff, but they too had run out of room. Nearby was yet another building where the townspeople liked to gather to make merry fun. Like the other three buildings, this one looked very sad and dirty where once it had gleamed a brilliant white.

“Oh dear,” said the beautiful princess. “What is to be done? I simply must get some more space for all my lovely books but I have no money and those people next door with all those paintings are going to get lots of money so they can make their building bigger and more beautiful while I get none.”

She sighed as she slowly stirred her coffee. A tear trickled down her cheek and dropped into the cup. “If only a handsome prince would come and build me a new palace for my books, I’d be so happy,” she thought.

A sudden gust of cold air rushed into the room and people at the other tables screamed and rushed for the door. A strange little man appeared before her. “One day soon I will be the mayor,” he said, “and because you are such a beautiful princess I will make you the Queen of the Park.”

The princess couldn’t believe her eyes. The scrawny little man was ugly and unshaven, with bright black paint around his eyes. “But how can you be the mayor?” she asked. “You look just like the troll that lives in the bushes on the hill.”

“Just shut up and listen to me, lady, or you’ll be sorry,” snapped the strange little man. “I’ll make your dreams come true. You’ll be Queen of the Park and everyone will have to bow when you pass. But most importantly, I will give you all the gold and silver you need to build a glittering palace for all your books.”

“Oh thank you, mayor,” said the grateful princess. “Just tell me what I have to do and I’ll do it.” She grabbed a pen and a paper napkin and drew a picture of a glittering palace. She showed it to the mayor, who said, “Sure honey, you can have one just like that but first you’ll have to do lots of things for me that will make the peasants hate you.”

The princess grasped the mayor’s knarled and twisted hand. “Oh sire, I’ll do whatever you say.” But then her dream turned into a nightmare. She toiled from morning to night doing whatever the mayor told her and every day she felt the wrath of the people. But she was steadfast and never wavered in her devotion, even when the people laughed and jeered at her and made fun of her plans for the glittering palace.

But worse was to come. The mayor grew tired of her and their glittering palace plans. “Forget it, Princess,” he said with a cruel twist of his ugly mouth. “You and your books are so yesterday. Lady Philippa’s hot, baby, and you’re not. The peasants don’t care about books or art or old stuff. I’ve wasted $250,000 on you and you’re not getting another penny. I’m going to bury your silly palace plans and weave my magic spin for Lady P’s velodrome.” With that he hitched up his green lycra shorts and rushed towards the door.

Suddenly, the princess woke. She had fallen asleep amid her books and she realised the whole thing had been a nightmare.

New Projects Referendum – 2008:

The most far-reaching decision is that the 'Heart of Wanganui' project – and its constituent parts – will go to district-wide referendum in February/March next year. But the projects will compete against other intended capital works to determine their public and funding priority. Those other projects include the Events Centre/Velodrome and the redevelopment of Kowhai Park.

We salute you, Mickey!

As the NZ Listener pointed out last week, its latest Readers’ poll shockingly showed Sir Edmund Hillary to be the most admired New Zealander. This, observed Listener hack Denis Welch, was …

“Another setback in Michael Laws’s campaign to get his face on the $5 bill.”

Here at the Cave, Watchers’ hearts went out to Murray Hughes’s very own hero. What a cruel blow, especially in a week when that very campaign reached a pinnacle (or nadir) of sorts with Mickey’s desperate attempt to convert the awarding of a VC to a New Zealand soldier from Somewhere-other-than-Wanganui into a Michael Laws feature story.

So sad. So desperate. So very very Mickey. So in the spirit of recognising true heroism and humility for what it is, LawsWatch has given Mickey his place in history and put this real Kiwi hero on our Five Dollar Bill. In doing so we right the wrong perpetrated by whichever government flunkeys made the foolish mistake of selecting Ed Hillary when, as Cr Murray Hughes would enthusiastically proclaim, Wanganui has its very own hero.

COMMENTS OF THE WEEK

Michael Laws’ shameless attempt to muscle in on the VC limelight prompted a spate of send-up stories from LawsWatch resident wits who posited that naturally, Taranaki’s tornado headlines must have been hard to resist by the talkback mayor who sees opportunities for self-promotion in the most unlikely places. A sample of winning comments by our anonymii:

"Wanganui needs to have a tornado or two of its own, Mayor Michael Laws said tonight.

AND

Mayor Laws said Council would take action to ban tornados from the CBD. "They are urban terrorists. The previous Council's attitude to tornados was to pretend they didn't exist. They misled Wanganui and this new report from Larry Mitchell will show that they in fact covered up hundreds of tornados. Not this mayor."

STOPPRESS:

Word from Guyton St is that they've lost their nerve about putting the Heart of Wanganui out to referendum in conjunction with the October election and they're retreating to Feb-March 2008. After almost three years of shambolic spending and mayoral meddling the stark political reality is that not even SpinMeister Laws and his tame Guyton St spin machine could turn that turkey into a vote winner.