Saturday, June 09, 2007

Watch those stubborn stains


Watchers in the habit of scanning the Chronic’s headlines and quickly passing over anything carrying John Maslin’s byline may have mistaken today’s front-page screamer Banned and bankrupt: What council didn't know about branding man’

At the very least, they might have expected it to explain why the Mack Report was slipped onto the WDC website thirteen days earlier bearing the title: Council inquiry into allegations of improper influence.

They might have expected Senior Reporter Maslin to have included in his story the report’s excerpted email comments purportedly sent from Mr Mack to Chronic managers and editor, such as:

“We would like to see somewhat of a shift in editorial pertaining to Wanganui … We have a fundamental problem with the ‘Wanganui bashing’ that is so prevalent in your publication … for Energy Direct to be seen to support an entity that does not support their views on how Wanganui should be portrayed is not a viable option.”

AND

“As you could imagine, since the WDC is the primary stakeholder for this particular client, their opinions are rather weighted and carry some considerable clout. You must also agree that they do not hold your paper in a very good light, rightly or wrongly, that fact still remains the same and has a great deal of influence on media planning.”

But perhaps the dynamite implications of his own GM’s “allegations of improper influence” just weren’t sufficiently clear to Mas. And he clearly wasn’t able to grasp the extreme irony of omitting entirely the evidence of threats against his organ’s editorial independence. Instead, readers were treated to a SHOCK!! HORROR!! PROBE!! SPECIAL INVESTIGATION into the bankruptcy of Mr Mack – something that could be verified within seconds by anybody with an internet connection.

Meanwhile, back at this blog, a commenter fondly known as anonymickey gently reminded Watchers that ….

ahem: Wasn't it the mayor who actually made everything public?’

We couldn’t ourselves do better than another Watcher’s swift retort to little piece of mayoral dissembling so, Dear Readers, we’ll run the anonymous Watcher’s comments in full for your edification:

Read the front page again, fool! As always the Guyton St Gobbels you call the mayor did just enough to give himself an "alibi" by slipping the report onto the council website, without comment, knowing very well that the Chron had well and truly got the message about how Mickey and Mack expect them to treat any not-good-news stories about the regime.

That's in stark contrast to the way he makes other stuff "public" like broken toes, his views on gangs etc etc.

Surely if he really wanted to make it public and didn't want the Chron to feel compromised he could have ordered that it be published in full on Community Link, written to the paper summarising the report and providing a link to the website version.

Better still, he could have turned the whole thing into a lovely glossy brochure and delivered a copy to every household, perhaps with a simple "community survey" attached, ie:

1. Do you think this incident indicates the council is
a. incompetent or
b. corrupt or
c. both of the above

2. In view of your answer to the above who do you think should be sacked:
a. The CEO
b. Claire Cilliers
c. The entire council management
d. The entire remnants of WINC
e. The gas company chair
f. The entire gas company management
g. The mayor & deputy mayor
h. all of the above

And courtesy another of our anonymii:

David Mack's cak-handed and corrupt attempt to suborn the fourth estate and subvert democracy is a perfect metaphor for Vision Wanganui.

IN PASSING

1. We also wondered why the fearlessly independent and unintimidated Chronic ran acres of excitement about the Community Views survey without asking the question that has been on everyone else’s lips: ie How did new-boy survey company Perceptive get hired ahead of National Research Bureau, the firm that has done years worth of surveys for Wanganui and other New Zealand councils; and what are the implications of its survey questions mirroring those of NRB so closely that Perceptive (and Mickey) claims to be able to make valid comparisons between the 1003 and 2007 results.

2. We note the ‘comeback kid’ is back on the Council website with the start of his election campaign, ably supported by has-been Dotty’s very own effort at using ratepayer-funded resources for blatant electioneering. Poor Dr Dave - who’d be in his shoes when he has to explain to Mickey that his arse will be on the line with the Auditor General if such breaches of election rules continue.

65 comments:

Anonymous said...

C'mon Lawswatch, give Mas a bit of credit ... he did a lovely job of the car review.

Anonymous said...

I wonder how the Black Widow at WINC feels today after her best friend and the Mackagate affair have finally been outed.

Dr Dave (the real one) certainly doesnt have Arachnophobia, he is still besotted with her, but maybe the whips and chains are too hard to resist.

Anonymous said...

She at WINC should go.

Anonymous said...

Dr Dave (the real one) is still besotted with her
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Maybe not when he hears the rumours of her next case of undue influence that is floating around.

Anonymous said...

If the irony of the Chron apparently suppressing evidence of undue influence escapes Mas & Co, how about the irony of that old vote-splitter Randhir Dahya being appointed by the mayor (in a major ego-stroking exercise ie undue influence)to investigate the strange case of undue influence! Poor old Randhir, he may be too thick to know his arse from his elbow but Mickey sure does, and knows which end to stroke at the right times.

Anonymous said...

She's a bit of a bully, her and Laws were made for each other.

Anonymous said...

She's a bit of a bully, her and Laws were made for each other.

12:27 PM, June 10, 2007
___________________

Laws could care less about her. She is S-African isn't she. I heard she and the ML PA clashed.

Anonymous said...

Lawswatch Scoop
Black Widow Contacts List Released

Enemies:
1. The Tourism Sector
2. The Arty Farty Sector
3. Nigelwho.co.nz
4. The Glass Community
5. WDC/WINC staff

Friends:
1. David Mackagate
2. Dr David Death

Needed:
More Davids with big egos, and small weaners

Anonymous said...

Maybe not when he hears the rumours of her next case of undue influence that is floating around.

11:18 AM, June 10, 2007
------

Don't let us stop you. What is that about?

Anonymous said...

Mas must have his pay package toped up by his best mate Lawsie, why else would he prostitute himself? Come clean boys....

Anonymous said...

Isn't it rich that Mental Mickey is now blaming Alan Bollard for the interest rates blowout and trying to excuse his hand-picked financial wizards' failure to predict this blip ie compared to his constant hysteria and lies about forestry receipt forecast failures.

And even more ironic that he's blaming Bollard (and the wastewater project) for the consequences of his spend-and-borrow profligacy while neglecting to mention the real impact of his mad reign on council debt levels and exposure to interest rates.

But good old Mas just ran the bullshit mayoral press release so who cares.

Anonymous said...

She is S-African isn't she. I heard she and the ML PA clashed.

More ML B-S! So the biggest issues with Cilliers are:
1. She's not from Wairoa; and
2. She's not Ngaire's favourite person.

Go ML! As alwasy, you've onto it.

Anonymous said...

CAN THEY POSSIBLY BE RELATED?

Mickey makes the Museum pay for his extra-judicial killing:
“Confirming the reduced Museum budget by $60,000 to meet legal costs.” – Mayoral press release WDC website, June 10,2003

Saddam makes families pay for his extra-judicial killing:
“Naji Abbas headed out for a couple of hours one day in 1985 to buy some medicine and never returned. Thirteen months later, family members say, the police told them they could pick up his body at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. Abbas, who, according to relatives, was guilty of nothing more than being a Shiite Muslim in Sunni-ruled Iraq, had been tortured, an eye poked out, an arm broken and his chest burned with electrical wires. The regime of Saddam Hussein then delivered the clincher: Family members were asked to pay 30 dinars, a month’s wages, for the bullets that killed him.” – Los Angeles Times, April 11, 2003

Anonymous said...

1.7%!!!
Miracle workers

Anonymous said...

1.7%!!!
Miracle workers
?????

107% bullshit artists, more like!!!

Anonymous said...

So when might we expect the Chron bums to go back to John Maahi and pin him down on just what and why he said what he said to Mickey ... and just exactly why Mickey figured he was entitled to claim iwi endorsement as a result?

Oh that's right, the Chron doesn't do that stuff - they might just find themselves on the receiving end of a bit of undue influence from Mickey and his Minions!

Anonymous said...

Laws Watch posting from 12 May:

"But it’s been quite a roller coaster few weeks for Mickey, who doesn’t really need Competitive Edge, or even his favourite pollster Antoinette Beck, to tell him his honeymoon with long-suffering Wanganui is over."

What a shame LW you get everything so wrong. the independent council-commissoned poll says exactly the opposite. When you've stopped polling your few friends, why don't you find out what Wanganui really thinks, or are you scared at the conclusion?

Anonymous said...

... and the lowest rate increases in NZ. Why not champion John Martin and make it 3 out of 3??

Anonymous said...

anonymickey:
When you've stopped polling your few friends,

+++++
Now isn't that rich.

It’s not a case of LawsWatch polling a few friends but a case of Mickey and his pet council staff polling using a few friends of the resident amazon, by the sounds of it. All very Antoinette Beck, really. But who’s counting!

Anonymous said...

What a shame LW you get everything so wrong. the independent council-commissoned poll says exactly the opposite.

================================

Ya real independent! It also helps if you had asked the same questions!

Anonymous said...

Shameless member of the Headline Hunters gang brings Wanganui into disrepute again:

Mayor Laws will attend the press conference of Inspector McLeod at the Wanganui Police Station at 4pm today to express his support of the Police operations.

Anonymous said...

Pity Laws isn't consistent with his support for the police ... they can't stand him anyway. He know he will not get their votes.

Anonymous said...

The fact is: Laws is popular with Wanganui. Read the opinion poll and weep.

Anonymous said...

The fact is: Laws is popular with Wanganui. Read the opinion poll and weep.


No mate , we just laugh at you.

Anonymous said...

Interesting comment about the family connection with the "independent" pollsters ... isn't it strange that anonymickey (whoever he/she is) hasn't had any comment to make on that one! Cat got your tongue, mate?

Anonymous said...

You are right about the Chronicle, Lawswatch - they haven't even got the competence to update their website! How slack can this so-called newspaper get?

Anonymous said...

I find it interesting that Leonie's mates Perceptive managed to call not one but at least two Watchers.

If I were a corrupt liar like Michael Laws I'd have supplied those numbers myself.

The referendumb postal ballots give him enough data to tell them exactly who to call, in fact. I wonder how secure that information is.

But if they're operating in normal Laws style, they'll have simply made the figures up without polling anyone.

Anonymous said...

Interesting comment about the family connection with the "independent" pollsters ... isn't it strange that anonymickey (whoever he/she is) hasn't had any comment to make on that one! Cat got your tongue, mate?

7:57 PM, June 13, 2007

********************************

WHAT FAMILY CONNECTION? ANY PROOF?
No, I thought not.

Anonymous said...

Perceptive staff:

Chris Pescott
Joseph Corbett
Vinod Dewnani
Nick Niblett
Nimarta Bawa
Kanika Jain
Veena Kamble
Kevin McCafferey
Steve Corbett

Establish a connection if you can.

Quite a bit of info on their website.

If the allegation is that Regional Cuncillor Leonie is "mates" with one of them, well, hello, small world. Or perhaps Vision were told who to pick to replace National Research Bureau at one of their caucus meets. That's an awful lot of corruption to expect someone like thicky Nicki to conceal.

Anonymous said...

Lets get this right. There is NO family connection as proven by the anon @ 12.54 pm post but you will still tru & suggest one. M-o-r-o-n-s. Shit you guys keep losing - why not send Martin in for the slaughter too? Going to censor this post too, you fascists??

Anonymous said...

...thicky Nicki to conceal.
_________________________________

Perhaps, but then Laws' corrupt practices in Napier hinged around fraudulent opinion polls, suddenly WDC breaks with their formal practice of employing NRB while worthless Mickey just "happens" to be running the show, you can see why people would assume the whole thing was bent, wouldn't you?

Anonymous said...

"Thicky Nicki", if you mean Councillor Higgie, wouldn't have to conceal anything. It would be enough for Mickey and his people to groom Perceptive to win the contract.

Anonymous said...

There is NO family connection as proven by the anon @ 12.54 pm post
___________
This is just more bullshit by "PROVE IT" Mickey. 12.54 PROVES nothing except Mickey's bullshit proclivities.

.......
About us > Partners

Creo

Creo is a new communications firm formed from the merger of Presence and Blast Public Relations...

Creo's promise is communications strategy and implementation to fundamentally change perceptions and behaviour.
NOW DOESN'T THAT SOUND LIKE A CONNECTION TO ANTOINETTE LAWS!

Anonymous said...

Mickey's letter this morning seems to confirm that poor old Bob has been sidelined but just can't help himself. diVision is definitely a one-man band, and that man is NOT Bob Walker.
In fact, it's a safe bet he doesn't even know who Mickey is shoulder tapping to be (his) candidates.

Anonymous said...

New Poll for LawsWatch.

Can John Martin beat Michael Laws (if he stands)?

If John Martin were to win, would he be a Dick Hubbard and have to contend with a Vision majority around the council table?

Anonymous said...

So you think you guys have it tough.
The mayor of Hamilton resigns to become its CEO and now in Gore ...

Gore council resignations
16/06/2007 14:32:02


A storm has broken in the ranks of Gore District Council, with a group of councillors known as "the tight four" resigning en masse.


Earlier this year, the group presented Gore District Mayor Tracy Hicks a letter asking for details of the chief executive's contract and the Council's finances.


One of the councillors, Mary Ogg, says the mayor does not like people challenging his authority, does not allow minutes to be taken at meetings, and will not agree to decisions or resolutions being made.


Ms Ogg says it all came to a head last night, when the four were told to "shape up or ship out" - they took the option to ship out. She says she will not be re-considering her resignation.


Four of Gore's most high-profile councillors have thrown in the towel....blaming the town's mayor for their decision to quit en masse.


Mayor Tracy Hicks says he is not sure why the councillors have walked.


Ms Ogg, says the mayor's opposition to progress has led to clashes with far too many council staff, and more than 50 have left their council jobs in just the last few years.

Anonymous said...

Good letter from Rob V today on the truth about Mickey's debt-driven madness and hypocrisy. Wanganui gets more like Queensland every day under the mad mayor ... but Beattie is small fry compared to Mickey's real role model Joh. And anyone who's seen the gun toting Queensland cops hassling aborigines will know why Mickey wants the gang patch law.

Oh boy, we too can be a debt-ridden police state but at least they've got a decent climate as compensation.

Anonymous said...

Face it, the only books this mayor is going to open are comic books, ie Evil Mickey, the undead, psychotic killer wipublished by Chaos! Council Comics and Devil's Due Publishing.

Anonymous said...

"The Brand Rationale" taken from the WDC Logotype Style Guide.

"The design and message the new Wanganui brands reflect is derived from geopolitical, consumer, and census data. This data was used to paint a picture of our people, their likes, dislikes, goals and aspirations. It was also used to determine the direction they wish their home to take. This data, along with consultation, was the corner stone in creating the message the new brands will allow us to project to those who call Wanganui home, and those we wish to attract as either visitors or citizens.

The research has shown in no uncertain terms that the people of Wanganui are a traditional group. They believe in the rule of law, traditional values and a no fuss way of life. Our citizens also enjoy their home, they dislike change for change’s sake, yet would enjoy growth, as long as it does not change their chosen way of life. The new Wanganui brand has been designed to encompass these views, simple, specific and clean. Its modern styling enables the brand to hold true to the values of the people, without looking dated and tired..."

-----------------------------------------

Read between the lines and weep Wanganui. Our Council hired a conman, who sold our fair city back to them as a backwater, unintelligent, hick town! In turn they are selling this image to the world. It is a shame that the council didn't see this whole rebranding excersize as an opportunity to project Wanganui into a progressive and innovative new future, instead they decided that selling Wanganui as a retirement village was the best way to go...this council is braindead and ignorant. And this new brand is the kiss of death for Wanganui.

Anonymous said...

And this new brand is the kiss of death for Wanganui.

7:25 PM, June 19, 2007

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Let me pack your bags.
Off you go and live somewhere exciting, like Levin.

Anonymous said...

www.stuff.co.nz/4100941a11.html

Wanganui racist mayor's chickens coming home to roost.

Racism rules the heart of Vision Wanganui.

Anonymous said...

What's the point of having "young and fresh blood" around the Council table if they continue to promote Wanganui as an unsophisticated and parochial shit hole. Anyone can see that this new brand is indeed "cheap" and more to the point completely banal and dullsville.

Anonymous said...

Wanganui racist mayor's chickens coming home to roost.
********
It's just like the radio version of The Truman Show ... "Mickey's town" has become a live version of his radio talk show with all its racism and spin and lies.

Anonymous said...

Let me pack your bags.
Off you go and live somewhere exciting, like Levin.

8:30 PM, June 19, 2007
____________________________

It seems youv'e missed the point thicko at 8.30am, people aren't relocating to Levin are they? They are going to Wellington, Auckland etc. Vision councillors Sue P and GK Taylor can tell you all about that. If Wanganui had such great prospects under madman Laws, don't you think they would of stuck around to be part of the "Wanganui Renaissance"?

Anonymous said...

Anyone can see that this new brand is indeed "cheap" and more to the point completely banal and dullsville.

____________________________________

Well it certainly lacks "vision" doesn't it?

Anonymous said...

OK, the new brand isn't going to be to everybody's taste - that's the nature of design.

However, there are also some very basic pragmatic requirements regarding branding. For example, legibility and consistent application.

If you ignore subjective taste, the new brand fails pragmatically. It is illegible at most sizes, especially on signage, and it has been inconsistently applied all over the show.

It's an embarrassment, but not the death knoll. If Michael Laws is re-elected, then the bells will toll. Unfortunately, most of us won't hear them until it's too late.

Anonymous said...

I met an ex-reporter from Napier tonight at the pub. She had this to say about Mr Laws:

He's a nasty peice of work. When you're talking to him you often have this uncomfortable feeling that he's up to no good, but you can't quite put your finger on it. Eventually you find out that he's pulled a swifty, but by then it's too late, he's on to his next victim.

The reporter, who shall remain nameless, said that Wanganui appeared to be his next victim and we wouldn't know what had hit us until Mr Laws had cut and run. This is what he did with two political parties and Napier.

She kindly said that when Mr Laws had burned Wanganui, we could all move to Napier and form an enormous victim support group.

A generous offer I thought...

Anonymous said...

Hey, 10:00 and 10:08 it is not time for despair yet. There is great unease about the way things are going in town. Even the normally indifferent, who float along, rather disdainful of political process as a whole, are beginning to wake up to the fact that we have a dictator wearing the mayor’s chain.

Thomas Jefferson nailed it when he said “The price of democracy is eternal vigilance.”

Anonymous said...

I met an ex-reporter from Napier tonight at the pub. She had this to say about Mr Laws:
.............................\


Of course you did. You also met Elvis and Princess Diana and the 4 of you had a high old time.

Anonymous said...

by Deputy Mayor Dot McKinnon

How does Wanganui District Council (WDC) spend its ratepayer funds?

******
Oh, let's think about this. For starters, Dotty, there's:

+Failed economic development agency
+Failed Boxing Day concerts
+Failed mayoral mile
+Failed branding exercise by a failed and bankrupt bullshit merchant
+Failed and fruitless legal argy-bargy with community organisations, staff and anybody else on the mayor's hit list
+Failed referendumb spin exercises
+Failed capital projects that run over budget by orders of magnitude, ie swimming pool, riverfront
+Failed attempts to use council publications for political purposes

and the list goes on Dotty, but you, in your glorious and venal stupidity, don't need to be told all this.

Anonymous said...

Sad to hear our vile mayor earned Wanganui a bit of a slagging off at the Vic graduation ceremony recently ... but that's what happens, isn't it, when you've got a potty-mouthed obnoxious mayor.

Anonymous said...

Sad to hear our vile mayor earned Wanganui a bit of a slagging off at the Vic graduation ceremony recently ... but that's what happens, isn't it, when you've got a potty-mouthed obnoxious mayor.

8:07 PM, June 21, 2007

********************************

My sister graduated at Vic and I attended the ceremony. I heard no comments from any of the speakers about Wanganui let alone the mayor.

Is this another made-up post??

Anonymous said...

The word around council is that the mayor isn't standing but won't announce his decision until nominations close in August.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps it's stretching credibility a little to attribute human feelings to a politician, but the expression on Bill English's face (Chron photo) as he's having to listen to that painted ponce, is priceless.

Thinly concealed contempt I'd say.

Still, your makeup looked lovely in profile like that Mickey. Top marks to whoever chose the photo - a great subject for future ridicule.

Anonymous said...

Hey Anon at 1.51pm, I don't know where you go to talk to these people but everyone I meet says they hope ML stands again. Whether it be in the street, at public gatherings. Even at the Buddy Holly show last night. Wanganui wants ML. Scarey, but true. I'm quite surprised.

Anonymous said...

The mayor will piss in if he stands. Isn't that what we are scared oF?

Anonymous said...

So Mickey No-mates is reduced to crawling up the bums of the duffus wing of the Nat Party and deputy duffus English ends up saying he'd heard Wanganui is one of the quietest cities in NZ after dark: "Is that because people aree too scared to go out?"

Thanks Mickey, you're doing an excellent job of f--king this town. Why not stick around for another couple of years and make a real job of it. After all, you wouldn't be able to trust Randhir to keep the boot in like that, would you?

Anonymous said...

5:03pm on June 21, your comment about Council spending missed the beach. Last December they decided to take on Mother Nature and ‘groom’ Castlecliff Beach.

$35K was earmarked for the project and, if more money was needed, Mickey made the executive decision to pilfer it from the storm levy of $35 to $40 per property which was to be added to the next three budgets. Change of plan though, instead they have simply written in $150K for the purpose over the next three years.

Anyone who hasn’t been to the beach to see our rates dollars at work should go. A couple of hundred metres of the dunes have been gouged out and what is left is sand riddled with broken bits of drift wood which make it impossible to navigate in bare feet.

The only good part of this is the moment the money runs out, the sea will start covering up the mess.

Anonymous said...

The first meeting of the Mayoral/Iwi Taskforce on Gangs was held this afternoon.

It resolved the following:

* that the taskforce reflect these emphases by changing its name to the Council/Iwi Taskforce on Youth Well-being;

********
Hey Mickey, sounds like you got told where to get off yesterday! What's the matter with those Iwi people -- don't they understand you called it the MAYORAL taskforce because the focus was on YOU?

Anonymous said...

My sister graduated at Vic and I attended the ceremony. I heard no comments from any of the speakers about Wanganui let alone the mayor.Is this another made-up post??

9:48 PM, June 21, 2007

****

Hey, you pathetic creep. Sitting there alone at night thinking about your sister and lying through your dentures to a bunch of people you don't even know. Sounds like you and your sister have never left the Ozark Mountains!

Anonymous said...

It's a sad commentary on the lack of instituional knowledge remaining in the National Party that people like Chester and English aren't being reminded what happened to anyone who got within shafting distance of Mickey last time he cultivated the party, ie they duly got shafted.

If John Key has learned anything from his predecessor's flirtation with the Brethren he would do well to apply the lesson to anyone who thinks it's okay to be used for photo opps with Mental Mickey. Compared to the stench that he carries, the Brethren come up smelling like roses.

Anonymous said...

The word around Council is that the Mayor is an abusive incompetent psychopath.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps it's stretching credibility a little to attribute human feelings to a politician, but the expression on Bill English's face (Chron photo) as he's having to listen to that painted ponce, is priceless.

Thinly concealed contempt I'd say.

Still, your makeup looked lovely in profile like that Mickey. Top marks to whoever chose the photo - a great subject for future ridicule.

6:59 AM, June 22, 2007

_______________________________

Where the hell do you get this crap?

Anonymous said...

Ummm, 4.21pm, actually, and really sorry to break this to you, but Diana and Elvis are both dead.

I think you misunderstood, I had a beer with a real live person who used to be a journalist in Napier. She now works in comms for one of our many government departments.

She witnessed the rise and fall of Mental Mickey in the Bay. If you think that everything that Mickey did to Napier was 'imaginary' as you are implying, then you need serious help.

Or to quote your friend (or yourself perhaps), "What drugs are you on, mate?"

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

The word around Council is that the Mayor is an abusive incompetent psychopath.

7:11 PM, June 22, 2007

__________________________________

Some of us new that fact even before he became mayor.