Chairman’s outburst nothing new
Bruce Gordon isn’t one for letting irritations like science or good governance get in his way.
In an extraordinarily arrogant outburst, the chairman of Horizons Regional Council has turned on staff at his own council for daring to suggest the water quality at Dudding Lake, near Marton, is poor and issuing a public health warning.
This annoys Gordon, probably because he manages a motor camp at the lake. He doesn’t gain from it financially, but has a clear conflict on interest in getting grumpy about the warning.
He doesn’t think so, though – he says he wouldn’t have declared a conflict even if he stood to gain financially.
Whether this is bluster, wilful ignorance or hubris, only Gordon can tell us, but his words are of concern.
Aside from effectively saying he’s above the accepted practice for managing conflicts of interest, his words encourage others who, like Gordon, have no expertise in the matter, to disregard public health warnings.
Gordon has a history of ignoring the distinction between his role as a councillor and the operational activities of non-elected Horizons employees.
In 2011, the Office of the Auditorgeneral criticised worrying involvement from Horizons councillors in decisions over prosecutions – that is, councillors would discuss such decisions when they should have kept their noses out.
Then assistant auditor-general for local government Bruce Robertson rightly said councillors shouldn’t be involved at all. ‘‘Councillors should endorse an enforcement policy and expect staff to apply that policy.’’
No right-minded view could seriously counter this, but Gordon stood firm, unbelievably suggesting the audit office had tarnished his council’s reputation and should apologise.
Even if we were to believe there was no interference in prosecution decisions, there was a perception it was possible and that should never have happened.
Gordon chose to argue semantics, claiming there was no such thing as a ‘‘prosecutions advisory group’’. Instead, it was just a small, informal group that met occasionally. As if that mattered.
He tried the same verbal dexterity this time too, saying he was merely annoyed at the council’s ‘‘messaging’’.
And, when Horizons prosecuted its own councillor John Barrow for breaching water consent conditions, Gordon wrote a reference on Horizons letterhead supporting Barrow.
Gordon claimed it wasn’t written specifically for court and when questioned by this reporter about how this would fit with the auditor-general’s concerns about interference in prosecutions, Gordon ended the telephone conversation.
That he’s lasted since 2011 as chairman of a regional council without proper regard for due process is a concern and the other councillors should be asking serious questions about his leadership.
His cavalier approach has run its course.