Inside the 'absolute shambles' of a week for two budding councillors

Anne Boleyn survived a thousand days as Queen in the Court of Henry VIII. Yeverley McCarthy, on the other hand, lived for six days as a councillor. Councillor elect, that is. 

While it’s been a turbulent week for McCarthy, fortunately the outcome for her was not fateful, as it was for Anne Boleyn.

After a week of post-election turmoil, McCarthy is very pleased with the outcome.

"I'm actually feeling wonderful. I feel like I’ve dodged a bullet."

The story begins after polls closed on the afternoon of Saturday, October 11.

McCarthy received a call at her Wānaka home to say she had won a seat on Queenstown Lakes District Council representing the Wānaka-Upper Clutha Ward. However, this was the beginning of a week McCarthy describes as a "shambles".

"I received a call to say that I was a councillor and that my lead was unassailable. They were the words, that it was unassailable."

McCarthy questioned the caller about the timeliness of the announcement given only 85 per cent of votes had been counted.

"He said, no, we've been advised by the electorate office that there is a big gap in the votes already counted and that I would not be able to be beaten.
So I said, thank you very much. And here I am, a councillor."

Around the same time, on the other side of the Wānaka-Upper Clutha Ward in Hāwea, incumbent councillor, Cody Tucker received a call announcing he had been unsuccessful in his bid for re-election.

Tucker recalls being told the margin was large enough that the extra 15 per cent wouldn’t change the result. 

"I hung up the phone, hung out with friends, talked to my wife about how we feel about it, and there was some relief, and some nostalgia and looking back at the experience. 

"Over the next few days, I had a flood of lovely messages from a lot of people I've worked with over the years, who reached out to share their views.” 

But, as with McCarthy, this was the beginning of a week-long emotional roller coaster.

In the meantime, McCarthy began her duties as councillor-elect attending an informal, four-hour meeting with the mayor and other councillors in Arrowtown the following Monday.

"I enjoyed meeting all the other councillors and just have a chat, and a debrief after the election."

However, events were about to take a turn. McCarthy was to learn the apparently unassailable difference in the vote count had changed.

"Imagine my surprise when I was halfway over the Crown Range, and I had [fellow councillor] Nicola King with me in the car, coming home from the meeting, when the electoral office rang and said, ‘Yeverley, just to let you know that your lead is now 18, and that Cody is just 18 votes behind you. 

"So here I am, being called a councillor and there's only an 18 vote difference between the two of us. I'm into day three of being a councillor and what am I supposed to do? I mean, I really felt hamstrung."

Tucker received a similar call telling him while the margin was small, special votes were still to be counted.  

"They advised me not to make any big life decisions this week. 

"I’d already had a meeting that morning with my business partner at my other job and I’d offered to work more time there. And I was also talking to another friend, and mentor, and I had other community groups reach out to me about work. So, we were kind of setting up life without being on council."

Despite the uncertainty after the reduction in her lead, McCarthy was asked to attend an induction meeting at QLDC. 

She queried the point when results could change but attended anyway to hear from council departments about their roles.

When lunch rolled around, McCarthy thought "I can’t do another two hours of this. I'm not even sure that I'm going to be a councillor".

Anodyne is not a word you’d associate with McCarthy. She drew on her conspicuous degree of pluck, and let it be known what she thought of her councillor-elect experience, thus far. 

"I said to the chief executive when he came in that, actually, I think the whole thing was an absolute shambles."

Tucker was also taking a philosophical approach to his predicament, from a somewhat different, perhaps millennial, perspective.

"Before any of this happened, I always said, you know, I'd be happy if I get in, I'll be happy if I don't. I'll make the most of the situation and I'll follow whatever the community agrees to. 

"When I didn't get in there was an overwhelming sense of relief, the weight of public scrutiny and the, you know, intense emotion that goes through that whole experience. You suddenly feel, over days, it lifting. 

"I knew deep down I would be quite sad about not getting the chance to follow through as a councillor and I was waiting for that emotion to hit."

As it transpired, Tucker had very little time to react to losing his seat. 

"I was being contacted by so many incredible people who I think highly of, saying you know, basically, we think you're awesome and we really enjoyed your time on council. You've done such an amazing job at this and we were shocked to see that you weren't in again. 

"That was an incredible feeling, and overwhelming, and it meant it was hard to feel sad about it all."

While Tucker was fielding calls from supporters, McCarthy decided she’d had enough of the induction. However, her departure added to her annoyance.

She says as she was about to leave, she was asked to stay for a group photo by council staff.

Retelling her story, McCarthy barely contains her laughter. "I said, ‘Oh, really? You know, I might not even be in council’. And he said, ‘Stay for the photo because if you're not a councillor, we’ll just photoshop you out.’
 

"So I turned around and said if you can bloody photoshop me out, then you can also bloody photoshop me in. And goodbye, I'm going home. 

"I drove over the hill and I laughed all the way home."

McCarthy didn’t have long to wait before finally discovering her fate. Not long after getting home she received the call to say she had lost by 34 votes. 

"I said that’s best news I've ever heard. Goodbye."

While McCarthy makes light of her experience, it’s clear she has been emotionally battered by it, admitting she had to call on family for support during the week. 

"This is just an absolute shambles."

Tucker also found the week emotionally challenging, making light of his ordeal saying, with a smile, "I call this whole thing my near political death experience."

A QLDC spokesperson confirmed candidates had been told on election day of the progress results "and that any position was subject to the final declaration".

"This is in line with normal electoral process. No candidate was told they were unassailable, only that at the time there was reasonable confidence in the outcome given the votes counted so far, with the proviso that results could still change."

It’s unlikely McCarthy would consider standing for council again but she does plan to keep a close eye on the next triennium. 

"I stood on the basis that I care, I stood on the basis that I really am concerned on this side of the hill, and probably on the other as well, for our rate increases. I have been talking to a lot of older people who now are spending up to a third of their available money on rates. Both ORC and our QLDC rates. It's got to stop. We've got to make sure that infrastructure is future-proofed for the future. And in saying that, the nice to haves are not to be had until we have got the money to have them. 

"If I see another bloody cycle track, or a speed bump in the road, I’ll scream."

During Anne Boleyn’s final words before her execution she said, "I have not come here to preach, I have come here to die".

After losing her bid for a place at the council table, McCarthy doesn’t intend to go gently into the dark night. 

On receipt of her Queen’s Service Medal in 2012, the then Governor General, Jerry Mateparae, asked McCarthy what she intended to do next. Her response, "I’m going to be a public nuisance".

Council, be warned.