Lewers claims "misinformation", Guy resorts to insults. Wong says Lewers is right.

Analysis.

War has broken out amongst a group of QLDC election candidates with Mayor Lewers saying that any criticism of his secret moves to prematurely recruit a new council Chief Executive is “misinformation.”

In an extensive and aggressive social media post, Mayor Lewers (who avoided Facebook for most of his term) attacks Councillor Niki Gladding’s views that were published by Crux.

“I am not here to comment on Niki’s views, but I am here to inform people of the facts.

“When inaccurate and misleading information is shared, it is only appropriate for the public – including other mayoral candidates – to be aware of the correct information.

“For those who have not read it – the opinion piece incorrectly suggests that as Mayor, my actions give a perception that I am “steering or controlling the recruitment”. That is patently false – Niki knows this, yet chooses to ignore the facts.”

Source: Mayor Glyn Lewers. Facebook Election Post.

However, in spite of numerous requests from Crux (and Councilor Gladding) mayor Lewers refuses to supply any actual facts - namely details of the secret QLDC procurement process to hire a recruitment agent to replace outgoing CEO Mike Theelen. Lewers argues that hiring a recruitment agent is “only the first step” and does not commit the council to anything.

However, anyone with even a fleeting knowledge of the recruitment industry knows that the recruitment agent does basically what the client wants. And Lewers is the client here (almost certainly working with QLDC’s “behind the scenes” all-powerful pro-Theelen supremo Meaghan Miller). The current mayor has enjoyed an unusually close relationship with Mike Theelen at a time when community trust in the council has nose dived into record breaking negative territory.

It is mayor Lewers who has run the CEO’s pay and performance committee granting Theelen a jaw-dropping 15.5% pay increase at a time when the rest of us have been struggling to pay our QLDC rates and many of the elected members have found Lewers more keen to spend time with Theelen than with them.

On this closed doors, public excluded, pay and review committee with mayor Lewers are Councillors Lisa Guy and Lyal Cocks.

Lisa Guy has let rip on social media this week in spite of abandoning Facebook after some embarrassing errors with upside down images and indecipherable dogma about how the Queenstown CBD was now nearly perfect due to the work her family consulting company Rationale had been paid millions to produce by and for QLDC.

Lisa Guy is so anti-Facebook that at a recent council meeting she actually suggested that QLDC control negative community posts on Facebook by using the 2015 Harmful Digital Communications Act. This is how Netsafe describes the Act.

“The purpose of the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 (HDCA) is to deter, prevent and mitigate harm caused to individuals by digital communications, and to provide victims of harmful digital communications with a quick and efficient means of redress.”

So keeping that in mind, here’s what Lisa Guy had to say on Facebook this week - but written for her by ChatGPT.

Lisa then goes on to trumpet how compliant and by the book the entire, secret Theelen recruitment process has been. What she does not explain is how “staff” have come to procure a recruitment firm without telling the elected members what they are doing or even asking if the elected members agree to such an unusual and highly questionable activity within weeks of an election. And of course we don’t know what recruitment deal or fees that “staff” have contracted. Or if the agreement can be terminated - and on what terms, or if the recruitment agency has already started to talking to “preferred” Theelen V2.0 candidates.

The fact that elected councillors get to rubber stamp the outcome of all this (Theelen Version 2.0) is what Lewers, Guy and Cocks depend on as “compliance.” That is clearly total nonsense and the Auditor-General says so very clearly.

“Conflict and division arising from the recruitment process can influence the attitude of elected members towards the new chief executive, because (for example):

• some elected members may see the successful candidate as being politically aligned with a particular faction within the council, such that they do not feel confident in seeking the new chief executive’s advice;

• the chief executive’s remuneration may be viewed as excessive;

• the subsequent performance of the chief executive may not be seen as warranting a bonus payment; and

• public comment on matters relating to the employment of the chief executive may bring the council into disrepute.”

Source: Office of the Auditor General.

Even more bizarrely, Councillor Matt Wong has taken to LinkedIn this week to say:

“From my perspective as a councillor, I spoke with both Lyal Cocks, Lisa Guy and staff, during the process to select the recruitment firm, which followed a robust selection process. The real important CEO recruitment decisions (choosing candidates and making the appointment) will be made by the next full Council, as they should. It’s a shame this has been portrayed as a scandal as it hasn’t been my experience.”

So during the “process to select the recruitment firm” some councillors were told what was going on and some were not.

That’s not democracy.

Our best hope for October 11 is that the local electorate decide that none of this is open or transparent or compliant- no matter how much Mayor Lewers and Lisa Guy might protest and tell their 12 new friends and family (and paid PR consultancy) on Facebook and LinkedIn that this is all Crux media sensationalism and (harmful) misinformation.

Expect even more vicious attacks on Councillor Gladding from Lewers’ friendly councillors and even local media that’s not Crux and therefore receives $200,000 a year from QLDC to “keep the community informed.”