Tony Orman offers some timely reminders for voters in the current local body elections.

Choosing the best people for local bodies

Elections are basically about the public electing their representatives whether it be central or local government. With local government elections now in full swing, voters have to assess policies and the intentions of candidates in terms of their duty of serving the public’s best interests. 

But sadly the reality is a significant number of parliamentary and local council politicians are not there to represent the voting public and the public interest. Perhaps outwardly they don’t realise it, but inwardly and sub-consciously they are in denial that they are elected by the people to serve the public interest.

Politicians are well paid

Politicians today are very well paid. This is in contrast to several decades ago when councillors on local bodies were virtually only paid travelling expenses. When I was the town-planner at the Marlborough County Council about 1969-71, I was impressed with the sincerity and attitude of the councillors. They were diligent and community minded and there to make a contribution to the community interest. Certainly they were not there for the money for they were paid “peanuts”.

Perhaps they got petrol money for travelling in from their farm but I wasn’t aware of any remuneration certainly not like today’s councillors get. Somehow there arose the notion that “if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.” Consequently today’s councillors are very well paid. 

Recently Lana Hart, a Christchurch based writer, broadcaster and tutor, wrote a very good column (August 15, 2022) for Stuff newspapers which she concluded with “for now, we can all help make our flawed but vital democracy the best it can be by making the time to elect people who will competently represent us.”

In the column she disclosed that Auckland councillors earn as much as $137,000 a year. In Christchurch councillors earn around $110,000, a salary roughly 75% above the city’s average annual wage of $63,000.

In comparison, current superannuation rates are single $24,000 and married $18,500.

Often councillors top up their elected pay with other jobs such as their own business, being a CEO, consultant or other well paid position. And to get their rather well paid councillor cash, some — perhaps most — just spend much time being mute, accepting of the bureaucrats’ advice and never questioning or commenting.  Don’t rock the boat, become insignificant but keep your hand out.

They shed their concerns they may have voiced at election campaign time and morph into sycophantic no-bodies, compliant to council’s bureaucratic belly.

In some cases, councillors are there for the sheer ego. In my 25-plus years of Fish and Game councils, not infrequently, I observed councillors attending meeting after meeting and never contributing one sentence to any debate throughout 12 meetings a year. They were devoid of thought and tongue.

In it for the money?

Some years ago I recall one Marlborough District councillor was shattered on being defeated at an election because he stood to lose $40,000 a year — an income well in excess of his superannuation. Another when asked by a fellow councillor why he was standing for re-election (he was a practising lawyer) explained he “needed the money” because of personal financial investment difficulties. Thankfully he was also deservedly defeated at the election. 

Both of those ex-councillors were there for the wrong reason — greedy and self-serving.

“Pay peanuts and you get monkeys.” But now the public purse is paying not just peanuts but chocolate coated, glossy wrapped ones in the form of handsome salaries.

The general result is not monkeys but too often selfish arrogant gorillas.  Are some political gorillas wearing an air of arrogance and disdain for the opinion of the public who voted them in? Are too many there for the money with not a thought to the duty of community contribution?

Represent the best wishes of the community

When politicians are paid handsomely we risk attracting the greedy, rather than those wishing to give service to the community.

Today, too many politicians lack an awareness of the fundamental role of an elected representative. The role is to represent the wishes of the majority of the community. Whether they like it or not, prime ministers, cabinet ministers, back benchers and local councillors are undeniably public servants.

The Prime Minister should never be termed the leader but instead best described as the country’s most senior public servant. Similarly a major is the community’s most senior public servant.

The challenge for voters in the forthcoming local government elections is to decide which ones are sincerely wanting to serve the community and which ones are only focused on themselves.

(Tony Orman, a former Marlborough land surveyor and town planner, is now a Blenheim retiree, free-lance journalist and author of several published books.)

From Dr. Joseph Mercola at theburningplatform.com:

Story at-a-glance

• Coordinated censorship is occurring globally
• In response to the growing truth movement that warns against a totalitarian, tyrannical takeover, the United Nations has now declared war on “conspiracy theories” that suggest world governments are anything but honest and ethical, and have published a comprehensive guide on how to debunk and strike down claims to the contrary. According to the U.N., world events are “not secretly manipulated behind the scenes by powerful forces with negative intent”
• According to the U.N., a story only qualifies as truthful if “The sources are backed by fact-checking sites” — which we now know are all bought and paid for by the cabal that is conspiring to create a One World Government through a “Great Reset”
• To stop the spread of “conspiracy theories” about a global technocratic cabal hell-bent on stealing all private wealth and centralizing world governance, UNESCO, the European Commission and the World Jewish Congress have launched a joint Twitter campaign with the hashtag, #ThinkBeforeSharing
• Documents obtained by America First Legal (AFL) show the U.S. government colluded with Big Tech to censor on its behalf
• The Attorneys General of Missouri and Louisiana have filed a lawsuit against the federal government and have been granted discovery. Several officials from the Biden administration are being subpoenaed, as are several social media companies. The documents obtained by AFL are also being used in this lawsuit. Subsequent to the AFL’s document release, several scientists who were censored by Big Tech at the behest of the federal government have joined the AG’s lawsuit

There’s clear coordination, globally, of censorship. With few exceptions, countries have taken action to criminalize free speech, and they have done so in lockstep with each other. It began in earnest with censorship of theories about the origins of SARS-CoV-2, and grew from there to include anything COVID related.

Still, the truth could not be contained. People started abandoning mainstream media in droves — which have clearly been lying to us on behalf of the globalist cabal — flocking instead to alternative news sources.

In response to the growing truth movement that warns against a technocratic, anti-human takeover, the United Nations has now declared war on “conspiracy theories” that suggest world governments are anything but honest and ethical, and have published a comprehensive guide¹ on how to debunk and strike down claims to the contrary.

Not surprisingly, a story only qualifies as truthful if “the sources are backed by fact-checking sites.” As detailed in other articles, so-called “fact checking” organizations are all bought and paid for by the same cabal that is conspiring to create a One World Government through a “Great Reset.”

So, no wonder they’re designated as the sole arbiters of truthfulness. They’re part and parcel of the propaganda machine. How convenient for the globalists.

Read the rest

The complete Lockdown ordered by Comrade Jacinda lasted 107 days from 17 August 2021 to 3 December 2021. It achieved nothing useful, but caused much economic and mental health damage. The siege of Stalingrad lasted somewhat longer — from 17 July 1942 to 2 February 1943.

The Center for Disease Control has issued a warning about a new virulent strain of this old disease! The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectim.  It’s pronounced “Gonna re-elect ’em” and is capable of crippling our current population.

The disease is contracted through dangerous and high-risk behaviour involving putting your cranium up your rectum. Many victims contracted it in 2020 when they re-elected Jacinda Ardern’s government into power and are now starting to realise how destructive this sickness is.

It’s sad because Gonorrhea Lectim is easily cured with a new drug just coming on the market called Votemout.  (It’s pronounced “Vote-em-out.”) It can be picked up at your local pharmacy without a doctor’s prescription. You take the first dose now. The second dose should be taken just before the 2023 elections, otherwise it will eventually wipe out all the remnants of democratic life we have left in the NZ.

Please pass this important message on to all those bright folks who truly care about New Zealand, and to the many misguided fools who think democracy is unnecessary and socialism is the answer to all their personal failings.

Website

We received this yesterday from a former Waikanae Councilor:

“Have heard on very good authority, which the KCDC will be eager to keep under wraps until after the Election, that the Council has bought the facilities of the two-stored building that the temporary library and service centre occupy with the $2 shop with Coast Access Radio and sundry offices on the 1^st floor.”

Another reliable source confirms the same information. Property purchases are usually conducted in secret session at Council Meetings (as are sales), so they probably won’t admit to this.

This announcement arrived in our inbox yesterday, as it obviously did Newshub’s, and this morning the AM Show on TV3/Newshub proclaimed in this piece:

Kiwis pledge to buy Whittakers to annoy people angered by te reo rebranding

Really? Where are all the people supposedly angered by this label, have they taken to social media to vent their aggression in the way Leftists and Wokeists do?

Frankly, who gives a Stuff about a brand label produced for a brief period in one of the country’s two official languages? (Sign language is also official but obviously can’t be read and written.)

What does annoy people is signage written only in Maori because most people don’t know what it says, and certainly almost no foreign visitor will be able to read it.

Since Cadbury decided to close their factory in Dunedin, despite it being profitable, and move it all to Oz, we’ve encouraged people to switch to Whittaker’s for that reason — a good long established NZ manufacturer.

In December last year I gave the following screenshots in print to the Chief of Staff of Prime Minister when I made complaints about then Chief Whip Kieran McAnulty and his bullying. These are some of the messages from MPs who were also being bullied. One of the MPs spent almost 3 hours in tears talking about how they were being treated. Others asked me how to fake a Covid test so they didn’t have to come to Parliament because of how much they were scared of being bullied.

I specifically flagged to the Chief of Staff in our meeting that there were many members of caucus in this situation and I was worried about their mental health as well as lack of any support or due process. This isn’t just any staff, this is the Chief of Staff of PMO. I specifically said that this needed to be investigated but nothing was done at all. Instead a few months later Kieran was promoted to a Minister of the Crown unfortunately sending a message to caucus members being bullied that their well-being and concerns didn’t matter.

On Friday Prime Minister specifically said that she has been aware of issues surrounding me for a long time which obviously would include these claims as well as printed evidence I provided. On Tuesday in a meeting while discussing about Sam Uffindell’s issues with National Party, she specifically mentioned that something similar wouldn’t happen in Labour because she was advised of everything that happened in Caucus as well as within the Party.

After 1.5 years of going through every manager, every office, knocking every door in Parliament I never got heard. Even after I wrote an op-Ed last week raising my concerns there was an attempt to deny that bullying existed or any serious allegations were made. In addition to that the party machinery has been trying to deflect the situation by trying to dig my past and make accusations about me. I could be a hardened criminal with 30 years of prison record or a murderer but that should not stop me from getting a fair independent hearing re my concerns.

I have been told since my op-Ed came out that I shouldn’t talk to the media and instead should raise things with the Whips or the Leader but that’s exactly what I have tried to do for last 1.5 years without being heard at all. And now I am being silenced again as such the bullying continues.

I have been driven to this point because even now the party and it’s leadership refuses to believe that there is a problem.

It’s a sad day for our democracy.

[these screenshots are from other MPs. I have cropped their name to protect their privacy]

The Jacinda government’s bought and paid MSM will respond by attacking Gaurav Sharma as they always do to any of its opponents, but the damage has been done. If they kick him out of the caucus he’ll be free to say what he likes about her and her top echelon, and may be joined by some of the others. —Eds

According to the MSM: “New Zealand will deploy a further 120 Defence Force personnel to the United Kingdom to help train Ukraine soldiers to fight against Russian forces. It adds to the 30 personnel sent over in May to train Ukrainian military personnel in operating artillery and the more than $40 million provided in financial support.”

It seems fitting that one corrupt regime would want to spend Taxpayer money to prop up a regime that is even worse.

But as we’ve asked before, why is NZ is effectively fighting Russia along with Biden and NATO? What possible benefits does feeding war in Europe bring NZ? For that matter, what benefits does ongoing destruction bring ordinary Ukrainians? This conflict shouldn’t have happened in the first place and wouldn’t have if Biden and the Democrat Party generally weren’t such pathological haters of all things Russian and encouraged the war.

NZ should have declared neutrality in this conflict and at the outset encouraged both sides to conclude a peace treaty, one that will be adhered to by the Ukrainian regime, as tall a hope as that is.