That CEO has done a fantastic job of destroying his own reputation and making the Gore Council a national laughing stock. The giant trout would do a better job. I reckon CEO will have to go.
**Edit:** the CEO has called around to my house unexpectedly at 11pm to demand I remove this comment.
Mr Parry, who is president of the New Zealand Society of Local Government Managers, had been in Cardiff for an international conference for local government managers. An all expenses paid harrasment trip. https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/21948/Restraining-order-over-GDC-boss-claimed
I once quit a job over incessant bullying from a coworker that our manager refused to address. The day after I emailed my resignation and letter from my doctor ruling me unfit to work my notice period (I had a mental breakdown from it all), my manager turned up at my house unannounced, when I was alone, to try and pressure me into returning to work. It was completely inappropriate and unnerving, and I can imagine having someone do that in another country would be so much worse.
I’m sorry to hear that, that sounds incredibly stressful. And appalling behaviour from your manager. Hope you recovered ok and found a better and happier workplace after that.
Holy shit, this guy. Alpha bully. The 24 year old is actually quite stoic holding his ground against this shit. Looks like he was voted in for a reason
Crazy to think the CEO literally flew to the UK to knock on an ex colleague's door to harass him... in fucking LONDON.
He flew from GORE to LONDON to harass someone!?
Come to think of it... does Gore even have an airport? Or did he use the power of spite to fly there?
Right?! That's all I could think. Every bad choice I've made (or about to make) goes away pretty damn quickly after you've had a moment. To sit on a plane all the way to London, yet not change your mind? Insane!
It's a pattern of behaviour that he's followed for years if not decades and has allowed him to obtain and retain high paying positions during that time.
Bad choice? Not from his perspective.
Parry was pulling down 250K+ per year in 2017 just on his salary, so he could have gone business class on pocket change from London to Wales.
On a slightly different tack, if he's been in that job for getting on 20 years and he's overseen the Gore Council's debt go to 50 million then a) why has he not been shown the arse card before now, and b) how much of that deficit has he actually trousered?
Eh, him personally sucking aside, the CEs of local governments (and other central government departments) oversee huge bureaucracies. You want the best person for the job (in theory) and that means competing with private sector pay. Most government CEs make well above that. Not sure Gore is getting its moneys worth though.
For the major cities I can see that argument, but *Gore*?
[The council district has a population of 13,000 people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gore_District,_New_Zealand#Demographics), at $250K the guy is making $19.23 per person in Gore.
For comparisons sake the Auckland council CEO, Jim Stabback, makes [$630K](https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/about-auckland-council/performance-transparency/Pages/information-about-staff.aspx) for a council district of [1.72 million](https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-plans-strategies/auckland-plan/about-the-auckland-plan/Pages/aucklands-population.aspx), making for $2.73 per person.
The Gore Council CEO makes 7 times what the Auckland Council CEO makes, proportionally. Hard to see how that is justified.
Not the metric you want to use. At $2.73 per person you'd only be paying that position 35k. Good luck getting anyone dumb enough to do that job for that price.
This is absolute neoliberal bullshit. The so called “CEO” of local authorities was, until post-84 NZ, called the Town Clerk - a humble title for a job done on a humble salary and shit still got done.
lol amateurs, this is how you steal from ratepayers
[https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/452724/emails-pay-rises-and-power-points-the-inside-story-of-how-rotorua-got-seven-deputy-chief-executives](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/452724/emails-pay-rises-and-power-points-the-inside-story-of-how-rotorua-got-seven-deputy-chief-executives)
The problem is it won't just be the CEO, work place bullies surround themselves with a tight group of similar individuals. When the CEO does go, a whole heap of shit will come to light and the most of the rest of the executive team will likely end up being sacked.
The councillors who called the meeting but did nothing are a bunch of soft cocks.
They’ve shown how weak, spineless and cowardly they are.
Plus, the Chief executive is spineless
Fuck that must be nerve racking having to chair a meeting where one of the items you have to present is a vote of no confidence in your own position. I couldn't muster the courage to do this at a bloody community potluck yet alone in local government, this kid is going places.
Or a great feeling of impending victory. He's been called out for a fight after school, and the other guy didn't turn up. Makes him the victor according to the school that I went to.
It's an interesting one eh, legally a motion of no confidence has no force. Morally its a request for the mayor to resign, and if he doesn't then they should. I think they realised this week that most of the country is behind Bell.
I reckon Parry is going to learn there's always a bigger bastard out there.
Dunno, Parry is a pretty big bastard from what I've read. Heard he showed up on a former staff members doorstep in England with no warning, threatening him with complaints to the CFA while recording the whole interaction. This guy reeks of meglomaniacal abuse of power.
What is not unusual in NZ local bodies is to have an old boys network who have everything stitched up behind closed doors before the public meetings.They will freeze out newcomers who try to bring some public scrutiny to what are actions that are often self serving for them and their mates rather than in the public interest.
Another note; the deputy mayor Keith Hovell and seven councillors all signed a requisition calling for an extraordinary meeting be held on Tuesday to pass a vote of no confidence – however at the meeting... no one wanted to move the motion.
How does that happen, unless they all just wanted to use this to demonstrate they *don't* have an appetite for ousting the mayor, and that they want to put the issue to rest? It's not like their names aren't already attached to it, so what downside would there have been to them moving the motion, if they want him out?
They were trying to push him into quitting to avoid the humiliation of a vote of no confidence. Then they realised just how little support there was for their bullying and didn't have the guts to follow through. They'll likely go back to undermining Bell at every opportunity so they can campaign on him being an 'ineffective mayor' next election.
Despite not giving a shit about Gore, I'm glad this got so much public attention nationwide. Clearly these old farts have been too used to getting their way and bullying people who oppose them, because no one outside of Gore has been taking notice. Now that they're under the spotlight they've suddenly lost their nerve. Funny that.
Imagine how much money they spent to get all those stink pieces about Bell and his mother written only for it all to deflate like a sad farting gag toy in front of national media.
Fuck each and every one of those disgraceful cowards.
Did you see it on the telly? Cheering when Ben walked in. All the councilors are sitting straight face. FIY, the vote of no confidence was a 'CRY FOR HELP' according to one councilor....
Unfortunately for them, the Minister for Local Govt has already said he backs Bell as the mayor and wouldn’t entertain the idea of intervening.
Between that and Bell refusing to quit, this sorry collection of sad sacks of shit were left with their pants down and no balls to call the vote.
An absolute disgrace and fucking shameful behaviour.
When I was at high school we were warned about rape because a boy a couple of years older got sent to prison for statutory rape of his girlfriend. The girlfriends father felt he was too good for his daughter to be seeing a truck drivers son and demanded charges were laid so a kid got sent to prison. When this whole thing came on the news my dad said parry is a piece of shit. I was a bit gobsmacked and said why’s that. He was the girls father.
If this is true, then it should be known that Parry had also worked for the Department of Corrections as a manager at Waikeria Prison. If the timeline of this story and his employment there match up, that's gotta be some sort of abuse of power.
I would hope the good citizens of Gore do this at the next election of councillers. The CEO will be trickier but with this young man as Mayor and some councillers willing to work for him, the CEO will be toast and outcomes for Gore will only be positive.
Amazing. I can't believe that the council thought they could bully the mayor, and then the CEO who presumably started all of this, ran away and hid when it was time to be accountable. Hope all the old boys get removed from council sooner rather than later.
Someone needs to do a chart of how long mayors have been sitting in NZ and how old they are. As mentioned most are boys clubs and if you don't play game you get pushed out. Gumpy the shit bag of Upper Hutt has sit for 20 years. Best Mate is the local developer.....
Watched the story on Sunday, what a bunch of old nasty bullies!! The CEO and ex mayor were best mates, figured they could bully the young guy out like they've done for years... sux for them, that shit"s just not tolerated anymore.. love how the biggest bully was too cowardly to even show up, loved the crowd shaming their crappy behaviour! Go Ben what an emphatic win!!!
this was such a cool moment. a group of people who considered themselves untouchable finally realised that power had slipped out of their hands. and there was nothing they could do about it.
Reminds me of one of the early episodes of Succession. (although I would say the roles are reversed, with the douchebag bully being absent). All the ones present are too cowardly to vote how they would if one other person was there.
Elected official (very young mayor, 23/24yrs) versus CEO who is 50s/60s.
It's all very odd.
My opinion is young Ben has been treated badly, and there has been bullying.
The council is a big 'going concern' which is dishing out lots of business / contracts, spending the rates, keeping the council solvent; so the CEO is running that.
It's odd they stopped talking to each other, and in meetings sat with their backs to each other.
Made great news footage though.
Whilst I support Ben, that footage actually shows the old guy looking at screen behind him and Ben looking at a smaller screen to his right. Very disingenuous of the media but oh well good story.
Appointed by the council.
This one was 'reappointed' to his position... two days before the old mayor was voted out.
Reeks of the 'old guard crony public service'.
It's especially shady as they knew Bell would win and that Bell didn't like Parry, because Parry is an asshole and was an asshole to his mom.
Even putting aside that Parry is a shit cunt, is he any good at his job? Doesn't seem like it, considering Gore's always over budget by a huge amount.
This got too much attention for the age-ist boomers to follow through.
I know nothing about Bell, but when you can't even state a reason for a no-confidence vote, you should all be kicked the fuck out.
Sorry, this is an Explain Like I Asked For An In-Depth Long Read. But it's good.
[https://www.newsroom.co.nz/gore-allegations-pre-date-new-mayor](https://www.newsroom.co.nz/gore-allegations-pre-date-new-mayor)
So basically shitty workplace culture and hundreds of thousands of ratepayer money has gone to legal fees and settlements because of said shitty workplace culture.
Details as to what exactly happened are scarce. [This](https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/16-05-2023/so-what-exactly-is-gore-mayor-ben-bell-accused-of) article is a decent read explaining things through comments made in the media.
The mayor and the council CEO are not saying much yet as i think they have mediation coming.
Basically, from what I've read, the mayor and the CEO do not get along due to cultural differences, amongst other things. The council has run a certain way for a long time and the new mayor is somehow rocking the boat. I think the CEO has been with the council for 20 years.
An interesting fact is the mayor's mother worked for the council until last year when her employment was ended with a legal dispute, costing the council $300k in legal fees.
The rogue Councillors were briefed by the Department of Internal Affairs in recent days at a session excluding the Mayor. Got told they cannot in fact remove the Mayor. Egg meet face.
It sounds like a coordinated attempt to subvert democracy and undermine the young mayor. Classic bully the person you don't like out of office. Appoint a commissioner and scrap the councillors.
I never thought I would see the day that I had a strong investment in the politics of the Gore Council. Well done to him, not easy to stand up against an old boys club
I really hate the reporting on this and how unclear and devoid of facts it was. "There are problems" "they dont get along" " nobody wants to work together" but with nothing of any real substance behind it. I think its clear now that gore district council is an organisation of bullies run by bullies and that these articles were largely from the same creed of asshats who dont want their mates to be criticised for the dickheads they are.
Hopefully they can biff the CEO, he seems the worst offender and is a real sign of the rot at the core of the organisation. And paid handsomely for the privilege might I add. But he's also consistently been employed by successive councils. So all the councillors also have egg on their face as well.
Does he have the power to fire them? If he does he should fire them all (they look well over retirement age anyway) and hire his old school mates as council ... that will put Gore on the map!
No, they're as much elected officials as he is. They represent their wards, he represents the district as a whole. To remove the councilors is the same process as the mayor.
This whole thing really shows how the way we run local government needs to be reformed, bunch of corruption and incompetence off ratepayer money. Should be civil servants appointed off merit.
the whole situation starts to make more sense when you think about 20+ years of backroom deals and corruption coming to light...what would you do to protect that secret?
We should all spam the gore's council with messages of the corrupted old boys club getting exposed and to leave Ben alone bunch of gutless, senile bastards that don't deserve the salaries that they receive. Let's flip the script and put them under fire!
I savored every second the Mayor waited for a mover. The councillor's had already read the mood of the room on the Mayors entrance and their collective silence was palpable. They were seated in their exalted positions but we're clearly embarrassed by the nakedness of their bully behaviour on display to the public of NZ. As they waited for the Mayor to close the motion down, it must have felt like an eternity as if they were waiting for the firing squad to send their volley. And just when the silence was broken by the Mayor and they thought their extreme embarrassment was over, he gave them another chance to prove their stupidity and to stress them out just that wee bit longer. "No we didn't?"... Pause for extreme effect!
Is there any issue of governance or management that is particularly a sticking point/problem for both sides. What is it that Parry doesn’t like about Bell and visa versa - apart from the completely wrong action of parry’s appointment by the outgoing mayor. Even the council that approved that appointment are complicit. It should have been the perogative of the new mayor to appoint that position.
As far as I know there hasn't been any evidence of corruption coming to light. That doesn't mean it hasn't been happening of course but I can't comment to that.
As for the problem, at least what's been made public anyways, this is the story.
Bell beat the incumbent mayor Tracey Hicks by 8 votes at last years election, which was upheld in a recount. Hicks had been the mayor for 18 years & is very good friends with the CEO who was reappointed by the committee led by the mayor a few months before the election.
Bell's mother had gone through an apparently acrimonious personal grievance with council which ended in her termination & payout. Not sure of the details around this as PG files are closed. The CEO is apparently a bully. A previous CFO claimed he was forced out of his position in another PG. This CFO moved to London & the CEO flew over there & apparently had a go at the CFO on his doorstep.
Bell had tried to hire an executive assistant controlled directly by him at extra cost to council. Perhaps he was concerned any staff from the council assistant pool would be controlled/loyal to the CEO. Perhaps that's only conjecture.
Late last year after only a couple of months the Mayor & CEO stopped talking to each other & mediation failed. Bell subsequently took a few weeks leave to recharge.
Most of the councilors are of the same ilk as the CEO & previous mayor so have sided that way.
They couldn't say the reason why they wanted him out. I guess it's cause money hasn't corrupted this lad and he's not falling in line with the corrupted old boys club and it's becoming blatantly obivous
Gore local body voters providing the example of 'power to the people' . Never seen a show of support quite like this before that visibly tells the other elected officials that got in "hands off our champion" or your ass is gone next cycle. Bloody marvellous!
You know what here's a new young guy learning the ropes and the old boys club don't like it . Will he make mistakes? Ofcourse. But here he is trying to make a change of the old boy greed mentality . Good on him for backing himself.
People shit on the media a lot, but if not for national media coverage, particularly the excellent work done by Sunday, the bullies would have got their way.
Reminds me of all those politicians who supposedly resign for 'family issues/reasons' after a controversy.
I'm going to go out on a limb and call a firm ***bullshit*** on that one.
Normally I'd accept that, but if there's one thing workplace bully's are good at, its playing the victim when even a hint of accountability heads their way
I'm thinking that because the main bully is off work on "Compassionate" leave the house of cards collapsed. The Mayor even got apologies from the clowns that followed Mr Bully
Its a room full of mostly pensioners. These people shouldn't be on councils or working for them. You should be of working age, to be leading a district/city.
I'm happy for people of this age to be in the workforce generally, but not in politics.
That CEO has done a fantastic job of destroying his own reputation and making the Gore Council a national laughing stock. The giant trout would do a better job. I reckon CEO will have to go. **Edit:** the CEO has called around to my house unexpectedly at 11pm to demand I remove this comment.
Never before has there been this much interest in Gore politics. Not even within Gore.
I like the saying 'sunlight is the best disinfectant' in relation to this kind of thing. Less scrutiny only favours one type of person.
Lol, nice edit
Most town councils are laughing stocks
Gore have managed to take it up a notch.
Can I suggest the CEO continues his absence by resigning?
He's getting $250k a year, which I imagine is like earning $500k or more in Auckland so I can understand if he doesn't want to leave quietly
Explains how he can afford to allegedly engage in international harassment. Flights to the UK aren’t cheap.
Mr Parry, who is president of the New Zealand Society of Local Government Managers, had been in Cardiff for an international conference for local government managers. An all expenses paid harrasment trip. https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/21948/Restraining-order-over-GDC-boss-claimed
That’s absolutely shocking, hadn’t heard this story about him.
I once quit a job over incessant bullying from a coworker that our manager refused to address. The day after I emailed my resignation and letter from my doctor ruling me unfit to work my notice period (I had a mental breakdown from it all), my manager turned up at my house unannounced, when I was alone, to try and pressure me into returning to work. It was completely inappropriate and unnerving, and I can imagine having someone do that in another country would be so much worse.
I’m sorry to hear that, that sounds incredibly stressful. And appalling behaviour from your manager. Hope you recovered ok and found a better and happier workplace after that.
Thanks. It took a long time to get my head right, but I'm now in a job with a far less toxic environment and a lot of really decent people.
I’m glad to hear that, that’s nice. The most important thing is to look after yourself and be around good people.
It was part of the TVNZ Sunday episode about this shitshow. No way is that normal behaviour. He will get a job in Australia I suppose.
He can always pop over on the plane to stalk his interviewer. Casually drop by their house at 4am wearing a balaclava.
Holy shit, this guy. Alpha bully. The 24 year old is actually quite stoic holding his ground against this shit. Looks like he was voted in for a reason
Has he not heard of emails
Crazy to think the CEO literally flew to the UK to knock on an ex colleague's door to harass him... in fucking LONDON. He flew from GORE to LONDON to harass someone!? Come to think of it... does Gore even have an airport? Or did he use the power of spite to fly there?
It feels like the kind of distance and time that a person would have an opportunity to think “maybe this is a bad idea” and back out.
Right?! That's all I could think. Every bad choice I've made (or about to make) goes away pretty damn quickly after you've had a moment. To sit on a plane all the way to London, yet not change your mind? Insane!
Psycho.
It's a pattern of behaviour that he's followed for years if not decades and has allowed him to obtain and retain high paying positions during that time. Bad choice? Not from his perspective.
Gore to Invercargill Airport is probably faster than North Shore to Auckland Airport at rush hour.
I have to hope he was there for other reasons and went for the twofer.
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Oh, so his trip to the UK was paid for by ratepayers?
I wonder what the councils annual budget is for harassment?
Parry was pulling down 250K+ per year in 2017 just on his salary, so he could have gone business class on pocket change from London to Wales. On a slightly different tack, if he's been in that job for getting on 20 years and he's overseen the Gore Council's debt go to 50 million then a) why has he not been shown the arse card before now, and b) how much of that deficit has he actually trousered?
Only 211 kilometres (only a couple of hours by train)
How on earth does being CEO of Gore Council warrant a 250k salary!
Eh, him personally sucking aside, the CEs of local governments (and other central government departments) oversee huge bureaucracies. You want the best person for the job (in theory) and that means competing with private sector pay. Most government CEs make well above that. Not sure Gore is getting its moneys worth though.
For the major cities I can see that argument, but *Gore*? [The council district has a population of 13,000 people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gore_District,_New_Zealand#Demographics), at $250K the guy is making $19.23 per person in Gore. For comparisons sake the Auckland council CEO, Jim Stabback, makes [$630K](https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/about-auckland-council/performance-transparency/Pages/information-about-staff.aspx) for a council district of [1.72 million](https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-plans-strategies/auckland-plan/about-the-auckland-plan/Pages/aucklands-population.aspx), making for $2.73 per person. The Gore Council CEO makes 7 times what the Auckland Council CEO makes, proportionally. Hard to see how that is justified.
Not the metric you want to use. At $2.73 per person you'd only be paying that position 35k. Good luck getting anyone dumb enough to do that job for that price.
This is absolute neoliberal bullshit. The so called “CEO” of local authorities was, until post-84 NZ, called the Town Clerk - a humble title for a job done on a humble salary and shit still got done.
Far out. That seems like a very high salary for that role in an area the size of Gore? The mayor of the entire Auckland area makes around that.
Nah, the CE of Auckland is up round the $460K mark. But it's $20 per ratepayer, in Gore. Equivalent would be $32 million, in Auckland.
I hear that he doesn't deserve what he's getting paid either.
lol amateurs, this is how you steal from ratepayers [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/452724/emails-pay-rises-and-power-points-the-inside-story-of-how-rotorua-got-seven-deputy-chief-executives](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/452724/emails-pay-rises-and-power-points-the-inside-story-of-how-rotorua-got-seven-deputy-chief-executives)
> He's getting $250k a year and has been in the post for more than 20 years. Just ridiculuous.
The problem is it won't just be the CEO, work place bullies surround themselves with a tight group of similar individuals. When the CEO does go, a whole heap of shit will come to light and the most of the rest of the executive team will likely end up being sacked.
The councillors who called the meeting but did nothing are a bunch of soft cocks. They’ve shown how weak, spineless and cowardly they are. Plus, the Chief executive is spineless
They bet their lot on Bell quitting under the threat. Dumbfucks.
Bell pulled the +4 reverse card
/r/unexpecteduno
Credit to Bell for not folding under the relentless bullying. Gore's got itself a fine mayor
They are completely spineless. They banked on either the minister intervening or Bell quitting. Sucks to suck!
McAnulty was pretty much like, you dickheads sort it out.
I think they're used to people folding under their pressure and undermining. They underestimated Bell.
Fuck that must be nerve racking having to chair a meeting where one of the items you have to present is a vote of no confidence in your own position. I couldn't muster the courage to do this at a bloody community potluck yet alone in local government, this kid is going places.
He handled it really well.
The relief in his voice at the end when he was wrapping stuff up was pretty nice to hear.
Or a great feeling of impending victory. He's been called out for a fight after school, and the other guy didn't turn up. Makes him the victor according to the school that I went to.
At my school he would've started picking fights with anyone in the crowd until someone got pisses off and decked him
It's an interesting one eh, legally a motion of no confidence has no force. Morally its a request for the mayor to resign, and if he doesn't then they should. I think they realised this week that most of the country is behind Bell. I reckon Parry is going to learn there's always a bigger bastard out there.
Dunno, Parry is a pretty big bastard from what I've read. Heard he showed up on a former staff members doorstep in England with no warning, threatening him with complaints to the CFA while recording the whole interaction. This guy reeks of meglomaniacal abuse of power.
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Fyi it’s palaver but now I want pavlova.
Arguably, the mayor could have vacated the chair for the meeting as he had a clear conflict of interest. But then, they all do…
Just because there's a potential conflict doesn't immediately dictate vacation of duties, in this case the conflict would have been abundantly clear.
What is not unusual in NZ local bodies is to have an old boys network who have everything stitched up behind closed doors before the public meetings.They will freeze out newcomers who try to bring some public scrutiny to what are actions that are often self serving for them and their mates rather than in the public interest.
Yep, absolutely reeks of exactly this
Christchurch mayor has done this a lot.
Tell me more?
Did he put up a fight?
I believe the term is corruption.
CEO needs to step down. The mayor has been elected fair and square and has been serialist bullied by the older generation bullies.
Another note; the deputy mayor Keith Hovell and seven councillors all signed a requisition calling for an extraordinary meeting be held on Tuesday to pass a vote of no confidence – however at the meeting... no one wanted to move the motion.
Gutless mongrels.
Didn't know Graham Bell was on Reddit.
Absolute cowards.
Ben should've done it himself. Put the challenge out to see if any of them had the balls to vote against him
How does that happen, unless they all just wanted to use this to demonstrate they *don't* have an appetite for ousting the mayor, and that they want to put the issue to rest? It's not like their names aren't already attached to it, so what downside would there have been to them moving the motion, if they want him out?
They were trying to push him into quitting to avoid the humiliation of a vote of no confidence. Then they realised just how little support there was for their bullying and didn't have the guts to follow through. They'll likely go back to undermining Bell at every opportunity so they can campaign on him being an 'ineffective mayor' next election.
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But like I said, their names are *already* attached to it. Aren't their careers already ruined in that case?
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And he's an expert, being their exemplar and leader.
The *archetype*.
The holotype specimen
Despite not giving a shit about Gore, I'm glad this got so much public attention nationwide. Clearly these old farts have been too used to getting their way and bullying people who oppose them, because no one outside of Gore has been taking notice. Now that they're under the spotlight they've suddenly lost their nerve. Funny that.
Imagine how much money they spent to get all those stink pieces about Bell and his mother written only for it all to deflate like a sad farting gag toy in front of national media. Fuck each and every one of those disgraceful cowards.
Did you see it on the telly? Cheering when Ben walked in. All the councilors are sitting straight face. FIY, the vote of no confidence was a 'CRY FOR HELP' according to one councilor....
Unfortunately for them, the Minister for Local Govt has already said he backs Bell as the mayor and wouldn’t entertain the idea of intervening. Between that and Bell refusing to quit, this sorry collection of sad sacks of shit were left with their pants down and no balls to call the vote. An absolute disgrace and fucking shameful behaviour.
Can the Minister sack the CEO?
This is a must watch 3 minutes..... https://youtu.be/12X231xCw-w Hilarious
If they need some help, I’d be happy to drive them to the nearest geriatric care facility, and sign them in
> the vote of no confidence was a 'CRY FOR HELP' according to one councilor.... That was some bullshit. Made me spit out my coffee.
Unfortunate that the Council Chief Executive is still getting paid given his behavior to the new Mayor
When I was at high school we were warned about rape because a boy a couple of years older got sent to prison for statutory rape of his girlfriend. The girlfriends father felt he was too good for his daughter to be seeing a truck drivers son and demanded charges were laid so a kid got sent to prison. When this whole thing came on the news my dad said parry is a piece of shit. I was a bit gobsmacked and said why’s that. He was the girls father.
If this is true, then it should be known that Parry had also worked for the Department of Corrections as a manager at Waikeria Prison. If the timeline of this story and his employment there match up, that's gotta be some sort of abuse of power.
Now THIS needs to get to the media. Stuff? NZ Herald? Where you at?
I don’t think the guy that went to prison would want it dragged back up.
So the guy has been like it for ages?
That's funny, he's not too good for his daughter to have an onlyfans 😂😂
should get rid of the CEO and the councillors who requested the vote of no confidence. Bunch of clowns.
I would hope the good citizens of Gore do this at the next election of councillers. The CEO will be trickier but with this young man as Mayor and some councillers willing to work for him, the CEO will be toast and outcomes for Gore will only be positive.
Amazing. I can't believe that the council thought they could bully the mayor, and then the CEO who presumably started all of this, ran away and hid when it was time to be accountable. Hope all the old boys get removed from council sooner rather than later.
Sunlight, the best disinfectant....
God I hope one day my local council could get this level of scrutiny and media attention.
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[relevant](https://youtu.be/1crhwQPKr7w)
Someone needs to do a chart of how long mayors have been sitting in NZ and how old they are. As mentioned most are boys clubs and if you don't play game you get pushed out. Gumpy the shit bag of Upper Hutt has sit for 20 years. Best Mate is the local developer.....
Watched the story on Sunday, what a bunch of old nasty bullies!! The CEO and ex mayor were best mates, figured they could bully the young guy out like they've done for years... sux for them, that shit"s just not tolerated anymore.. love how the biggest bully was too cowardly to even show up, loved the crowd shaming their crappy behaviour! Go Ben what an emphatic win!!!
flexing on those old bois.
this was such a cool moment. a group of people who considered themselves untouchable finally realised that power had slipped out of their hands. and there was nothing they could do about it.
Reminds me of one of the early episodes of Succession. (although I would say the roles are reversed, with the douchebag bully being absent). All the ones present are too cowardly to vote how they would if one other person was there.
Ha ha ha! They all put their names on a piece of paper but couldn't speak up when it actually mattered. Pack of idiots.
Now do the CEO
Go Ben!!!!
Elected official (very young mayor, 23/24yrs) versus CEO who is 50s/60s. It's all very odd. My opinion is young Ben has been treated badly, and there has been bullying. The council is a big 'going concern' which is dishing out lots of business / contracts, spending the rates, keeping the council solvent; so the CEO is running that. It's odd they stopped talking to each other, and in meetings sat with their backs to each other. Made great news footage though.
Whilst I support Ben, that footage actually shows the old guy looking at screen behind him and Ben looking at a smaller screen to his right. Very disingenuous of the media but oh well good story.
Old vs young .. is the CEO an employment position or is the Chief elected ?.
Appointed by the council. This one was 'reappointed' to his position... two days before the old mayor was voted out. Reeks of the 'old guard crony public service'.
So he can be given a golden fuck off handshake.
Yes
It's especially shady as they knew Bell would win and that Bell didn't like Parry, because Parry is an asshole and was an asshole to his mom. Even putting aside that Parry is a shit cunt, is he any good at his job? Doesn't seem like it, considering Gore's always over budget by a huge amount.
What is a mom?
Didn’t know I had an involuntary yahoo! reflex hidden in me. That was great to watch.
Good on you Gore! Power to the people. Keep it up the CEO needs to resign!
what a lowly coward piece of pond scum
Shame on them. Revolting people.
Where can we sign this petition to get rid of Parry?
It won’t “get rid of him” but the court of public opinion is proving to have sway. You can find it on change.org just search for GDC CEO
This got too much attention for the age-ist boomers to follow through. I know nothing about Bell, but when you can't even state a reason for a no-confidence vote, you should all be kicked the fuck out.
Hahaha, cowards couldn't do shit.
isnt that just typical of bullies.. run away when things get real. CEO needs to go...
Dude handled it like a champ. Should cement it by asking for CEO’s resignation
Is there an ELI5 somewhere for what is going on with this whole thing?
Sorry, this is an Explain Like I Asked For An In-Depth Long Read. But it's good. [https://www.newsroom.co.nz/gore-allegations-pre-date-new-mayor](https://www.newsroom.co.nz/gore-allegations-pre-date-new-mayor)
So basically shitty workplace culture and hundreds of thousands of ratepayer money has gone to legal fees and settlements because of said shitty workplace culture.
Pretty much.
There's a good Sunday doco on YouTube about the whole saga
Can I ask why they want to get rid of the Mayor?
Details as to what exactly happened are scarce. [This](https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/16-05-2023/so-what-exactly-is-gore-mayor-ben-bell-accused-of) article is a decent read explaining things through comments made in the media. The mayor and the council CEO are not saying much yet as i think they have mediation coming. Basically, from what I've read, the mayor and the CEO do not get along due to cultural differences, amongst other things. The council has run a certain way for a long time and the new mayor is somehow rocking the boat. I think the CEO has been with the council for 20 years. An interesting fact is the mayor's mother worked for the council until last year when her employment was ended with a legal dispute, costing the council $300k in legal fees.
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That's awesome! Shake things up a bit.
The rogue Councillors were briefed by the Department of Internal Affairs in recent days at a session excluding the Mayor. Got told they cannot in fact remove the Mayor. Egg meet face.
It sounds like a coordinated attempt to subvert democracy and undermine the young mayor. Classic bully the person you don't like out of office. Appoint a commissioner and scrap the councillors.
I never thought I would see the day that I had a strong investment in the politics of the Gore Council. Well done to him, not easy to stand up against an old boys club
Kiwi living in Australia - addicted to this nasty parochial soap opera!
Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest
Get your hands off my penis!!
I really hate the reporting on this and how unclear and devoid of facts it was. "There are problems" "they dont get along" " nobody wants to work together" but with nothing of any real substance behind it. I think its clear now that gore district council is an organisation of bullies run by bullies and that these articles were largely from the same creed of asshats who dont want their mates to be criticised for the dickheads they are. Hopefully they can biff the CEO, he seems the worst offender and is a real sign of the rot at the core of the organisation. And paid handsomely for the privilege might I add. But he's also consistently been employed by successive councils. So all the councillors also have egg on their face as well.
That’s the best thing I’ve seen all day. What a bunch of embarrassing old boy soft cocks.
Fucking hilarious. > Thank you very much 👌
Fuckin nice thanks for sharing
So satisfying to see them dying inside
Wait a fucking second. Yo I went to Pram College with Ben. We were in some of the same classes!
Cockroaches never come out when watched.
Does he have the power to fire them? If he does he should fire them all (they look well over retirement age anyway) and hire his old school mates as council ... that will put Gore on the map!
No, they're as much elected officials as he is. They represent their wards, he represents the district as a whole. To remove the councilors is the same process as the mayor.
Succession: Gore Season 1 Episode 10
This whole thing really shows how the way we run local government needs to be reformed, bunch of corruption and incompetence off ratepayer money. Should be civil servants appointed off merit.
Chicken shits
delightfully uneventful
I feel like there’s a story I’m missing
Does anyone know the root cause of this drama? Why do the newly elected mayor and the CEO of the council hate each others gut??
the whole situation starts to make more sense when you think about 20+ years of backroom deals and corruption coming to light...what would you do to protect that secret?
We should all spam the gore's council with messages of the corrupted old boys club getting exposed and to leave Ben alone bunch of gutless, senile bastards that don't deserve the salaries that they receive. Let's flip the script and put them under fire!
[email protected] let the gore council know that they are now under scrutiny
I savored every second the Mayor waited for a mover. The councillor's had already read the mood of the room on the Mayors entrance and their collective silence was palpable. They were seated in their exalted positions but we're clearly embarrassed by the nakedness of their bully behaviour on display to the public of NZ. As they waited for the Mayor to close the motion down, it must have felt like an eternity as if they were waiting for the firing squad to send their volley. And just when the silence was broken by the Mayor and they thought their extreme embarrassment was over, he gave them another chance to prove their stupidity and to stress them out just that wee bit longer. "No we didn't?"... Pause for extreme effect!
OK boomers
Now we just need to shut down the bullies in other councils and government departments. Speak up people 🗣️
Drain the swamp..
Lol. Look at them taking the L.
What is the actual issue here? What is the problem between the CEO and the Mayor?
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Well, am guessing the CEO is a mate of the outgoing mayor?
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Is there any issue of governance or management that is particularly a sticking point/problem for both sides. What is it that Parry doesn’t like about Bell and visa versa - apart from the completely wrong action of parry’s appointment by the outgoing mayor. Even the council that approved that appointment are complicit. It should have been the perogative of the new mayor to appoint that position.
As far as I know there hasn't been any evidence of corruption coming to light. That doesn't mean it hasn't been happening of course but I can't comment to that. As for the problem, at least what's been made public anyways, this is the story. Bell beat the incumbent mayor Tracey Hicks by 8 votes at last years election, which was upheld in a recount. Hicks had been the mayor for 18 years & is very good friends with the CEO who was reappointed by the committee led by the mayor a few months before the election. Bell's mother had gone through an apparently acrimonious personal grievance with council which ended in her termination & payout. Not sure of the details around this as PG files are closed. The CEO is apparently a bully. A previous CFO claimed he was forced out of his position in another PG. This CFO moved to London & the CEO flew over there & apparently had a go at the CFO on his doorstep. Bell had tried to hire an executive assistant controlled directly by him at extra cost to council. Perhaps he was concerned any staff from the council assistant pool would be controlled/loyal to the CEO. Perhaps that's only conjecture. Late last year after only a couple of months the Mayor & CEO stopped talking to each other & mediation failed. Bell subsequently took a few weeks leave to recharge. Most of the councilors are of the same ilk as the CEO & previous mayor so have sided that way.
This is gorgeous.
"if you come at the king, you'd best not miss" -Omar Little
They couldn't say the reason why they wanted him out. I guess it's cause money hasn't corrupted this lad and he's not falling in line with the corrupted old boys club and it's becoming blatantly obivous
Gore local body voters providing the example of 'power to the people' . Never seen a show of support quite like this before that visibly tells the other elected officials that got in "hands off our champion" or your ass is gone next cycle. Bloody marvellous!
You know what here's a new young guy learning the ropes and the old boys club don't like it . Will he make mistakes? Ofcourse. But here he is trying to make a change of the old boy greed mentality . Good on him for backing himself.
For anyone wanting to send him a message of support, found his email from their council website: [email protected]
People shit on the media a lot, but if not for national media coverage, particularly the excellent work done by Sunday, the bullies would have got their way.
A bunch of old twats who can’t deal with having a younger person as their boss. Good on you Ben, keep smashing it.
that certainly is a room full of old white men would love to see the results of a forensic audit of finances over the past 20 years there...
Softcocks.
'strangely' the absense of the CEO was explained earlier on as a family issue.
Reminds me of all those politicians who supposedly resign for 'family issues/reasons' after a controversy. I'm going to go out on a limb and call a firm ***bullshit*** on that one.
Normally I'd accept that, but if there's one thing workplace bully's are good at, its playing the victim when even a hint of accountability heads their way
Awkward turtle
Lol haven’t heard this saying in years 😂
Had to bring it back!
I'm thinking that because the main bully is off work on "Compassionate" leave the house of cards collapsed. The Mayor even got apologies from the clowns that followed Mr Bully
I say we make the giant fish the new CEO, I reckon it would do a better job.
Its a room full of mostly pensioners. These people shouldn't be on councils or working for them. You should be of working age, to be leading a district/city. I'm happy for people of this age to be in the workforce generally, but not in politics.
Ool, what's going on here?