LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS

Jan from Ebdentown

DEMOCRACY DENIED
Q. How come any city councillor is able to completely ignore a ratepayer? In total contravention of their sworn oaths to do the opposite?
Oaths to uphold and facilitate rate payers, regardless of personal considerations, to help ratepayers/citizens understand and access the democratic process?

If I am correct, it is the Mayors job (legal obligation) as ‘chief councillor’ to oversee councillors, to make sure that what he and all councillors do is lawful, procedurally correct, in line with protocols and their sworn duty as elected representatives in respect of serving rate payers needs and issues without judgement and that is not happening then something is very very wrong with democracy in Upper Hutt.

Q. So who’s not doing their job?
How come the Mayor has not done his job, as we understand it, in guiding the councillors in their sworn legal obligations to rate payers. How has he allowed our councillors to be derelict in their duty to us?
Did the Mayor not tell them their obligations as elected representatives to rate payers?
Did the Mayor instruct them regarding their obligations to us and in this instance they chose to ignore them?
Did the Mayor instruct them to ignore me?
That six (6) sworn representatives ignored me at the same time leaves me no choice but to conclude that it was a deliberate attempt to deny me my rights to democracy!
Q. How many others have been shut down, shut out, by this Mayor and Council?
How successful has this strategy been over the years of the Incumbent Mayors reign, that they were confident as a group, that this was the tactic to employ to deny me or anybody else democracy?
Whatever the answer is, each of them is responsible for their own choices, but the final overarching responsibility always comes back to the Mayor.