Mayor Michael Feyen and Councillor Ross Campbell working together earlier this year. Photo / file.
A bitter divide has ripped through Horowhenua District Council, with the mayor and deputy on one side, and the rest of the councillors on the other.
At a meeting last night councillors voted to remove deputy Ross Campbell. But Mayor Michael Feyen wasn't happy, immediately moving to reinstate his preferred deputy.
The issue is still unresolved, with the council's pick of Wayne Bishop moving into the deputy role while the council seeks advice on who has the final say.
Ousted deputy mayor Ross Campbell said the meeting was a farce, with opposition based on personal dislike.
"They appeared like chickens scratching in the dust, looking for something to hang on me. They tried desperately to come up with some reason why I shouldn't be the deputy mayor.
"I had to laugh at one of them, who said I wasn't a woman so I shouldn't be the deputy mayor.
"Another councillor said I shouldn't be the deputy because I put out newsletters to those in my ward."
Campbell believes the opposition is down to disputes in the previous council term. He said councillors were shocked by his and Mayor Feyen's popularity with voters in the October election.
"The truth is they bullied us into a corner for three years," he said.
"They would deprive us of information, deprive us of committees of any standing, and any time we would speak on behalf of our constituents we were shut down.
"Then we got the biggest votes. So now they're grieving.
"It's a bit like when you wean the cattle from their calves, the mooing goes on for blinking weeks."
Mayor Michael Feyen isn't happy about the stoush, and won't give up on his preference of working with Councillor Campbell. He's now seeking legal advice.
"Deputy Wayne Bishop, we've probably only [exchanged] about four sentences over the last three years.
"I'm not going to judge Councillor Bishop on what he's like as a deputy mayor.
"All I'm saying is, I have the right to pick my own deputy mayor, which I did. But then over the next page of the rules, the councillors do.
"So who has the right? That's what's got to be challenged. Because the law's an ass."
Feyen is also putting the opposition down to petty politics.
"Many people see it as a way of nullifying a mayor's power.
"I obviously got in rather surprisingly to a lot of people, against a long-standing mayor. That doesn't seem to sit quite right with some."
But replacement deputy, Wayne Bishop, said there were legitimate problems with Councillor Campbell.
"There wasn't any trust or respect from the council, towards Mr Campbell, given his actions of the last three years.
"He's tainted all the council and councillors with corruption tags, and never substantiated any of that with any fact.
"On his Facebook site were some pretty derogatory and damning accusations, levelled at members of the council.
"Otherwise he goes to national TV, and just presents a case to the wider community, that isn't based on any fact.
"We just couldn't see that that was a situation that we could continue to support."
Bishop said it wasn't about undermining the mayoralty more widely.
"I sat down with [Michael Feyen] for over an hour recently.
"I stressed that there is plenty of common ground between what he is wanting to achieve for this district, and what the councillors want to achieve for this district.
"Issue by issue, these things can be achieved."
But Ross Campbell has a warning for the rest of the council, that he's not going down without a fight.
"I won't stop working with Michael. I don't need a title around my neck, that doesn't worry me one bit.
"I still know that we're going to get this place moving. That's what the people want and we're not going to let councillors get in the way of it."