11.45am
A Napier City Council committee last night spurned its chairman's bid to contribute $25,000 to the Sensible Sentencing Trust.
John Harrison's move was defeated in an 11-2 vote taken after he had been roundly lambasted by colleagues for not complying with council procedures.
Mr Harrison was criticised for attempting to subvert process by putting the issue forward for the corporate finance committee's consideration. He was also slated for politicising a sensitive issue in an election year.
After the meeting, Mr Harrison told the Hawke's Bay Today newspaper that he was "grossly disappointed" by his committee's decision. As chairman, he said he was entitled to put forward any item on the agenda.
Typically dry affairs, the corporate finance committee meeting attracted a large public gallery as well as television coverage.
Mayor Barbara Arnott said Mr Harrison had "orchestrated" the meeting, and that she believed the figure of $25,000 "came from our chairperson's head" rather than the trust.
Mr Harrison's bid was backed by just one councillor -- Mark Herbert, who seconded the motion.
A motion subsequently put forward by David Bosley -- that the council support in principle the work of the trust in campaigning to abolish parole for violent and sex offenders -- will now lie on the table until the full council meeting on March 31.
Mrs Arnott complimented Mr Bosley for his proposal but said it did not suggest any council action. A three-week respite would provide an opportunity for ideas to come forward.
Making a presentation to the committee, Sensible Sentencing founder Garth McVicar was supported by some high-profile victims of violent crimes -- Kelly Piggott, the mother of Teresa Cormack who was abducted on her way to her Maraenui school by Jules Mikus who sexually violated and murdered the six-year-old; Belinda Reaney, whose son Simon was fatally bashed by home invader Tony Roma; and Ted and Bev Kitchen, whose son Peter Kitchen died after he was kicked in the head in downtown Napier.
Also in the public gallery were the patron of Sensible Sentencing, Sir Russell Pettigrew, Lady Pettigrew and Rowene Marsh-Potaka who is fighting to keep her brother, a double murderer, behind bars.
Mr Harrison said Sensible Sentencing was not like other organisations which repeatedly came to council for handouts.
A trust request for $2000 was turned down by the council's Safer Community Council which received $13,300 a year from the Ministry of Justice -- "a pittance" -- to fund four projects.
"There is nowhere else the Sensible Sentencing Trust can come to for the money," he said.
Mrs Arnott said there was probably no councillor who did not support the trust's work.
"In fact, the meeting today orchestrated by our chairperson probably raises the threshold in terms of the New Zealand profile of Sensible Sentencing ... but my argument is not about the trust at all, it is about process."
At the start of the council term, the policy on community grants was changed to ensure the distribution of ratepayers' money was handled fairly. Organisations were invited to apply for a grant from a $60,000 pool, representing a dollar for every Napier citizen.
"And that process today has been circumvented, not by the Sensible Sentencing Trust who did absolutely the right thing in the first place, even though it was turned down."
- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY
Napier rejects grant to Sensible Sentencing Trust
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