Simpson, a second-term Napier councillor and now a mayoral candidate, became the chairman of the local committee in April.
In his letter, emailed on May 6 to King, he raises issues with the behaviour of some Hawke’s Bay NZMCA members.
Arguably, the strongest language he uses is describing those involved as “bullies or tyrants”.
“In an association designed to encourage membership and participation there should be no place for bullies or tyrants,” Simpson wrote.
“I request guidance from our president on how to protect other members, minimise harm and move forward.”
He lists a number of allegations of Hawke’s Bay NZMCA members being “berated” and “belittled” over the past few years.
Simpson also accuses some members of withholding email and internet banking passwords from the new committee.
He does not name the members.
On May 8, King sent a letter to Simpson to inform him that the NZMCA board is of the view that he was “trying to bring politics into a club environment”.
“If you have an opinion on how the previous HB Area committee operated, and want those opinions appraised by the Board, then you should have been prepared to put names to those you believe operated outside the normal boundaries of operating an NZMCA Area.”
King goes on to say there are several underlying issues within the NZMCA Hawke’s Bay area, “many of which go back several years” and that the board had decided to place the region into “immediate recess” and that the area committee had been “dissolved”.
Simpson said he had sent the letter as there were unresolved historical behavioural issues that had affected a larger membership than he was previously aware of.
“A new incident occurred and we wanted a strategy to mitigate any future incidents and hopefully resolve these problems,” he said.
Simpson said he wrote the letter, rather than phoning board members, as individual complaints by local members had not appeared to have been resolved.
He said the letter set out the significance of these behavioural matters, the effect on local members, and sought to develop a strategy to mitigate any further incidents.
“As the local committee we had a responsibility to our local members to try and resolve ongoing problems and to foster good fellowship and enjoyment amongst all members,” Simpson said.
“After the April AGM, a number of members who had made the effort to attend, explained that they had not recently participated in activities and rallies, because of the ongoing behaviour of [some] individuals.”
Last week Simpson said the national board’s response was like using “a sledgehammer to crack a walnut”.
NZMCA CEO Bruce Lochore said he disagreed with that assertion.
Lochore said everyone had moved on from the committee’s dissolution, and a new Hawke’s Bay area committee had been appointed.
It was now preparing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Hawke’s Bay NZMCA area.
He said he agreed with King’s decision to stand down Simpson’s Hawke’s Bay committee.
“People can say something and then crucify innocent people. I just find that appalling and that’s what’s happened here,” he said.
Simpson said he wished the new committee well in their efforts “to promote and foster good fellowship and enjoyment” of NZMCA Hawke’s Bay members.
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in Auckland, London, Berlin, and Napier.
