Mayor Peter Butler's leaked email gets mixed reaction

LEAK: Hilary Pedersen says the email was private. PHOTO/FILE

Opinion was divided yesterday in Central Hawke's Bay on Mayor Peter Butler's recent comments regarding iwi involvement in the proposed Ruataniwha water storage scheme, as well as the unknown councillor who leaked a private email.

In an email to councillors, Mr Butler said Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana "and his mates" should be banned from any jobs resulting from the scheme because of their opposition to it.

Mr Butler responded to the leaked email last week by calling the unknown councillor responsible a "slimeball".

Former CHB councillor Hilary Pedersen, who moved to the Tasman district at the end of last year, has followed the furore and says the correspondence Mr Butler sent his councillors was private and should not have been leaked.

"A more diplomatic solution would have been for the councillor to have raised their concerns in a 'councillor-only' discussion."

On whether Mr Butler should have used the term "slimeball", she said again the answer was no.

"Although I am more offended by the reference to 'Ngahiwi's mates'.

"Our mayor is known for shooting from the hip but maybe he should count to 10 before he pulls the trigger," she said.

Waipukurau businessmen Dave Hern backed Mr Butler and his frustration at the iwi's stance against the dam.

"The iwi are saying we will let you have the dam if you pay us," Mr Hern said.

"At a public meeting they said they would support the dam if it meant jobs for their people, and they would have to be trained - they will support it if they get their cut."

As for a councillor leaking Mr Butler's email, Mr Hern said that was just a fact of life in the modern technological age.

"You can't put things into an electronic format and not expect them to go somewhere," he said.

On the CHB Mail Facebook page, former Takapau resident Andy Kells said that obviously the council was not unified on this one.

"They should all be part of a team and if one has a different point of view he or she should express it to the mayor."

Reaction from people on the street in Waipukurau, who did not want to be named, was generally in support of the email being leaked.

"I think it's good for people to know what the mayor thinks and what he's saying to his councillors," said one.

"I think he should apologise or stand down, or maybe both - he's been in long enough," said another.

And another was not bothered by the leaked email: "I think it's fair enough for the councillor to leak it - they have to be transparent, this whole dam process needs to be more public."

Mr Butler said yesterday he has spoken to all but two of his councillors about the email and would meet all of them today but all had denied leaking it.

"Where it's come from, I have no idea."