Laws lays into 'bunch of single-issue nutters'

Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws is confident he will be cleared. Picture / Wanganui Chronicle

Controversial Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws says the people levelling misconduct claims against him are a bunch of "single-issue nutters".

The mayor faced off with a group of Wanganui residents who allege he has breached the council's code of conduct, at a meeting on Monday afternoon where he rebutted their claims.

Wanganui residents Valerie Calder, Warwick Chapman, Carol Webb, Matt Dutton, William Pearce and Jay Kuten say the council's code of conduct requires that elected members must act in the best interests of Wanganui and respect other people.

Group member Ms Webb said the meeting was merely a platform for Mr Laws to abuse the complainants without actually dealing with the complaints.

She said the group's lawyer Dr Rob Moodie had tried to stop that happening but everyone knew it would before they turned up to the meeting.

"It is frankly a joke. We just feel there was absolutely no hope of justice and we knew that before [the] meeting."

Mr Laws said the group had made 70 claims against him of which he only had to answer five, including that he had breached confidentiality, not acted in the best interests of Wanganui, called someone a "dumb elitist" and called the group "single-issue nutters".

The special public audit and administration committee meeting was called to decide whether Mr Laws had done anything wrong.

The committee chaired by deputy mayor Dot McKinnon will report its findings back to the full council on June 27.

Yesterday Mr Laws said he was extraordinarily confident he would be cleared.

"I don't think I will be having any concerns with any of them."

He said he was angry ratepayers' time, money, efforts and energy had been wasted on "a bunch of nutters" whose real problem seemed to be with him.

"If they don't like me then they should not vote for me."

He said members of the group including Mrs Calder, Mr Dutton and Ms Webb had an agenda against him. They were members of the Save our Serjeant (Gallery) Group and a planned extension of the local gallery had been canned.

With Mr Pearce and Mr Kuten the group had had around 80 letters published in the Wanganui Chronicle's letter column about him.

"They have given Wanganui a wonderful profile though," said Mr Laws. "I'm delighted at the way Wanganui has been put on the front pages of newspapers and on the television screens [as a result]."

He said the furore over his comments and the meeting had shown the rest of New Zealand that Wanganui had a vibrant, if slightly eccentric, community.