Wellington City councillor Sean Rush. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Wellington City councillor Sean Rush. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Wellington mayor Andy Foster has warned it would be unwise for elected officials to have anonymous social media accounts, after a councillor was accused of running one to support their own positions.
Last week city councillor Sean Rush denied the now deleted Twitter account @localbod1 was run by him. But some of his colleagues remain convinced he was behind it.
The account recently tweeted "Well done Sean Rush" following controversy over new appointments to Wellington Water's board.
Rush is Wellington City Council's representative on the Wellington Water Committee. It's understood he took issue with former chief of staff Kaine Thompson going on to the board as the appointment was seen as too political.
Thompson was chief of staff at the city council for several years under then chief executive Kevin Lavery.
Former Porirua mayor Nick Leggett ended up being appointed to the Wellington Water Board with Thompson missing out.
The @localbod1 account tweeted: "The other guy who was not approved is a former Labour staffer, left wcc when Justin lost, has great PR skills but no infrastructure experience. Well done Sean Rush."
Rush did not address renewed questions yesterday as to whether the Twitter account was run by him, saying he would not comment further on the "local bod thing".
The important thing right now was water issues, Rush said.
"We need genuine industry expertise on the Board of Wellington Water. I challenged the proposed appointments to the Board last week, with thanks from the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and my alternate, Cr Pannett."
Thompson told the Herald he did not intend to pursue the matter, by way of a code of conduct complaint, for example.
"It appears to have been a silly mistake and we all make those. I support the Wellington Water Committee and its important work and I wish the Board of Wellington Water well at this critical time."
Wellington City councillor Rebecca Matthews. Photo / Mark Mitchell
One of Rush's colleagues, councillor Rebecca Matthews, said the whole affair was an embarrassment for the council.
She remained convinced the account was almost certainly Rush.
"The reason I thought it was him was it seemed to be speaking for him but as a third person and seemed to know things only Sean would know."
Matthews said it was deeply unethical.
"He is an elected person, he is accountable to the public for the things he says and does."
Foster said whoever @localbod1 was, he thought it would be unwise for an elected official to run an anonymous account on any social media platform.
Asked whether comments made by the account were appropriate, Foster said from what he has seen they were relatively restrained compared with others on social media where "unpleasant" comments often hid behind anonymity.
"Anonymous comments should be taken with a grain of salt, while the rest of us get on dealing with real issues."
One of the comments the @localbod1 account made was in reference to a Speak Up For Women event held in Wellington last year.
Speak Up For Women opposed amendments in a Bill enabling people to self-identify their sex on their birth certificate without going to the Family Court.
The @localbod1 account tweeted: "In a world where women face so many biological hurdles: period pain, endometriosis, child birth, breast cancer- the media think it ok that a bloke change his gender and suddenly suffers as if he really was a woman. I totally get why women might find that a bit off."
Rush said he was elected on a commitment to bring rigour to Wellington City Council decision making.
"I have done that with Wellington Water. I have done that with my examination of the Let's Get Wellington Moving business cases, the Library rebuild and the Te Atakura - First to Zero policy, to name a few."
Rush said his views on various subjects were widely known and assuming he sought re-election, he was sure they would be examined in detail.
"I will likely have new ideas to share", he added.
