I respond to Rosemary Mackenzie (Letters February 22).
Reynold Macpherson wished to become the mayor and came second. He therefore failed. David Cameron wished for Great Britain to remain in the EU. He led the campaign, he failed, he resigned. Reynold led the campaign for RDRR, he failed, and claims victory.
The increase in votes that Reynold may have gathered over those he gained when he stood for council are irrelevant. He failed then as now.
Councillors Bentley and Kumar did gain a huge number of votes on merit. All of those votes cannot possibly belong to RDRR, in my view. The 3000 more that Bentley gained over the RDRR median should at least be seen as votes for him on merit. There could easily be 3000 votes that Raj Kumar gained ahead of RDRR because he is the man he is. Yet the RDRR group will continue to claim all 6000 to make their, in my view, fanciful achievements seem even better than they were.
Numbers do not make key stakeholders. We are all stakeholders, represented by our elected councillors. The key ones are those who I would suggest have been identified as representing our key communities, such as our Lakes Board, and our key industries, such as tourism. Certainly not a group that in my opinion has offered nothing but negativity since its inception. The RDRR can be recognised as a ginger group, but certainly not as key stakeholders.
JOHN PAKES
Ngongotaha
No matter what numbers they crunch, when are the RDRR group going to get over the fact that they lost the election? I am tired of their bleating.
ANNA GARRATT
Ngongotaha
