Jay Kuten: Best to be seen and unheard

IRONY: Philippa Baker-Hogan

TO demonstrate his "gutfulness" (the antonym "gutless", as he was accused of being), John Key accused the Opposition MPs - both men and women who were objecting to the lack of pressure he was applying over Australia's refusal of natural justice for Christmas Island Kiwis - of supporting "rapists and murderers".

Not only is the language ugly, the accusation turns out to be false. Not a murderer or rapist among them - just normal crims.

Confronted with evidence of the falseness, Key looks steadily at the camera and assumes a silent staring face.

That's how professional politicians react when they're caught out. They don't. They follow the advice of politician-statesman Abraham Lincoln who said: "Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt." Thoughts anticipated in Proverbs 17:28, but Lincoln said it better.

Amateur politicians are another thing. Being tone deaf, they can't resist convincing everyone of their own shortcomings. I am referring to our local councillor Philippa Baker-Hogan, community portfolio holder.

In response to the news of the homicide of Black Power gang leader Craig Rippon, Mrs Baker-Hogan determined that a threat of gang violence required her to state that a Community Action Group was needed and that she was personally "prepared to take a strong leadership role".

It turns out that was entirely unnecessary as further danger from gang violence was completely unlikely.

Mr Rippon was allegedly a victim of his own gang members and the notion that his death would provoke retribution was a figment of Mrs Baker-Hogan's over-heated imagination. As was her offer of a heroic rescue of the city.

This newspaper's John Maslin quite rightly called out her grandstanding for what it is, an opportunistic self-aggrandisement as Mrs Baker-Hogan continues what is the worst-kept political secret in this city: her campaign to become mayor.

As appalling as the fear-mongering was by itself, worse was her response to being criticised, particularly for a lack of tact and concern for the family and friends of Mr Rippon.

In her defensive letter of response (Chronicle, November 11), the irony of her identification as community portfolio holder underscores the inadvertent self-destructiveness of a confession rarely seen in these parts.

As both heroine and victim of her own created myth, Mrs Baker-Hogan acknowledges that her behaviour on council has earned her the enmity of her colleagues. Her obstructionist tactics resemble those of her mentor, the former mayor, a man also given to fear-mongering in the service of his own electoral fortunes.

By her own admission, Mrs Baker-Hogan does not play well with others. Her own words convict her as to the esteem, or lack thereof, in which she is held by fellow councillors. "Pathetic", "worse than Laws" and "disgusted" are quoted as words her colleagues use - and that's what is said to her face.

In her response to John Maslin, she offers not one word denying her ambition for the mayoral chain, a central point of his editorial. Meantime, her actions in this and other matters - for example, refusing the right of citizens to petition council - give good reason to question her qualifications for her present position.

Most telling for me is her inability to recognise that this terrible event, this murder of a brave man in this city, is not about her.

Craig Rippon was just 57. He was a father and a grandfather. Yes, he was also the leader of the Black Power gang, but he was also a man recently honoured for his sincere attempt to change the gang culture in which he had been imbedded.

At the time of his death he had been working toward building a better and responsible life for his grandchildren.

-Jay Kuten is an American-trained forensic psychiatrist who emigrated to New Zealand for the fly fishing. He spent 40 years comforting the afflicted and intends to spend the rest afflicting the comfortable.