The People's Choice 2021 political group is questioning Bob Parker's political use of his Mayoral column in the July 7 edition of the Christchurch Star newspaper.
"The people are rightly very sensitive to political misuse of rates. The Mayoral column in the Star newspaper of July 7 was extremely political; it was a candidate's column not a mayoral column", said Darel Hall Chair of The People's Choice 2021.
Update: 2021 has now received this assurance from the Star's editor:
"Bob Parker has been contributing a column at no charge and this was his final column. All his column's are scrutinised by myself before going to print, and where appropriate, abridged, in line with The Star's commitment to fair and unbiased reporting".
That's very helpful from the Star as it narrows the question to Bob to this: "Why did you use space granted to the mayor for your own private campaigning purposes?".
We await a response!
"Mayoral candidate Bob Parker needs to state that this column was not purchased with the over $100,000 a month the Council spends on advertising. A lot of Council media spending is already questionable given the prominence given to projects politically associated with mayoral candidate Bob Parker such as the Ellerslie Flower Show.
"If mayoral candidate Bob Parker is able to state that this column was not purchased with ratepayer funds, then he needs to explain why he used space granted to the mayor for his own private campaigning purposes.
"All incumbent candidates need to have a clear separation between their status as an elected representative of the people and their private interest of seeking re-election. It is useful to highlight this issue now for all candidates of all political persuasions in order that more grievous apparent abuses are avoided as we progress through the campaign", said Darel Hall.
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