Pair hit back at mayor's comments

Photo: BEN WATSON

OFF COURSE: Andrew Williams announces that he will stand for the supercity but recent polls suggest his mayoralty campaign has failed to gain traction.

Chris Darby

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Two leading political figures have hit back at mayor Andrew Williams who launched a vitriolic attack on them this week.

In an emailed press release, Mr Williams says councillor Chris Darby and former councillor Gary Holmes "have no scruples and will stoop to anything".

He goes on to say: "They are the two of the worst individuals I have had to deal with in my nine years of local government."

Mr Williams got just 1 percent as preferred supercity mayor in the latest Herald Digipoll, down from 3.8 percent in an earlier one.

A recent Metro article praises Mr Darby as the North Shore's most impressive candidate for the new council and one of the region's clearest thinkers about transport planning.

He is a long-time critic of the controversial mayor and leads Shore Voice, a group contesting the supercity elections. Among its members are the six councillors widely seen as outside Mr Williams' so-called A-team.

In his release, the mayor calls those councillors "traitors" for challenging his A-team's controversial swansong spend-up.

He accuses Mr Darby of impropriety over election billboards.

Former councillor Mr Holmes is standing for the the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board. He recently stood down as general manager of the North Harbour Business Association.

Mr Williams alleges the reasons for Mr Holmes' resignation were of a financial nature. The allegations were repeated in an anonymous email received by the North Shore Times a day later.

Mr Holmes says the allegations are "categorically untrue and I refute those suggestions totally.

"As reported on the association's website, and as NHBA chairman Graham Boult has confirmed, we agreed to part ways amicably after a divergence of views on processes and the way forward."

Mr Boult confirmed Mr Holmes' comments when contacted by the North Shore Times.

"Mayor Andrew Williams has also accused me of covert political activities with Cameron Slater, an Albany ward candidate for council," Mr Holmes says.

Mr Slater is a blogger who has been highly critical of Mr Williams over the past three years.

"I have met Mr Slater on at least three occasions at candidate meetings and as they were always in the presence of other candidates and members of the public. I'm not sure how they can be deemed to be covert," Mr Holmes says.

"The politically motivated actions and unsubstantiated allegations of mayor Williams and others who are too cowardly to identify themselves say more about their character than they do about mine."

Mr Darby says the mayor is the last person who should be passing judgement on ethics and behaviour.

Earlier this year Mr Williams made headlines after he was seen urinating on a tree outside the council headquarters after drinking in two bars.

Just months into his mayoralty Mr Williams received national media attention after lashing out at an ambulance officer after he collapsed at a navy function.

He has also been under fire for sending angry late-night emails, including some to Prime Minister John Key.

Mr Darby says Mr Williams has "had a sorry time as mayor and that's now coming to an end. He's scrambling for attention".

"It's par for the course for Andrew. The language at this level is how he operates. It's the belligerence and bullying we have seen for a long period."

In reply to a question from the North Shore Times, Mr Williams says: "All the comments that I have made in my news release in relation to Chris Darby and Gary Holmes are 100 percent correct. I have conclusive evidence to support my comments about both these people and their covert political activities."

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