Mayor plans to confront council

Don't bitch-slap me.

That was the warning from a defiant Tim Shadbolt yesterday in reaction to the resolution from Tuesday's council meeting barring him from using any council resources in his campaign to bring down the Government.

He was not present when the motion was passed.

Mr Shadbolt said the council was trying to gag him by distancing itself from his campaign.

The mayor has vowed to breach the Electoral Act by publishing an advertisement urging voters to support National's Invercargill MP Eric Roy at the next general election.

Mr Shadbolt wants this to lead to a test case for the new laws because he believes the Government's handling of funding cuts for the Southern Institute of Technology are "absolutely wrong" and the new electoral spending laws are a breach of New Zealand citizens' democratic civil rights and freedom of speech.

He has reiterated that he is acting as an individual, not as Invercargill's mayor.

Mr Shadbolt said he wanted to hold a poll next Friday to gauge public feeling over his campaign, and wanted to ask whether his call to bring down the Government had been over the top and if they wanted him to break his word to corporate backers and make public who had contributed to the Friends of SIT fund.

However, he said he had been told by council chief executive Richard King that the resolution barred him from using any council resources on the campaign. "I'd have to set up an office somewhere else, paying for advertising myself." Mr Shadbolt said he intended calling an emergency meeting early next week to try and get the "bitchslap resolution" rescinded.

He said he doubted councillors realised the resolution would have such far-reaching consequences.

His mayoral budget should be able to be used at his discretion, and if he wanted to use $200 to run a poll, as he had done before, he should be allowed to.

He said he felt his human rights had been violated and that the council was trying to repress his freedom of speech.

 The councillor who tabled the resolution, Lindsay Abbott, said he would oppose Mr Shadbolt's challenge "from every quarter possible".

"The mayor tells us in one breath he is acting as an individual ... then when it suits him, as this appears to do, he's back in mayor-al office. That's not consistent." Finance and policy committee chairman, Cr Norman Elder said he did not think an emergency meeting was needed. Mr Shadbolt could use council resources to support SIT, but would need to use his own funds for any wider campaign.

Cr Geoff Piercy said public feedback he'd received indicated people did not want the council being dragged into Mr Shadbolt's wider campaign.

He said he was certain Mr Shadbolt would not have the numbers to rescind the resolution.

Cr Graham Sycamore said he was comfortable with the resolution.

The vote had been unanimous, but he would be happy to listen to the mayor's argument.

Five other councillors spoken to yesterday also said they were comfortable with the resolution passed.

Three others could not be contacted.

Mr King said no meeting had been scheduled yet. He would discuss the matter with Mr Shadbolt when the mayor returned from Auckland on Monday.

- © Fairfax NZ News