Mayor gives public the ring-around: Shadbolt continues SIT crusade without council

Tim Shadbolt is pressing on with his campaign against funding cuts at the Southern Institute of Technology despite not having council backing.

About 60 people responded by telephone to a poll conducted by the mayor on Friday asking whether people supported his campaign against government funding cuts at the Southland Institute of Technology.

The poll asked whether Mr Shadbolt should have the ability to poll the public, whether he should disclose the amount of money given to his campaign by business backers, to whether he should be tougher on the Government.

Funded by himself, the poll was advertised in a quarter-page advertisement in the Southland Express after the Invercargill City Council passed a resolution at Tuesday's council meeting barring him from using any council resources in his campaign.

The first question asked "do you feel a mayor should have the ability to poll the public?" Thirty-four respondents answered "yes" while 20 said "no" , Mr Shadbolt said.

"That really interested me, the 20 people who said I shouldn't have a poll then religiously went on to answer the rest of the questions."

The second question which Mr Shadbolt asked was whether he should break a promise to business leaders not to disclose their level of financial support. 20 people said "yes" he should, to 29 who believed he should keep his word.

The question of whether his threat to bring down the Government was too extreme resulted in the noes winning by one vote, 26 to 25.

Mr Shadbolt also asked whether he should have the "flexibilty to make tactical decisions in the field of battle".

Here the respondents were more reserved with 35 saying no, to 26 supporting that.

Respondents were also against Mr Shadbolt taking a tougher stance on the Government, with 31 noes to 24 replying "yes".

Mr Shadbolt said answers posted would trickle in in the coming days and had yet to be collated.

However, he planned to present the full results to the city council.

- © Fairfax NZ News