Vandals attack Puketapapa campaign
Candidates on an Auckland local board election ticket have had seven signs vandalised - and they don’t believe it’s a random attack.
On August 28 Paul Davie, of the Community Independents running for the Puketapapa Local Board, heard one of his signs had been damaged.
He subsequently found a pattern when going to check on others throughout the area.
The Blockhouse Bay real estate agent is running on the ticket alongside his wife Kathryn Davie, Pratima Nand and Joseph Rebello.
Davie is adamant it’s a targeted attack for the fact their signs were the only ones damaged right from Three Kings through to Lynfield.
‘‘It was particularly targeted to Puketapapa and over a wide area and it was the same sort of damage [throughout]… it’s not kids.
‘‘These people are running around with craft knives, it’s not as if they’re just going around and pulling them off.’’
Some of the faces on the signs were cut in a U-shape by the vandals and folded down over the back of the board; damage Davie fixed himself with screws.
He says his ticket has spent about $5000 on signs for the election.
Davie says he also received an aggressive email around a week ago from one of the opposition candidates.
The message criticised him and his wife Kathryn for running for the local board.
‘‘Because we live in Avondale and we’re standing in the Whau and the Puketapapa they called it ‘electoral crop dusting’.
‘‘The term of the email I received from them was pretty much along the lines of ‘how dare you stand in our area’.’’
Davie, who stood for Mt Roskill with the Conservative Party in the 2014 general election, says he’s standing in Puketapapa to support two ‘‘very dedicated community people’’ who wanted to put their name forward but didn’t have the electoral experience.
‘‘So we’re standing with [Rebello and Nand] just to support them and try and get them in the right place to help their community.’’
The signs have now all been repaired by Davie himself, with some of them having had to be completely replaced.
Davie plans to file a police report.
The local body elections will be held on October 8.