Councillors respond

Councillors Acland and Lawrey said Matheson had not come to them with any concerns about their behaviour.

Acland said he hadn’t questioned whether Reese had the council’s backing, but had shared his personal views on her as a candidate.

‘‘I’m happy to give my honest opinion on things, and I’m happy to talk to anyone about it,’’ Acland said.

He said the idea that he could influence the vote of 78 councils was ‘‘ridiculous’’ and part of the role of those in local government was to engage in robust debate and have freedom of expression. He said it was inappropriate for them to be made a ‘‘scapegoat’’ for Reese’s loss in the election.

Lawrey said he hadn’t raised questions about whether Reese had the support of the Nelson City Council.

‘‘I have no recollection of saying anything as precise as that, because I reckon if she had put it to a vote she would have got a majority,’’ Lawrey said.

He said it felt as though he was being accused of merely discussing the candidates for president.

‘‘It sounds like [Reese] thinks I should have lied to people when asked what I thought of her candidacy,’’ he said.

‘‘And I’m not sure how Rachel Reese being president of LGNZ, which is a really big job, a three day a week job I’ve been told, is necessarily in the best interests of Nelson.’’

He said if her candidacy had been put to the vote in a resolution however, the council’s position would have been more clear.

‘‘Had [it been] put it to the vote and got the majority, we would have all been saying ‘well, we put it to the vote and this is council’s position’.’’

McGurk said he didn’t wish to comment on any comments he may or may not have made about Reese’s bid for president. ‘‘At the conference, people were asking about the candidates and there were all kinds of discussions going on,’’ McGurk said.

Councillor Bill Dalhberg, who was at the conference, said he had challenged Lawrey about some personal opinions he shared with other conference attendees.

‘‘The council were there to support [Reese’s] bid and I agreed to that ... I was disturbed that a couple of councillors were directly hindering that,’’ he said. He did not believe a vote was needed when the mayor announced her bid.