NP mayoral hopeful ‘into conversation, not controversy’
A New Plymouth mayoral candidate says he has learned a salient lesson after posting a controversial social media post about a fictitious communist claim.
Peter Hardgrave shared a segment of a Newstalk ZB podcast aired by Leighton Smith referring to comments allegedly made to the UN General Assembly in 1959 by former Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev about the creation of a socialist state in America.
However, subsequent investigations from a number of news agencies, including Reuters, found no evidence to confirm that Khrushchev made remarks about feeding the United States ‘‘doses of socialism’’ or about the necessary steps for constructing a socialist state.
Hardgrave’s post, where he claimed New Zealand was becoming a Communist state, drew strong criticism from a number of people who questioned why he would post it while he was in the throes of a mayoral campaign.
‘‘To me, all it was, was a radio podcast that was saying how things could happen in a country and if you listen to it, it’s not about conspiracy,’’ he said.
The fact that the comments had subsequently proved to not have been made was something Hardgrave simply did not know.
‘‘I’m not into conspiracy,’’ he said.
‘‘To me, it was just coincidental that things align with that. nothing to do with conspiracy.’’
Hardgrave admitted he ‘‘got out’’ of the conversation as soon as it became heated with accusations, while he also said he had a sleepless night following the post.
Candidates are encouraged on the New Plymouth District Council’s website to use social media, although there are rules related to any link between the council’s accounts and those of candidates.
‘‘It’s a good idea to encourage people to follow your social media
It’s accounts while campaigning, include it in any promotional material,’’ the site says.
‘‘It’s a great way to engage with the public – you can ask questions, run polls, encourage people to register to vote and then actually vote.’’
Hardgrave has a limited social media presence with little more than a handful of posts, although he shows an affiliation with minor political group New Nation Party whose policies include New Zealand withdrawing from the United Nations.
He said he was more into creating conversations about social issues than courting controversy.
‘‘There’s a lot of things that are really concerning in our society right now, so for me (the post) was just thinking about issues,’’ he said.
As for his mayoral campaign, Hardgrave said he was looking forward to getting ‘‘up in front’’ of people and telling them what he was all about.
‘‘As I’ve said, I’m not into controversy, I’m into conversation,’’ Hardgrave said.