When someone important speaks out of line ...
It was what was not said that spoke volumes about how New Plymouth district councillors now feel about their leading manager. All 14 were asked by the Taranaki Daily News to comment on chief executive Gareth Green’s unfortunate lapse of judgment publicising his fondness for women’s private parts. The paper reported “most councillors did not respond to email, calls or text requests for comment”.
It should have named them, because they will be the first to get my vote next time.
Mayor Neil Holdom didn’t have any choice. It was his job to scold Green, he did, and it was duly reported. Green is repentant, of course. He needs to be deeply so, given what he did, which showed a worrying lack of savvy about the dangers of social media. Kids learn about that as soon as they’re allowed their first phone.
Councillor Murray Chong laughed it off and three others attempted to dismiss it as a “lesson learned” and not worth all the fuss. Such loyalty to the man they all chose to hire to run their council on a salary likely comfortably north of $300,000 is understandable.
That he has shown what can only be described kindly as naivety will be disappointing to them, but the alternatives – rising in gravitas from formal censure to outright dismissal – would seem grossly unpalatable given what happened with his predecessor.
Oh hell, not another causality, may be a phrase running through the councillor grapevine.
Green has shown all the signs of being a tough operator who knew what path the council needed to take to rein in spending and reorganise things in a more efficient way. Ruthlessly so, judging by what I’ve seen at Puke Ariki Library and Museum during my recent book adventure there.
The council has made more than 100 redundant since Green took over. As the councillors’ sole employee, he needs an impeccable personal record to safely carry final responsibility for such a tricky campaign.
In my honestly held opinion, his record now carries a blemish that will not resonate favourably with some, maybe quite a few, even a lot, of ratepayers and citizens. And possibly a silent majority of his employers. Who knows.
What of the “offence” itself? Is comparing tunnel entrance shapes to vulvas offensive?
Not in a bar, probably, nor at a stag do or at home watching the footie with a bunch of mates, male or female.
Nor in a newspaper newsroom. In my day, the subs bench often spent hours during a shift trying to compose the funniest and most arresting (read: often offensive) headlines for oddball news items. I dropped a daily brief at the foot of the paper’s front page after a couple that made the first press run.
One was about a jet aborting its landing at an airport somewhere because two rabbits were copulating on the runway; another heading saying “Make that two” appeared on a story about a man who dropped dead in a florist shop while ordering a wreath for his newly deceased spouse.
Hugely amusing … in the “right” place.
I may have been the first journalist to use the c-word in a piece, way back late last century. It was in a book review, it was in context, and nobody seemed to bat an eye.
Use it on the page with the TV programmes on it, though, and there would be a palaver matching the current one.
Was Green’s context relevant? You could argue it was unlikely to have been seen by many people. He has, saying it was just a bit of mild banter between him and his wife.
The trouble is, social media has a potentially limitless audience these days. Someone who saw what he said was apparently offended enough to send it to the paper. Which did its duty.
That’s an important lesson in all this. Don’t go turning on the paper and its editor because he did his job properly, as one councillor has.
We’re here to monitor you, oh precious public figure. Step out of line and we might remind you of your duties. What do you imagine is forcing the new government to change tack on things like school lunches?
We will prick your conscience whenever we have to. Oops, now there’s an unfortunate choice of word. Make of it what you will, councillors.
I have a beer with some of you on Friday evenings. Should I throw my hat into the bar first, as they say? Or will it simply be my round?