Keith Melville

Those Beacon letter writers, who have defended a group of council members for endorsing Toi Iti in his bid for the vacant regional council seat should hardly be surprised at the criticism they have attracted in this newspaper.

As I have written before, Iti is entitled to seek endorsement from anyone he chooses, absolutely.

That is his democratic right, but I doubt whether he realises that seeking and receiving endorsement from some of our elected Whakatāne District Council representatives comes with a poisoned chalice.

Collectively, the council is not known for good judgment when it comes to matters involving rates, budgeting, and employment feather-bedding.

You only need to see the commentary and graphs on council spending and staffing numbers, provided in the Beacon last week by a former councillor, Gerard van Beek, to know council spending and its priorities have gone horribly wrong.

So, why should us common folk trust any endorsement those seven councillors seem to believe we should passively accept, especially when that endorsement looks more like the kiss of death.

One of the Beacon’s letter writers last Friday, Ian McDonald, says Iti’s wit in gaining the support of councillors was to be admired and none of those councillors would have agreed if they thought they were betting on a donkey rather than a racehorse.

I think the councillors McDonald refers to are fully aware there are other capable racehorses in the race, and those councillors would rather influence the result with Iti than see a horse they intensely dislike, bolting home.

McDonald has a dig at me in his letter when he says he will drop off a sachet of ascerbic (sic) acid for me at “cobweb corner” next time on one of his periodic visits to my favourite coffee shop.

I don’t mind the dig at my age, but his attack on my friends, most of whom are some years younger than me, is unnecessarily rude and grossly unfair.

Also, I won’t forgive his spelling mistake and his callous and insulting attempt to paint my comments as tame, by offering me a sachet of acerbic acid, which is part of my regular diet anyway