Jacob Page
Tasman District councillor and Richmond ward incumbent Mark Greening’s door-to-door campaign behaviour has been labelled ”aggressive” and ”odd” by two separate Richmond residents during this year’s council elections.
Negative comments made towards cyclists by the man Mr Greening endorsed to be the next mayor, fellow councillor and Mountere and Waimea incumbent Dean McNamara, in a personal online blog six years, ago have also come to light.
Mr McNamara, an incumbent Tasman District councillor, wrote a blog on his personal page on July 28, 2013 called ’Cyclists and Other Noxious Pests’ that cyclists were ‘lycra-clad tossers’ and they ‘wonder why the rest of the road users view them as noxious pests such as possums and fair game for roadkill.’
The comments were made after a cycle race allegedly left rubbish on the road outside Mr McNamara’s property.
He says, while the blog has since been taken down, the comments were referring to the cyclists who allegedly littered during the race and clogged the waterways, and were not a generalised statement to all cyclists.
The two Richmond residents, who do not know each other and wish to remain anonymous, claim they both had difficult encounters with Mr Greening at their homes while he was campaigning a fortnight ago.
One resident described Mr Greening as ”pushy” and ”odd”.
”He pushed his way in and I made it quite clear I didn’t have time to talk, but he kept going.
”One thing that got my back up is that I’m turning 65 in January and he said you don’t want to be voting for the old ones, you’ve got to vote for the young one’s.
”I found it offensive.
”I was trying to say I don’t have time, and he was very pushy.
”I did feel uncomfortable. because my husband wasn’t home.
”It was very odd behaviour, he didn’t pick up any of the social cues,” she says.
”I just wanted him off the property.”
The second resident had to have her partner come to the door to make sure everything was ok after the discussion around policy and mayoral endorsement appeared to escalate.
”I asked him a couple of questions last Sunday which got his hackles up and one of the questions was who he endorsed for mayor, and he said Dean McNamara and I asked ’who’s he?’
”Mark got very defensive about that but it was his whole aggressive… poking his finger in my face that made me quite angry.”
The resident says Mr Greening was aggressive, confrontational and defensive when asked about council matters.
”It got to the point where my partner came up to the door and asked if I was all right.
”We’ve had other (candidates) knock on our door who have been polite and welcomed questions.”
The second resident then looked up Mr McNamara on the internet and social media, which is when she discovered his blog.
Mr Greening told the Waimea Weekly it ”is hearsay at best and clearly not correct”.
I have spoken with thousands of people across Richmond this year, and over the last six years, to properly represent this community and have only received positive feedback, so it is surprising to now hear of this last minute allegation surfacing before voting closes,” he says.
”Of the three elections I have been involved in, this one seems to have had an unfortunate element of desperation, from a few in the community who are afraid of real change.”
Mr Greening is running as an independent and his 2019 campaign is not affiliated with any political party. However, he had door-knocked on behalf of the Labour Party in the past.
Senior Labour Party member Rachel Boyack says she was concerned at reports of Councillor Greening’s behaviour towards residents of the Richmond community while door-knocking.
Boyack confirmed that some concerns had been raised with the team in the past.
“Our Nelson team have worked hard to ensure an inclusive and supportive environment where volunteers and supporters feel welcome and safe” she said.
“To be clear, Councillor Greening has had very little involvement in the Labour Party over recent years and is not an endorsed Labour Party candidate,” she says.
His behaviour became so bad that one of his associates deliberately went ahead by 2-3 houses on their own to avoid being part of Mr Greenings over-aggressive interaction with members of the public.