BOB ATTACKS LOCAL DEMOCRACY

According to Mayor Sideshow Bob it's 'constructive' that local people have had their basic democratic rights trampled over with the sacking of the duly elected councillors of Environment Canterbury. It's 'constructive' that the people of Canterbury will be deprived of their voting rights until 2013. It's ' constructive' that big business interests - the organisations who Sideshow represents - should have free access to Canterbury's waterways regardless of what anyone else thinks.

What's more Sideshow has praised the two Ministers responsible for removing the ballot box. According to Bob, Nick Smith and Rodney Hide are 'courageous'.

What next? Bob declaring himself Mayor for life?

No one should be surprised by Bob's arrogance and his disdain for local democracy.

He sees democracy as an inconvenience, an obstacle in the way of getting things done his way, a roadblock in the way of the agenda that he is pursing for his business mates.

Parker had barely arrived in the Mayor's office when he purchased the naming rights to the Ellerslie Garden show for an extravagant $4 million - without consulting his council first. Indeed Sideshow was more concerned in basking in the media spotlight than following anything that resembled the normal democratic process. He rubbed salt into the wound by refusing to divulge how much the local ratepayer was paying for the garden show - until he was forced to by The Press lodging a request for details under the Official Information Act.

In another two-finger salute to local democracy, he gave councillors barely twenty four hours to digest the information that he was going to purchase five nondescript city buildings from his supporter Dave Henderson .

Then he ignored normal procedure when he tried to put the rents of council tenants up a massive twenty five percent. The issue was taken the High Court and Sideshow Bob lost - the proposed increase was struck out because Bob and his council lackeys had not followed the due democratic process. Even the High Court's criticism of his actions failed to convince Bob that he had done anything wrong and he even considered lodging an appeal.

Sideshow Bob's latest insult to the people of Christchurch is his attempt to build a concrete block in the middle of the Arts Centre. - a plan that was hatched behind closed doors among Sideshow's 'commercial network'.

In 2008 Sideshow declined a request from two local Tibetans to speak out against the Chinese regime's violent repression of an uprising among the Tibetan people.

Bob pontificated that he 'wasn't going to take sides'.

Shortly after, Bob visited China to witness the signing of the China-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement.

Safely ensconced in Beijing, Sideshow decided that he was going to take sides and publicly defended the Chinese regime. According to Bob, the Chinese Government had been unfairly misrepresented in the western media.

The fact that the Chinese regime routinely does many brutal and tyrannical things doesn't appear to concern Bob. Nor does it concern him that the Chinese people are denied the democratic rights that we take for granted. Nor does it appear to concern him that the regime murders and tortures citizens whose only crime is to oppose the regime.

All this is of secondary consideration to Bob because, when it comes to down to what is really important, the Chinese Government is 'getting things done'.