An Invercargill mayoral hopeful has been slammed by fellow candidates after his party website looks to have posted “dangerous” and sexually disturbing content online.
Gordon McCrone is standing for the top job under an unofficial party for which he is listed as the only staff member. His nomination is listed as pending approval on the Invercargill City Council website.
The website, whose domain is registered to Gordon McCrone, refers to the party leader as an unregistered, self-appointed child sex psychologist.
It includes sexually disturbing content. Local Democracy Reporting has chosen not to publish the website’s name.
It makes claims that McCrone is a leading cancer researcher who expects to find a cure for the disease.
It also says he advises “President” Joe Biden on internal and external affairs, and proposes beneficiaries are given free Lotto tickets.
McCrone was approached for comment to validate these claims but chose not to address the questions in his emailed reply.
The website content has been condemned by a number of sitting councillors running for mayor in the southern city.
Ria Bond was concerned about a lack of candidate safety checks prior to entering local politics and would like to see a robust system to ensure people meet the standard.
“I’d recommend that that candidate pull himself from the election, because he clearly has behaviours and beliefs that don’t fit with our community whatsoever,” she said.
Deputy mayor Tom Campbell disagreed with filtering candidates but condemned the party website messaging.
“It’s terrible. It’s horrendous. It’s awful. Any right-minded person would be nauseated by it,” he said.
Alex Crackett described the content as “appalling” and “dangerous”, adding there would need to be protocols at candidate events for the health and safety of those attending.
McCrone has already been barred from a Southland Business Chamber debate on 19 August, with president Chris Hughes saying they were “deeply concerned” by the commentary.
“Given his very public views, we feel it’s appropriate to take this stance in the best interests of the chamber and the wider Southland community,” Hughes said.
He said the website content “makes clear why this decision is reasonable”.
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The chamber received strong support for its decision after it was made public, he said.
Councillor Ian Pottinger is also running for mayor but did not wish to comment on McCrone. He too supported the chamber’s decision.
Police would not say if any complaints had been received about the website or whether they were investigating.
“In general, police cannot respond to queries which seek to establish whether specific individuals or organisations are, or have been, under investigation,” a spokesperson told Local Democracy Reporting.
Invercargill City Council deputy electoral officer Michael Morris said the rules for candidacy were set out in legislation with very few restrictions for running.
The two key rules were that candidates needed to hold citizenship and be enrolled to vote.
“The electoral officers or council cannot have any role in determining who stands or not, as long as the requirements are met,” Morris said.
Election day is set for 11 October.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
