I nominated on Tuesday 2nd August by going into Dunedin City Council and paying my $400 ($200 for Mayor, $200 for Council). I was told by Clare Sullivan that my nomination would not go up on the website until I had submitted my 150 word profile spiels.
Wednesday 3rd August - 11:51 - I submit my profile spiels
12:19 after some editing from family I resubmit.
12:24 Lauren McDonald acknowledges my submission “as below” with both versions “as below” (so which submission has been acknowledged?)
13:11 Thanking Lauren I ask her to confirm the last version is the one acknowledged.
13:36 Clare responds asking if I want to use the same spiel for Mayor and Councillor
I think that I rang around this time and confirmed that the right version was to be used.
16:54 Clare emails me and asks me if I “Hi Richard, just checking that you want the Regards Rich Seager” in my profile spiel. I had started and ended my spiel with quotation marks so I wasn’t particularly impressed with this email. The regards was clearly not part of my profile spiel.
Thursday 4th August 1:31am I emailed “if you could change 'leadership' to 'guidance' and 'a Councillor on the Dunedin City Council' for 'Mayor' on the candidate nomination as a Councillor” and “no I don't want 'regards' on either of them.”
16:19 I emailed Clare with “did you require anything else? I'm not seeing my name going up on the website.”
16:44 Clare asks me to provide both profiles in word document form.
Friday 5th August 10:47 am I email Clare with the word documents and “please find these statements attached. Hopefully there are no further delays in acknowledging my nomination for Mayor and Council.”
The nominations eventually appear on the DCC website on Monday sometime. In the meantime I’ve been passing the profile spiels around and a better version is the result. I submit the new versions on
Tuesday 9th August at 11:52am.
14:25 Clare responds to say they’re already submitted but will ask the electoral officer
15:25 I respond and say thanks and that I will also have new profile photos ready on Thursday.
16:36 Clare responds basically ‘no can do’ to any change
20:10 I respond that I’m not happy with that.
Wednesday 10th August
1:03am I send an email to the electoral officer (Anthony Morton working for a private company in Christchurch*) that I have spoken to Clare and detailing the changes that I’d like.
No further correspondence, Anthony did not reply to me (it’s now early on Thursday morning here).
The process is not as smooth as it should be. Why is it so hard to change profile information when nominations don’t close until Friday 12th August at noon?
* more to come on this. The company is American with local strawmen fronting it.
When you are mayor these people will change their tune.
Wow. What a cluster. I wish you the best of luck Rich. Regardless of the eventual outcome, stirring the hornet's nest and watching the drones scurry is always a fun thing to observe.