There is a certain irony in the Hawke's Bay Regional Council supporting Tom Belford's denial of an official information request in the name of free speech.
In August, then Central Hawke's Bay mayor Peter Butler made a request under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act for all email and phone record communications of Mr Belford.
He requested the councillor's communications between August 8 and 25, specifying "of particular interest are any communications with Peter Fowler of Radio New Zealand, Hawke's Bay Today, political stategist Simon Lusk and Russel Norman and Genevieve Toop of Greenpeace NZ relating to either the Ruataniwha Dam or the Havelock North water contamination incident".
Mr Belford had denied responding to the request, as he argued it could set a harmful precedent - a decision then appealed by Mr Butler to the Ombudsman. At a meeting last week, the council voted to support Mr Belford's refusal to hand over the information.
I am not sure what Mr Butler is trying to prove by requesting this information. One would have thought he would rather spend his retirement from politics enjoying his family and farm, instead of worrying about what Mr Belford is getting up to.
