Mayor slams voting email

An email encouraging people to vote 'preferably' has been slammed by Napier Mayor Bill Dalton.

A founder of amalgamation lobby group A Better Hawke's Bay has been slammed by Napier Mayor Bill Dalton for an email asking employers to make sure their staff vote - "preferably" for a "positive change."

But Damon Harvey, a public relations and marketing company director who stood-down from the ABHB trust last year, saying he remained committed to the cause but needed to focus on other roles, is unrepentant, saying last night it was about "reaching out" to people to vote, with "no threat implied."

He emailed business connections last week: "If you own a business or are a senior manager of a Hawke's Bay company, chances are that you are pro-amalgamation."

"Unfortunately the anti-amalgamation lobby has continued to hoodwink the masses that the proposal for a single Hawke's Bay Council is the worst thing that could ever happen."

Mr Harvey said in the email its purpose was to appeal to employers to take action to make a difference.

"Here it is: Please give your staff just 10-15 minutes of work this week to complete their voting papers. Make it a long lunch or let them go home early," he said. "But they need encouragement to vote, and preferably to vote for a positive change.

"This is the biggest decision facing us all - don't let apathy or negativity win the day," Mr Harvey said.

"Please forward this email to your Hawke's Bay network or share this post."

Mr Dalton said it was the "most disgraceful insult to working people I have ever seen in my life."

"I mean what he is saying is that unless these people get time off and unless they bring their papers back to work they are not going to vote and they are not going to have the ability to post a letter," he said.

"I think that this is an enormous story that these people are so bloody arrogant that they are telling their mates to tell people what to do," he said. "That is just appalling. It is exactly what is wrong with this whole campaign." Mr Harvey said the email was sent in his "personal capacity to my own contacts.

"This was about reaching out to people to vote on this important issue. The last thing we need is apathy. I strongly support amalgamation because I believe it will take the region and its people forward.

"There was no threat implied, the main focus was just to get people to have their say," he said.