Short skirt, earrings - and a story to tell

By FRANCESCA MOLD and VERNON SMALL

Christine Rankin came to court in the trademark clothes which she claims were unfairly criticised in a concerted personal attack that led to her downfall as a top public servant.

Wearing a cream, short-skirted suit and large, dangling, pearl and gold earrings, Mrs Rankin took the witness stand at the Employment Court in Wellington to deliver the story she had promised would shock and horrify the nation.

Her lawyer, Michael Quigg, began by outlining the case the Work and Income boss would take against her employer, State Services Commissioner Michael Wintringham. He said Mr Wintringham had not treated Mrs Rankin fairly and reasonably and his unjustified treatment of her had caused her harm.

The evidence would come in two streams, said Mr Quigg.

The first was that she had never been given a fair go by the Labour Party. While in Opposition, Social Services Minister Steve Maharey had allegedly said the welfare and employment department was led by someone who dressed like a cocktail waitress with earrings longer than her skirt. He said she should be sacked.

In his early days as her employer, Mr Wintringham was sympathetic and kind, but he did nothing to help her build a workable relationship with ministers and had done little to protect her from the personal attacks as he was required to do, said Mr Quigg.

The second focus of evidence would be on the actions of Mr Wintringham as an employer. He had acted unfairly towards Mrs Rankin because of political interference which came from Mr Maharey and State Services Minister Trevor Mallard, who was carrying out the express wishes of Prime Minister Helen Clark.

Mrs Rankin told a court filled with her supporters and journalists that Mr Wintringham had told her when she was hired that she would have a long career in the public service. They had discussed her goals and she had mentioned that his position as head of the state sector was attractive. They discussed the long-term possibility of her taking over his job.

She said they liked and respected each other.

But a large part of Mrs Rankin's evidence focused on a dramatic meeting with Mr Wintringham on May 24 last year. That was the day he revealed that she would not be reappointed as chief executive of Work and Income when her term ended on July 5 this year.

She said Mr Wintringham began the conversation in his office by saying he wanted their discussion to be off the record. He said that in a court of law he would deny that they had had the discussion and also if he was questioned at a coming select committee hearing.

"He said the purpose of the meeting was to give me advance warning I was not going to be reappointed. He was anxious. He said I had been treated appallingly by the Government. But the Prime Minister and Minister Mallard had said there was no way I would serve another term as chief executive officer.

"Mr Wintringham said he could not recommend me for reappointment because the Government would not let him."

He had told her to look for another job. He offered to get a recruitment officer to help her and suggested possibilities at Telecom, the World Bank or a position in Australia as a "face-saving situation."

He said the Government could be a powerful friend, and if she took another job Helen Clark would make public comments wishing her well. It would look good for everyone - there was no point in fighting the Government.

Mrs Rankin said she became quite emotional and strongly protested that the situation was grossly unfair.

She said Mr Wintringham told her it was a political decision and there was nothing she could do.

She discussed the effect taking a job in Australia would have on her marriage, which was going through a difficult time.

"I said if I went to Australia I would be going on my own. I couldn't imagine taking a new job with no friends or support."

She said Mr Wintringham told her he went over to Australia once a month because he was on a board. He could meet her for coffee or dinner so she would not be alone.

It would be purely platonic because Mr Wintringham told her he was celibate, Mrs Rankin told the court.

Defence counsel have indicated that Mr Wintringham will strongly disagree with Mrs Rankin's recollection of their meeting.

Mrs Rankin also discussed her relationship with Mr Maharey before and after the November 1999 election, when Labour came to power.

In July 1999, during the barrage of publicity about a $240,000 staff conference at the Wairakei resort, Mr Maharey came to the Work and Income offices to view a promotional video he had requested under the Official Information Act.

Mrs Rankin said he told her and a colleague at the meeting that he hated the way Work and Income did things, and even the look of the place. He said they were out of touch with taxpayers and those on welfare.

"I asked if there was anything about us he did like. He said emphatically 'no.'

"He said, 'Look at you two. Look at the way you are dressed.' He said there was no way we would be working for him."

She said the feeling was that they had inappropriate taste in clothing for public servants in a welfare organisation.

"He said I would be excellent fodder in the lead-up to the election. He said I was unpopular and the organisation was in disarray."

Mr Maharey told Mrs Rankin the Prime Minister had said he was soft and he was to step up the attack against her.

"We were being used for political gain in the lead-up to the election. I was worried at the thought of being used as political fodder," she told the court.

"I was shaken and frightened this would spell the end of my career as a public servant ... It was a chilling experience. My optimism I had had towards a lifelong career as a public servant had started to wane."

Mrs Rankin also described a traumatic meeting with Mr Maharey on December 20, 1999.

It was to be a meeting with officials, but she was telephoned moments before leaving the Winz building near Parliament and told that the media had been informed of the meeting, which had been touted by the minister's staff as a "showdown."

She said officials were confronted by a barrage of journalists outside the building.

When she arrived at Mr Maharey's office on the sixth floor, she saw what looked like blood on the floor. It was red wine, she said. There were two photographers taking pictures. "We had to step over it. This, of course, was deliberately staged."

At the end of the meeting, Mrs Rankin was asked to stay behind. Mr Wintringham and the head of the Prime Minister's Department, Mark Prebble, came into the office.

Mr Maharey said a fresh start was needed and he wanted her to change. He gave no indication of the area of alleged poor performance.

"I felt like I was being set up to fail. I felt like I had been ambushed. They wanted to create a public impression of a new hardline Government taking action to bring me into line.

"The practice of using me politically was not stopping."

When at another meeting allegations from Greens co-leader Rod Donald that the Government was playing a game with her were discussed, Mr Maharey slammed his fist on the table.

"He raised his voice and lost his composure and said Rod Donald was not close to the Government and he knew nothing."

At another meeting, Mrs Rankin alleged that Mr Maharey said he had used her to win the election.

"He pointed to his arm and said he had mainlined into my vein. It had been irresistible because the previous Government had done nothing to protect me.

"It made me feel physically sick. He said he had been whipped for not sacking me and everyone was saying he was a wimp.

"He said I should behave as if I had apologised and change my personal image to appear more contrite and responsive to the wishes of the Government.

"He said I should stop wearing Hugo Boss glasses although he did, and asked me to change my earrings because they were too big.

"He said to go home and take a good look in the mirror, to change my hair, skirts and earrings, then we could work together."

Mr Maharey was aggressive at the meeting, used various profanities including the word f*** four times and referred to people as pricks, said Mrs Rankin.

"I was appalled by their behaviour. I felt intimidated and victimised. I found it sexist and was shocked by their attitude that performance was secondary to public opinion."

At a meeting with Mr Prebble on January 12 last year, he asked for the conversation to be off the record and said he would deny the conversation in a court of law.

"He said there was a problem about the way I looked. I had become a sexual object or icon in the public sector. I made a lot of men uncomfortable by the way I dressed.

"Mr Prebble said he personally felt uncomfortable the first time he met me and that my earrings in terms of the Darwin theory and The Naked Ape were a sexual come on ... He referred to a meeting where I was present - he said when I moved he could distinguish my breast and that had made him feel very uncomfortable."

Mr Prebble told her that her legs were an "absolute" distraction and she was damned by her charisma.

He told her she should become a "grey person," or a chameleon who could change appearance according to the wishes of the Government, otherwise he did not believe she would survive.

"I felt it was terribly sexist and offensive," said Mrs Rankin.

She was so concerned that on February 4 she visited Solicitor-General John McGrath. He appeared sympathetic and she left encouraged by the meeting.

Mrs Rankin ended with an emotional appeal to Employment Court judge Tom Goddard, saying she began her career coming off the domestic purposes benefit and had a rapid rise against the odds.

"I have had huge success. I have been given tough jobs and every time I've got outstanding results. That occurred for 22 of the past 24 years.

"The last two years, my life has changed dramatically. Publicly I can't live the way I want. I am frightened when I go out in public. I've been spat at, hissed at, abused and yelled at. I've had bullets in the mail and death threats. My relationship with my husband, children and friends have suffered. I don't feel free to do any of the things I did before."

She said she was demonised by the Labour Party in Opposition and deprived of the opportunity to go public with her successes. She had not had any job offers.

During cross-examination, Crown counsel Alan Galbraith, QC, focused on controversies that had rocked the department during her leadership. He also questioned her about a clause in the State Sector Act which detailed the right of the Government to not reappoint her, independent of the recommendation of the commissioner.