By JAMES GARDINER
John Collinge and Karen Sherry, arch-rivals in the battle for control of Auckland's power company, slugged it out yesterday with allegations of false and misleading statements.
Mr Collinge, president of Citizens & Ratepayers, lashed out at Ms Sherry's claim that he voted in favour of the retirement payouts made to former Mercury Energy directors.
He said he did not vote in favour and was not present at the meeting - "Ms Sherry's memory is faulty."
Ms Sherry said he was and he did, and she had the minutes to prove it.
But she said she could not provide the Herald with copies of those minutes and Mr Collinge said this was evidence that her claims were unreliable - although he could not find the minutes to support his argument.
Morris Brown, another former Mercury board member and also candidate in the present election for the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust, said he had not kept his minutes and could not remember how Mr Collinge voted.
But he did back Ms Sherry's claim that a discretionary payment of $425,000 was made to the estate of chief executive Wayne Gilbert, who died during the 1998 CBD electricity crisis.
Mr Collinge had said the payment - which all directors apparently voted for - was a contractual entitlement, part of Mr Gilbert's salary and his widow's superannuation. He later agreed that he was relying on memory and might have been mistaken.
Ironically, Ms Sherry and Mr Brown both previously stood on the C & R ticket and could have been there again this election, except Mr Brown was not prepared to sign a declaration that he would not stand as an independent if the party did not select him, and Ms Sherry has formed her own ticket, Powerlynk.
Sparks fly between power trust rivals
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