Wayne Brown has labelled a mayoral candidate a drongo in his capacity as mayor.
Wayne Brown has labelled a mayoral candidate a drongo in his capacity as mayor.
Wayne Brown has once again been caught out labelling someone a “drongo” - this time in his capacity as Mayor of Auckland.
On the receiving end of his latest outburst was mayoral candidate Mike Kampkes, who was gobsmacked at the response he received from Brown to a media release he issued on Christmas Eve.
Kampkes acknowledged the media release over billionaire Graeme Hart’s donation of $58,265 to Brown’s election campaign through his Rank Group was provocative but said being labelled a drongo was uncalled for.
Three weeks after receiving the media release, the mayor sent a short and pithy email response to Kampkes on his iPhone - “My biggest backer was me you drongos”.
Auckland mayoral candidate Michael Kampkes. Photo / Supplied
The use of the word drongos referred to Citizens Against the Housing Act 2021, a Facebook page with 653 members set up by Kampkes to oppose the Government’s intensification plans for Auckland.
The campaign led him to stand for office at October’s local body elections.
This is the second time Brown has been caught out using the word drongo - a slang term for a stupid or slow-witted person.
A message emerged yesterday in which he griped about having to cancel tennis “to deal with media drongos over the flooding tomorrow”.
It came from a thread on a WhatsApp messenger group Brown joined last month for organising games at the West End Lawn Tennis Club in Westmere.
Experts in communications and disaster said it pointed to a relationship with the media that doesn’t reflect the needs of those living in a disaster-struck city.
There has been extensive criticism of Auckland Council’s communications on Friday when a record amount of rain fell, leaving four people dead, wrecking businesses and homes and causing widespread disruption.
During that time there was “radio silence” from the council, according to one expert who says a text message the Herald has obtained in which Brown refers to “media drongos” would have set “alarm bells” ringing if seen before the deluge.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown says he is focused on the emergency response to the Auckland floods. Photo / Dean Purcell
Brown said the message was a private conversation aimed at giving a reason to miss tennis, saying “it in no way means I am not taking communication with all levels seriously”.
In the case of Kampkes, Brown responded as mayor to the media release that criticised the mayoral campaign process for favouring the rich and those with deep pockets.
The media release referred to a news article about Hart’s donation and contained a link to another news article showing the country’s richest man buying residential properties in Mt Wellington worth $2.7 million.
“The stench of pork barrel politics and the usurping of representative democracy by moneyed interest - it is all there,” the media release said.
Brown’s return of donations and expenses show his campaign cost $470,000. He raised $310,150 in donations, suggesting he funded the other $160,000 himself.
In a response to Brown’s ‘drongo’ comment on January 19, Kampkes accused Brown of going from objecting to government-mandated intensification on the campaign trail to doing nothing meaningful to stop it by following Christchurch City Council’s lead in rejecting it.
“Where’s the bold action from Mr Fix it?” said Kampkes, whose mayoral campaign cost $4000 and ended in 17th place with 1899 votes.
Asked today if drongo is a term he frequently uses and appropriate to use in his capacity as mayor, a spokesman for Brown said: “The mayor was having a private conversation. His priority at this time is the ongoing emergency response and keeping Aucklanders safe with the region being lashed by severe weather”.
