Cr Lee Vandervis yesterday maintained his silence, refusing to answer Otago Daily Times questions for a third day.
On Tuesday, he was silenced by a procedural motion by Cr Kate Wilson, supported by a majority of councillors, which blocked him from debating a stalled investigation of a possible unitary council.
On Thursday, it emerged allegations by Mr Cull that Cr Vandervis was harassing council chief executive Sue Bidrose in a series of emails, as well as numerous other female staff in person, had contributed to Cr Wilson's move to gag him.
Mr Cull told the Otago Daily Times Cr Vandervis had a propensity to target female staff in particular, reducing some to tears, through "swearing, sometimes, overbearing, bullying actions and abuse".
He would only say his emails were "necessarily persistent in the public interest", and offered copies to anyone who wanted them.
He did not address allegations he verbally abused female council staff in person, or that he had a propensity to target females more than men.
Mr Cull told the ODT he believed councillors - like the mayor - should front up to address such issues.
The council's code of conduct used to require councillors to be "as open as possible about their actions and those of the council, and be prepared to justify their actions".
That section had been removed when the code was last updated, in line with Local Government New Zealand guidelines, in 2016.
Despite that, Mr Cull believed he had an obligation to face media.
"We're public figures, we've been voted in ... if we do something that legitimately calls our judgement or values into question, insofar as we're responsible to the public, I think we have an obligation to answer."
Council chief executive Sue Bidrose has so far declined to say how many female council staff have filed reports, or complaints, about Cr Vandervis' behaviour.
The ODT has filed an official information request seeking answers.
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I think Councils are 'meso' systems. Macro is big government and micro the individual or personal level. The meso institution is a dynamic 'collective', so to speak. No one expects perfect harmony, but if someone works micro in a meso, it destabilises systems equilibrium. That is not in the public interest.
Goodbye. No 2/-6d this time.
In the same vein as a recent council meeting, I would like to raise a point of order. There is no requirement for any councillor to be "as open as possible about their actions and those of the council, and be prepared to justify their actions" so Cull needs to sit back down and stay quiet. There have been multiple times when Cull and other councillors haven't fronted the media when requested.
What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
In Huxley’s dystopian novel, ‘Brave New World”, sixty-two thousand four hundred repetitions make one truth.’ Cr Vandervis is wise to stay silent. Anyone willing to take the trouble to look at ODT archives will see constant repetitions of character damning allegations which, when thoroughly investigated are no more than accusations from his political opponents (which appear to include ODT reporter, Chris Morris.) Check out the ‘story’ that went on for years about ‘Cr Vandervis, who (supposedly) called council staff dogs..’ and another fantasy of ODT courtesy of Chris Morris, ‘Dave Cull, who voted against the Stadium’ and you will see what Huxley was getting at. Repeat something often enough and many people believe that it must be true. Repeat enough character smears and the reading public will start to believe that so much smoke means there must be fire. But not everyone is fooled, as online discussion shows. The ODT no longer has a monopoly on local ‘truth’.