References to a blindfolded monkey caused a stir at a Dunedin City Council meeting.
They came from Cr Benedict Ong and immediately drew points of order for disrespectful language.
These were upheld, although chief executive Sandy Graham said it was a known investment metaphor.
What they were discussing was the council’s Waipori investment fund, which Cr Ong said had under-performed against a benchmark.
Burton Malkiel wrote in his 1973 book A Random Walk on Wall Street ‘‘A blindfolded monkey throwing darts at a newspaper’s financial pages could select a portfolio that would do just as well as one carefully selected by experts.’’
Then, when he rephrased the metaphor as an ‘‘individual’’ picking stocks by throwing darts at a board, a point of order was raised for relevance.
This, too, was upheld.
Cr Ong asked a question in a surly manner and Ms Graham told him staff had already attempted to answer it.
In the end, Cr Lee Vandervis defended the performance of the Waipori Fund.
Despite some of the settings imposed by the council, it had maintained its value, provided returns ‘‘that we have all been happy with ... I think it’s been well managed and we need to celebrate the millions that we’ve had to spend from this fund on a regular basis’’, he said.
Cr Vandervis said he would like to see a higher-risk profile adopted.
