Invercargill mayor ‘mocks, degrades and offends’ firefighters, blames brain fade

Wednesday, 19 June 2024

Invercargill mayor Nobby Clark expressed “disturbing and offensive views” while mocking and embarrassing guests at a firefighters event in March, the United Fire Brigades’ Association claims.

Clark has apologised and indicated his comments may have been because of “brain fade”, as a result of being on a heart-lung machine during recent heart surgery.

Clark believed the statements made against him were “overly harsh/critical and in my view are not reflective of what happened on the night”.

A complaint was made about Clark’s actions at the event and the complaint was investigated. The Invercargill City Council acknowledged the complaint on June 12 but said it would not release details until the investigation was complete.

The independent investigation found Clark’s actions were in breach of the council’s code of conduct, and an extraordinary council meeting has been called for Friday where elected members will consider whether action should be taken against him.

The complaint was sparked after the association hosted the UFBA Firefighter Challenge in Invercargill on March 16, with more than 160 firefighters from throughout the South Island attending.

Association chief executive William (Bill) Butzbach wrote a letter of complaint to the council in late March, expressing deep concern about Clark’s actions.

He believed they were a serious breach of the council code of conduct, particularly regarding respect for others, behaviour and relationship with the public.

Butzbach invited Clark and his partner, Karen Carter, to attend the prize-giving dinner as the honoured guest. The couple were seated at the VIP table along the UFBA president, Invercargill MP Penny Simmonds, and senior UFBA staff, Butzbach’s letter said.

“It has come to my attention through several reliable sources that the mayor engaged in conversations with the gathered officials, where he articulated some disturbing and offensive views,” it said.

“Initially, our guests passed the comments off as banter; however, the banter intensified including … disparaging remarks about Aucklanders and young people in positions of authority, which was clearly directed at others sitting at the table and those who hold office in nearby parts of the country.

“The mayor also described a massive divide between volunteer and paid firefighters, which is simply unfounded and misleading. When others at the table challenged the mayor during these conversations, the mayor threatened to talk about them on stage.

“According to witnesses, during the mayor’s speech at the lectern on stage, he proceeded to mock, disrespect, degrade, offend, and embarrass our members, staff and other guests.”

Butzbach claimed the mayor disrespected UFBA members by stating that volunteer firefighters were second-class citizens.

The mayor made a “personal attack” on the appearance of one of the MCs and the fact that she lived in Ponsonby, Auckland. He also challenged her competence as a communications professional, the letter said.

Clark implied that the UFBA president and the MC were having an affair, which was untrue, Butzbach said in the letter.

“All in attendance were horrified and appalled by the mayor’s hateful and disrespectful rhetoric. Many of our members and guests left the room in disgust at this behaviour from the mayor.

“This has proven traumatic for my staff whereby we are providing professional support services to them.

“If the allegations are proven, the behaviour of the mayor has officially damaged the reputation of the Invercargill City Council in the view of the UFBA and our members.”

Complaint investigated

The council’s legal team decided the complaint should be investigated, with Linda Clark from Dentons Kensington Swan engaged to consider the complaint and determine whether any breach of the code had occurred.

She interviewed a range of people at the event, including those who were seated at the same table as the mayor and his partner.

The mayor chose not to be interviewed. He believed members of the public could not make complaints under the code, but Linda Clark said the code expressly referred to elected members’ behaviour towards members of the public.

Linda Clark’s investigation found the mayor had breached the code.

Her report said he attended a formal dinner in his capacity as mayor, and his conduct at that event left others feeling hurt, humiliated and angry.

“The mayor’s partner, who attended the dinner with him, described Mr Clark as having a unique sense of humour. But others who witnessed what happened categorically say his comments went well beyond harmless banter,” the report said.

“They describe him singling out a female contractor at the event and repeatedly denigrating her and insulting her, in what one witness described as a ‘nasty’ attack.

“They also describe him insulting firefighters with comments about volunteer firefighters being ‘second class citizens’.”

His comments were made in the context of a formal and much anticipated prize-giving dinner at which Clark was a special guest and given an opportunity to speak, the investigation report said.

The council’s code of conduct required elected members to treat members of the public courteously and respectfully.

“Mayor Clark did neither. Instead he engaged in the kind of conduct the code expressly prohibits, including offensive and abusive behaviour, making a personal attack and making degrading and insulting remarks.

“Members of the public who invite an elected member to their special events do not expect this kind of behaviour and should not have to put up with it. Mr Clark should apologise.”

Mayor acknowledges some comments were inappropriate

When the mayor was provided with a draft of Linda Clark’s report on June 6, he acknowledged some of his comments were “inappropriate”.

Her report said that “while he maintains his overall conduct was not as described, he also indicated an immediate willingness to apologise for what was said”.

With the exception of the mayor’s partner who attended the function with him, all other interviewees described his conduct in similar ways.

“The descriptions of Mr Clark’s conduct from the time he arrived at the venue included that he was ‘antagonising in conversation’, ‘argumentative’, ‘bizarre’ and ‘completely inappropriate’.”

MC deeply humiliated

The female contractor was very distressed by the mayor’s conduct towards her, Linda Clark’s report said.

“She is a self-employed communications specialist and MC with decades of experience.

“She says the comments were ‘deeply humiliating’ and she ‘wished the ground would open up and swallow her’.

“She felt unable to defend herself in front of those who were employing her to be there, fearing it would provoke even more comments from the mayor.

“The whole episode reduced her to tears and even days later she was made anxious thinking about having to appear and host another event.”

Firefighter walks out

The report said “other interviewees also agreed that the mayor, again during his speech, spoke at length about the status of volunteer firefighters.

Interviewees agreed he said words to the effect that there was a division between kinds of firefighters and he felt sorry for volunteer firefighters because they were not treated the same as career firefighters.

Clark also reportedly said volunteers were second-class citizens with hand-me-down gear, while career firefighters were paid to sit around waiting for a call-out.

During Clark’s speech, a veteran firefighter walked out in protest.

“He told this investigation the way Mr Clark spoke about individuals was ‘inexcusable’ and that his ‘pointed comments about career firefighters’ left him uncomfortable and angry,” the report said.

“The man said he did not want to listen to Mr Clark, who he described as ‘absolutely divisive’ and ‘nasty’.”

Disparaging remarks about Gore mayor

There was also unanimity among those interviewed that Clark made disparaging comments about the ability of young people to hold down demanding jobs or be leaders. These comments were also described as “odd” and “bizarre”.

“He also made disparaging remarks about the mayor of Gore, based on his youth,” the report said.

All interviewees agreed the mayor did not speak from notes and he did not congratulate the winners of the day’s competition.

After the speech, a male MC for the event took to the stage.

“He challenged Mayor Clark’s comments directly, referring to him as ‘misinformed’ or ‘ill-informed’. He was given a standing ovation,” Linda Clark’s report said.

Misread the room

After the awards had been handed out, the UFBA president said he “leaned close” to Clark and remonstrated with him, the report said.

The president said he told Clark: “You have no idea. You so misread the room.”

According to the report, he said Clark “did not reply but a short time later Mr Clark and his partner left the venue”.

Clark responds to report

Clark provided a short statement to the investigator once he had seen the draft report.

He responded: “While sitting at the VIP table, there was a high level of fun at the table – very jovial, with banter which went both ways.

“The statements regarding me and my behaviour are overly harsh/critical and in my view are not reflective of what happened on the night.”

Clark confirmed he did speak without notes and that he referred to a “love fest around our table”.

“This was not intended to do any harm but I acknowledge its inappropriateness.”

He also confirmed that he referred to “second-class citizens”, but he denied this was in the context referred to in the complaint.

“What I actually said was there can sometimes be a perception that volunteers are like second class to the main firefighters but that was not what I hear. Without the volunteers in our outlying areas, we would be in dire straits.”

He accepted that the “second-class comment” created concern, but said that was not his intent.

He said that as he left the venue, “a volunteer came up to me and said, ‘We think you were right on the mark with your comments – can you give the team a wave before you leave?’” Which, he says, he did.

Linda Clark’s report said offering up a genuine apology would be a respectful and courteous thing to do in the circumstances.

“Mayor Clark has confirmed that he is prepared to apologise and, indeed, by the time council considers this review he may have already made good on that point.”

Sends apology, blames ‘brain fade’

Clark wrote a letter of apology to Butzbach on June 7.

“I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to you personally, your staff and UFBA members present at the Invercargill dinner.

“While I might want to contend that some of the issues raised are not clear for me, I accept that my behaviour was not good enough as an invited guest speaker.

“For me, I felt terrible after the dinner and within a couple of days, and well before the complaint was lodged, I sought some specialist advice, as I do not normally present this way at public meetings.

“You may not be aware that your dinner was my first public event after I had returned from a heart attack and open-heart by-pass surgery.

“The cardiac specialist I consulted advised me, after I approached them after your event, that I suffer from what is commonly referred to as ‘brain fade’ – a condition resulting from being on a heart-lung machine during the surgery (at the time, I did advise my colleagues of this impact).

“The advice: The condition means that the brain wanders and doesn’t also keep to a normal pattern – by joining and mixing thoughts.

“With my tendency to have banter, this is now a risk for me ‘going too far’.

“The condition could take two years to pass but will improve over time. The way to avoid this effect is to read from predetermined notes (which I rarely do). At a subsequent public meeting, on youth crime in our city, I used predetermined notes and I kept on track and on what was appropriate to discuss.

“So, again, I sincerely apologise for the unease I created for those at the event.”

Second complaint against mayor

The code of conduct complaint is the second faced by Clark. The first was lodged by city councillors Ria Bond and Ian Pottinger in April and is still under independent investigation.

It was focused on Clark’s televised appearance on the satirical Guy Williams series New Zealand Today.

Clark told Stuff he would not comment before Friday’s meeting.