That article (Cr Halse drops a bombshell on the "Woke Seven") reported on an interview carried out on the 16th of June between retiring WDC Cr Phil Halse and a member of a new ratepayer group called Concerned Ratepayers of Whangarei (CROW). LETTERBOX thought the interview offered some important insights from the 33-year veteran councillor and Deputy Mayor. A transcript of the interview was in the public domain, which no other media organisation had picked up on. Brodie confirmed she had no knowledge of the interview until it was reported in LETTERBOX.
I suggested she talk directly to Phil and CROW, as they were the source of the information. Given our role was to report on information in the public domain, I thought that would be the end of the matter, but Brodie has persisted in demanding a response from us, so here it is:
27 August
2025
Brodie Stone
Email: _____________
Hi Brodie
Thank you
for contacting me and for your interest in LETTERBOX.
You have
contacted us about an article that appeared in Issue 30, which reported
extracts from an interview between Cr Halse and a local ratepayer group
(Concerned Ratepayers of Whangarei). During that interview, Cr Halse described a
group of seven councillors as follows:
“A group of seven who are working together: Deb Harding,
Scott McKenzie, Nicholas Connop, Patrick Holmes, Phoenix Ruka, Carol Peters,
and Ken Couper…Because we have that woke block at the top, every time it gets
hard, they take the soft option.”
He went on to express some very frank and unfaltering opinions
about councillors Couper and Connop.
A full transcript
of the interview between Cr Halse and CROW was distributed at CROW’s inaugural meeting
on 25 June. I attended the meeting as I had been invited as a guest to speak on
STV voting.
You
initially contacted me by phone, and it became apparent that you had not contacted
either Cr Halse or CROW. I suggested you do so, given that, in the interest of
balance and fairness, it is good practice to confirm relevant facts from the source.
That’s what
I did when I received the information on the 25th of June. Before
publishing extracts in our August issue, I sought and received confirmation
that the extracts were accurate and not taken out of
context. While that was sufficient in itself, I also cross-checked the voting
record of councillors and confirmed, on key issues, there is a consistent
voting pattern among those Cr Halse named as members of the “Woke” seven.
LETTERBOX remains
of the view that Cr Halse’s public comments about the inner workings of the WDC are a matter of public interest and should be published, more so given that no other media outlet has done so.
If any of the councillors named by Cr Halse do not like what he has said about them in public, then they should take that up with Cr Halse directly, not LETTERBOX via the Northern Advocate.
Our role is to report accurately without fear or favour
and hold elected representatives to account, especially when there may be a
disconnect between their election promises and their voting record. We believe
these are values all media organisations should uphold.
Thanks again
for getting in touch.
Frank
Newman
Editor,
LETTERBOX
info@democracynorthland.co.nz
I hope this reply is of interest to Brodie, but I guess that will depend on whether her interest is in establishing the factual accuracy of the article we reported on, or giving seven grumpy "woke" councillors a platform to have a crack at LETTERBOX. Let's see.
Additional comment:
One of the questions Brodie Stone asked was what I thought “woke” means. That question is better directed at Cr Halse, as it was the term he used to describe the seven councillors. Nevertheless, it is an interesting topic in itself. Some people consider "woke" to be a term of endearment. Others use it in the pejorative sense, which is how Cr. Halse used it. In the local council context, I understand it to mean someone who pursues social agendas that are outside of an organisation's primary purpose. In this election, we have a bunch of "woke" councillors and candidates who think the core purpose of a local council is to be everything to everyone. On the other side are those (including the Coalition government) who think core purpose refers to essential infrastructure – ie the basic boring stuff that the left-leaning politicians are not interested in. That is the clear choice being offered to voters in this election.