When City of Ryde Mayor, Bill Pickering, was recently assaulted at a polling booth for a council by-election, the biggest question in his mind was: Why would any ‘sane’ person want to serve in public office?
Comment by Hugo Halliday PR & Marketing Managing Director, Bill Pickering. (*Bill is also Mayor of the City of Ryde).
Verbal abuse and threats, defamatory remarks, hate mail, continuous personal attacks in the media (one local newspaper in particular) and even an online site dedicated to trying to destroy my reputation have been a constant irritant over my many years as a councillor and now Mayor of the City of Ryde.
But it is the most extreme event of all – the recent physical assault on me at a polling booth – that has shocked me to the core.
The question: ‘Why would any ‘sane’ person want to serve in public office?’ now seems to ever-present when I preside over meetings in chambers attended in the public gallery by a small but vocal ‘hate contingent’ orchestrated by one councillor, or when I read comments celebrating the assault on me in a local newspaper and threats of further physical harm in emails and online by ‘faceless’ people.
To ignore verbal abuse from the haters, not read the discredited local newspaper or the online garbage, seems like a simple solution. Unfortunately, the ‘in-your-face’ actions of misguided ratbags and grubby published material, also gets the attention of my friends and supporters whose natural reaction is to raise their concerns with me.
Undoubtedly, the underlying reason for all this vitriol stems from my strong stance locally against the actions of a former Mayor and a current councillor in relation to their stopping the redevelopment of the Ryde Civic Centre which cost our city $78Million plus.
CORRUPTION COMMISSION
I have been vocal on other matters related to this redevelopment, including the shocking treatment of a former General Manager as well as certain dealings with a particular developer by a former Mayor which saw him before the corruption commission. Then, there are matters involving a local newspaper, actions by a certain publicist who continues to hide behind a nasty on-line site and so on. These individuals all have adverse recommendations against them by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
Public office should mean making a stand for what you believe to be right and in the best interests of your constituents. In my case, this has meant standing up against corruption and taking a lead on actions that may not be popular. Even today, it means defending Ryde against a recommendation for
it to cease to exist by carving it up between Parramatta to the west and a group of councils to the east. It means first and foremost, serving and representing those who elected you to the best of your ability.
I don’t expect everyone to agree with me on the position I take on important matters. I expect my decisions and actions to be scrutinised. I expect there to be debate. I respect the right of community groups and individuals to protest. This is after-all, a democracy! But clearly, there is major difference between undertaking civilised discourse in a democratic environment, and the perpetrating of hateful and nasty verbal and physical abuse of public officials. When this happens, even the most dedicated politician or councillor will begin to question his or her personal resolve to serve their community.
The recent incident at the Putney Public School polling booth left me struggling to answer a question on whether I will ever want to be a Mayor or a councillor in the future, once this term on council is finished at the end of next year. The unexpected punch fortunately did not leave me with any physical scars, but it would be truthful to say it made me a little brittle. In this sensitive state of mind, to then have my friends text me the hateful letter published in a local newspaper three days later did not help.
HATE LETTER
The editor of this publication has carried out a negative personal campaign against me over many years, cutting me out of positive articles and group photographs, using derogatory references and so on … so his personal attack did not surprise me; but this hate letter surely reached a lowest of a low point. Then, there came the few hate emails and blogs from faceless individuals using pseudonyms.
More than balancing this was the numerous messages I had received from friends, MPs, supporters and my fellow Ryde councillors (with the exception of one) from all sides of politics that wished me well.
For me however, the question of why any ‘sane’ person would want to serve in public office remains unresolved.
The determined would say not to let the corrupt, the bullies and the hateful vocal minority get their way by driving me away from public service. The advice is to stay strong, forget my detractors, and get on with the job that I started which will benefit the far greater majority of residents.
The cynical would say that the rewards are so few compared to the personal sacrifices and unfounded attacks endured by councillors, and that there is little public understanding and support for those in public office. The message is that everyone has their limit and that service to the community should be secondary to personal wellbeing.
Both these views have been put to me, and both have elements of truthfulness. But, what should a ‘sane’ person do?
