Mayoral Candidate Website Material Gets Him Banned From Great Debate

Gordon McCrone – the media are eating you for breakfast. Pick up the phone.

There are many ways we could describe the latest Invercargill mayoralty candidate – but the rest of the media have already done it for us.

Other media have named his website but refused to link to it – aren’t we still leading people to it? We’re not even going to go there.

Invercargill leaders are worried about the messages McCrone could share publicly – and to be honest, his values are pretty out the gate.

He’s now banned from The Great Debate next week, with the Southland Chamber of Commerce quickly distancing themselves from the candidate.

Chamber President Chris Hughes said the mayoral debate was a private event and McCrone’s name wasn’t on the guest list.

“At Southland Business Chamber, we believe that leadership in our city must be guided by integrity and values. As such, we have taken the considered position to not extend an invitation to Mr McCrone for the upcoming mayoral debate.

This decision reflects our commitment to the safety and well-being of our community. We are deeply concerned about the nature of Mr McCrone’s public commentary and do not believe it aligns with the standards of leadership we support,” he said.

Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark added: “The Chamber of Commerce have dealt with this issue appropriately – they made the right call!”

whatsoninvers.nz founder commented, “With Mayor Clark’s brother standing here and in Tasman – the story we broke last week – and now this candidate? From an entertainment point of view, the Invercargill mayoral race is the gift that keeps giving… and we’ve got eight weeks to go this Saturday.”