{"id":60316,"date":"2025-10-05T00:34:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T00:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/60316\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T00:34:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T00:34:07","slug":"kaipara-election-hoardings-vandalised-amid-rising-abuse-of-local-politicians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/60316\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaipara election hoardings vandalised amid rising abuse of local politicians"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson rejected the claim, saying he promoted equal opportunities and \u201cequal fair treatment\u201d.<\/p>\n

Jepson, who announced in June that he would not seek re-election as mayor<\/a>, believed voting would show people were not angry.<\/p>\n

Larsen, the current deputy mayor, was unfazed by the graffiti, which he thought showed the character of society\u2019s \u201cactivist elements\u201d. <\/p>\n

People were increasingly engaged and passionate about their political positions, he said. <\/p>\n

\"AA racial slur was spray-painted on the hoarding of mayoralty hopeful Jonathan Larsen and Wairoa General Ward candidate Gordon Lambeth.<\/p>\n

Lambeth, who is seeking re-election in the Wairoa General Ward, also said he was not troubled by the vandalism.<\/p>\n

He claimed to have experienced racial attacks during his time as a police officer. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just going to carry on what I\u2019ve always done, and that\u2019s middle-of-the-road, sensible politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GordonGordon Lambeth’s hoarding was among several targeted.<\/p>\n

Jepson said defaced hoardings were not unusual. Someone wrote \u201cpig\u201d on one of his roadside signs recently and, in an earlier election, someone had even put a pig\u2019s head on one of his hoardings. <\/p>\n

\u201cI actually thought it was hilarious, because it just comes with the territory. You\u2019ve got to have thick skin to be a politician.\u201d <\/p>\n

Kaipara is not the only district affected by election vandalism. Whang\u0101rei Bream Bay Ward candidate Matthew Yovich\u2019s sign was shot, leaving several bullet holes through his image<\/a>. <\/p>\n

A used shotgun cartridge was found by the sign.<\/p>\n

Reported threats and damage compelled Whang\u0101rei District Council to email candidates on September 10, urging them to prioritise their safety.<\/p>\n

Whang\u0101rei Mayor Vince Cocurullo said the number of threats made was at a level he had not seen in a long time.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in New Zealand, an unnamed Ruapehu District Council candidate reported abandoning their campaign because of intimidation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Council chief executive Clive Manley told Local Democracy Reporting that some candidates had been threatened, confronted in public and had campaign billboards damaged or removed.<\/p>\n

Local Government New Zealand interim chief executive Scott Necklen encouraged voters to focus on the issues and not the person. <\/p>\n

\u201cDemocracy is built around healthy debate and having different voices heard, but that doesn\u2019t give people the right to abuse, harass or intimidate others.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said abuse and harassment of elected members was an ongoing issue driven in recent years, particularly online, by rates rises, M\u0101ori wards, and infrastructure concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just not acceptable to target candidates who have put themselves forward to serve their community in public office.\u201d <\/p>\n

Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whang\u0101rei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson rejected the claim, saying he promoted equal opportunities and \u201cequal fair treatment\u201d. Jepson, who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1903,534,21323,5205,5903,49613,305,49611,23157,440,111,43,139,1067,69,1118,18481,49614,801,49612,5652,13799,544,49615,165,29262,102],"class_list":["post-60316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-abuse","tag-amid","tag-candidates","tag-council","tag-election","tag-graffitied","tag-have","tag-hoardings","tag-kaipara","tag-local","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-politicians","tag-racial","tag-rising","tag-roadside","tag-signs","tag-slurs","tag-some","tag-swastikas","tag-their","tag-vandalised","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}