The mayor of a coastal town in New Zealand says he has no regrets about signing off an email response to a constituent’s query with: “Go f— yourself, kind regards, Len.”
“If people were to say this is not the language or decorum you expect from a mayor, I would take that criticism on the chin,” Thames-Coromandel District Mayor Len Salt told Stuff.
“But I have always said to the council, and the community, I will protect them. In a climate of increasing hostility towards elected representatives and their staff, I believe it was necessary.”
Salt said he believed the email, sent on July 10, 2023, came from a person associated with Sovereign Citizens, a group that is growing in New Zealand. Sociologist Paul Spoonley said the group’s right-wing extremist views about elected governments not having legitimate authority posed a threat.
Stuff reported in 2023 that all councils had experienced an increase in aggressive behaviour from the group.
Actions taken by the group last year included death threats, anonymous letters, refusing to pay rates or fines, or claiming land ownership under “allodial title”.
“We have had to call police on a number of occasions. We’ve had to beef up security and there’s an ongoing review of that. Two elected members now have panic alarms they carry with them at all times. I was shocked to see even places like the local DOC office having bullet-proof glass inserted,” Salt said.
The email that prompted Salt’s F-bomb response was signed Anthony-John and accused council of being a “fictious [sic] entity but all liable to prosecution in actions of bad faith, on the grounds of not following due process of law done with intent to coerce to deceive, to enslave myself and others”.
The email was leaked by Steve Hart, a man who stood against Salt in the 2022 mayoral contest, and lost.
Hart said he was not affiliated with any group and denies reports that he was affiliated with Voices For Freedom. He is anti-vax, anti-mandate, and a climate change denier. He said he wasn’t a conspiracy theorist but just urged people to do “research”.
In September 2022, Stuff identified his online activity included videos about the government controlling Kiwis through AI, the “Great Reset” conspiracy that at least 4 billion people would be killed off by 2050, the “New World Order” conspiracy and mandates being “the end of the final game plan”.
Hart told Stuff he shared the email because he wanted to ask the community: “Is this the sort of person we want as mayor?”
He was surprised, he said, to see some Facebook comments in support of Salt’s stance, describing it as “brilliant”.
“But that’s Facebook, where most people have half a brain and are not the smartest.
“But if you went down the main street of Thames and talked to the community – like an elderly church-going woman – she wouldn’t be impressed. And geriatric conservatives are a large part of the voting community who I don’t think would approve of that language at all.”
There were protocols, Hart said, about how a mayor should act and speak.
“It’s not even professional. I’ve had one councillor very gutted about it who thinks he should get rapped for this and he is going to consult fellow councillor Gary Gotleib, who is also a well known barrister. But we will see if councillors have the balls to stand up to Salt who is becoming more and more arrogant.”
Hart had been in touch with the writer of the original email that sparked Salt’s “robust response”, and said he was away at the moment.
Stuff also made attempts to contact him.