Media Release

17 February 2010

Documents show Boag misled the public over involvement in ATA recruitments

Tender documents show Michelle Boag misled the public over her role in the recruitment of senior managers for the new Auckland council, says Labour’s Auckland Issues spokesperson Phil Twyford.

“Local Government Minister Rodney Hide now has no option but to intervene and insist she is removed from the recruitment process. I will be writing to the Auditor-General to ask for an investigation.'

“My concerns follow the Auckland Transition Agency’s (ATA) decision to appoint Michelle Boag’s Momentum company to recruit 50 senior managers for the new council.

“Over the weekend I raised concerns about a conflict of interest, given Michelle Boag, a senior consultant with the company, is acting as an unpaid campaign advisor to super city mayoral candidate John Banks,” Phil Twyford said.

“I’ve been told by a number of prospective super city management applicants that they are disturbed by, and worried about, the Michelle Boag link.

“Michelle Boag assured the public ‘she had nothing to do with Momentum’s bid’ and she was reported saying ‘I purposely kept myself out of the tender process’.
“Yesterday however, I received copies of the Momentum bid from ATA under the Official Information Act,” Phil Twyford says.

“The bid names Michelle Boag as a member of the proposed recruitment project team and specifically identifies her as the person who will recruit the super city’s chief spin doctor  – the manager communications and public affairs.

“Disturbingly, while the Momentum bid highlights the need for the recruitment process to be ‘objective and able to reduce any perception of bias’ it fails to raise Michelle Boag’s role with John Banks’ mayoral campaign, and even states that Momentum has ‘no conflicts of interest’.

“Regardless of the Momentum omissions, Michelle Boag’s role in the Banks campaign is public knowledge and ATA should have foreseen the problem.

“The fact that senior appointees, including the communications manager, are expected to be filled in March and may be working for the duration of the mayoral campaign further heightens the conflict of interest concerns.

“Michelle Boag’s deliberate misrepresentation of the situation only adds to the murkiness and suggests she was well aware of the implications of admitting her involvement,” Phil Twyford says.

“Rodney Hide is already under fire for lack of transparency and political cronyism in super city recruitment. Under the third super city bill, the minister gets to appoint all the directors of the seven corporate entities being set up to run the new council’s operations.”

Contact: Phil Twyford 0274 449 161