BOBBY Bourke was “conned” into supporting Gary Rush’s mayoral bid, Councillor Jess Jennings has claimed.
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While Cr Jennings’ unsolicited statement to the press last Friday focused much of its attention on the community and business credentials of the new mayor, he also took aim at Cr Bourke, whose vote proved decisive at last Wednesday’s election.
Cr Monica Morse was elevated to the mayoralty last September in a last-minute deal involving councillors Jennings, Bourke, Ian North and Graeme Hanger.
Their five votes were enough to deny Cr Greg Westman a second year in the region’s top job but Cr Morse, in particular, was heavily criticised after indicating her support for Cr Westman just hours before the vote.
But as early as two months ago, it was clear Cr Morse faced an uphill battle to retain the mayoralty as Cr Bourke considered switching allegiances. Cr Rush was put forward as an alternative and, with Cr Bourke’s support last Wednesday, won the job by the same single-vote margin that had handed Cr Morse the mayoral chains a year earlier.
“Gary and his three supporters clearly conned Bobby into thinking Monica was hopeless, and apparently Bobby was offered a motion to revive the popularly-elected mayor issue,” Cr Jennings said in his statement.
“It speaks volumes of Bobby’s judgment that he ‘king-made’ a mayor who only got 65 votes in his own name, which is less than my partner [Kate, who received 75 votes] got on my campaign at number three on the Group A ticket.”
Cr Rush ran as number two on Cr Aubin’s ticket at the election – on the strength of Cr Aubin’s preferences, he was the eighth councillor elected.
Cr Bourke yesterday rejected Cr Jennings’ claims, saying he hadn’t been “conned” by anyone.
He said Cr Jennings’s outburst looked like a bad case of sour grapes.
“I wasn’t offered anything to support Gary,” Cr Bourke said.
“I spoke to Monica on different issues and I also spoke to every councillor to weigh up the situation.
“I didn’t have a clear idea myself on which way I was going to go until the day before the vote.”
Cr Bourke said he also spoke to community members and business owners before deciding Cr Rush was the best person to be mayor.
“The whole time Jess was trying to play his own political games and he asked for my support,” he said.
“I don’t think he achieved anything out of this. It’s just sour grapes.
“He might have a doctorate in science or whatever, but I’ve got a doctorate in common sense.”
