Former mayor rejects new Mitcham mayor’s apology for ‘inappropriate’ campaign

A metropolitan mayor has publicly apologised to a former mayor following their bitter campaign fight, including “inappropriate” Facebook posts.

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Mitcham mayor Dr Heather Holmes-Ross has publicly apologised to former mayor Glenn Spear for “inappropriate” posts she made on Facebook during the heated campaign in November.

The apology came inside the Mitcham Council chamber and before Mr Spear launched an extraordinary verbal attack on the woman who defeated him at the mayoral election.

One of the posts now deleted on Ms Holmes-Ross’ campaign Facebook page shows the two rivals sitting next to each other at a ‘Meet The Candidates’ forum in October.

The photo shows the now mayor glancing at the then mayor with the caption: “The F@#K?! Just Stop Talking.”

“These were social media posts that I made as a candidate,” Dr Holmes-Ross said.

“And once I was elected as mayor they became totally inappropriate and unbecoming of my position.”

The mayor said both posts have now been removed but apologised for “not removing them sooner”.

“I’m really sorry if they have caused you any distress,” she added.

Before his address as part of Mitcham’s public consultation over a proposed rate rise of more than three per cent, Mr Spear rejected the apology.

“I found your posts to be totally inappropriate,” he said.

“You directed them to a sitting mayor and given that this chamber is a place to uphold public standards that wasn’t the case.”

Mitcham Mayor Heather Holmes-Ross Facebook pages objected to by Glenn Spear.

Another of the Facebook posts the Mayor apologised for.

Mr Spear showed both posts on slides — one in a redacted form — as part of his presentation criticising the proposed rate rise and Dr Holmes-Ross’ election promises that included free solar power to every resident in Mitcham.

Mr Spear said Dr Holmes-Ross accused him of buying votes “as a form of corruption” during the campaign.

He said he considered the behaviour to be a “form of bullying”.

“You attacked me so viciously on social media,” he said to Dr Holmes-Ross who chaired the council meeting.

“When these kinds of posts (on social media) are persistent I worry about that …. and it’s not okay to just delete them once you’re elected.”

Mitcham Mayor Heather Holmes-Ross. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

Former Mitcham Mayor Glenn Spear. Picture: AAP/ Keryn Stevens

Mayor Holmes-Ross allowed Mr Spear to conclude his speech — that ran for fourteen minutes — despite two elected members interjecting and asking for it to be cut short.

Mitcham will likely impose the second highest rate increase across metropolitan Adelaide with budget proposals for a rise of 3.1 per cent and another at 3.55 per cent.

In April Mr Spear lodged a formal complaint to the Electoral Commission questioning the financing of Dr Holmes-Ross’s bid for the mayoral position at the 2018 council elections.

He says her declaration of a ‘nil’ donations return is “hard to believe” given the large number of fundraising events conducted in the months before the election.

“I believe my campaign return was legal and correct,” she said.

“During the campaign I rang the Electoral Commission to run by them a few things I was doing with my campaign so I’d be surprised if I’d done anything amiss.”