The member for Wallsend has for the past five months through the Newcastle Herald justified her call for an independent investigation into the publication of several letters to the editor by my friend Scott Neylon, on the basis that they supposedly criticised local Labor MPs.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
What Sonia Hornery hasn't said is that her best friend since high school, Jayne Sharpe, has had at least 15 letters published in the Newcastle Herald. The letters started just two weeks before Sonia first ran for election to Newcastle City Council.
The most recent was to attack Labor's seven Newcastle City councillors for "privatising" our swimming pools.
Not true, of course, but it's a claim Sonia has repeatedly made for more than 18 months.
For more than two decades, Jayne Sharpe has been authoring political, sometimes nasty letters published in the Newcastle Herald.
Her most stinging criticism is reserved for "Labor puppet masters" and Labor politicians, including well-respected member for Charlestown, Jodie Harrison.
Others to be attacked by Jayne Sharpe include former Labor member for Newcastle Jodi McKay, former Labor leader Luke Foley, federal Labor Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney and Labor's seven Newcastle councillors.
Sonia Hornery recently claimed I "benefited" from the publication of five letters from Scott Neylon in the Herald on five different issues over a period of nine years.
Sonia doesn't explain how I benefited, just that I did.
It's a ridiculous claim that ignores the fact that none of the people Scott Neylon referred to in his letters, ceased their own letter writing or changed their position on then topical issues.
I doubt even the editor of the Newcastle Herald believes that a single published letter benefits anyone other than perhaps its readers who enjoy a bit of cut-and-thrust debate.
But if I play along with Sonia's claim that a letter to the editor of the Newcastle Herald benefits someone, then I would argue that ironically the greatest beneficiary of letters published in the Newcastle Herald has been Sonia Hornery.
Sonia was elected to the paid position of Ward Four councillor on Newcastle City Council just two weeks after her friend Jayne wrote a letter to the Newcastle Herald attacking the Liberal candidate, Martin Babakhan.
After her election to council and building a profile, Sonia ran for the state seat of Wallsend where she today earns $258,864 a year.
The Newcastle Herald published a letter by Jayne Sharpe in February 2002 claiming that Martin lived outside of Ward Four and questioned whether he supported a different system for determining council rates. History shows Sonia won that election; Mr Babakhan ran second.
In July this year Sonia Hornery wrote to the Minister for Local Government, who in turn requested the council undertake an investigation in accordance with the mandatory statewide code of conduct.
The independent investigation, which I understand was completed in accordance with the minister's requirements, confirmed that I was not responsible for any letters authorised by Scott Neylon.
Despite the investigation findings, Ms Hornery now claims that I should have taken on editorial status at the Newcastle Herald and prevented them from publishing Mr Neylon's letters. Further, that my failure to stop their publishing constitutes unethical behaviour.
That's a bit rich coming from Sonia Hornery given her failure to prevent the publication of her best friend's letters to the Newcastle Herald over the past two decades.
Instead, last March Sonia rewarded "Jayne" with a public thank you to her 80,000 Facebook followers for being part of her dedicated "campaign team".
Just three weeks ago Jayne Sharpe was invited by Sonia Hornery to the NSW Parliament where she was introduced as her "personal guest".
Some Herald readers have expressed discomfort with the fact that the friends and family of people in high-profile roles sometimes send letters to the Herald.
No one should be prevented from submitting a letter to the Herald expressing their opinion, simply because it relates to a loved one, or perhaps because it's intended to show support for a loved one.
The decision ultimately should and does rest with the Newcastle Herald as the publisher.
The Newcastle Herald has accepted responsibility for vetting letters submitted for publication. Letters that the Herald chose to publish are now described by their reporters as "nasty" and the subjects as "victims". If so, then why did the Herald publish them in the first place?
Earlier this week the Herald published a letter written by the aunt of a current Newcastle City councillor.
No mention of Sonia or me, or her niece for that matter; just a call to people to find a little positivity in their lives.
I believe the toxic nature of this now five-month political campaign is revealed in the fact that within hours of the letter being published in the Newcastle Herald, I understand supporters of Ms Hornery were briefing local media on the family connection between the councillor and letter writer.
Sonia Hornery has not explained why she allowed a member of her campaign team to run a nasty letter-writing campaign in the Newcastle Herald for more than 20 years.
The 'victims' of those letters include former Liberal NSW Premiers, those running against Sonia in local and state government elections, former and current local Labor MPs, and City of Newcastle councillors.
No one should be prevented from submitting a letter to the Herald expressing their opinion, simply because it relates to a loved one, or perhaps because it's intended to show support for a loved one.
I won't hold my breath waiting for Sonia's public call for an independent investigation into the letter writing of her close friend Jayne Sharpe.
