Deputy lord mayor Declan Clausen says he used Google to search the contact details of "about 30" recipients of special business rate funds, slamming suggestions a council database was used.
The Newcastle Labor councillors sent a letter in recent days to grant recipients of special business rate (SBR) funds highlighting the pledge made by the Newcastle Independents' lord mayoral candidate John Church to scrap the SBR - a levy collected from traders in five commercial districts.
The letter was signed by Labor councillors Nuatali Nelmes, Declan Clausen, Carol Duncan and Peta Winney-Baartz, and advocated the party's commitment to maintaining the SBR.
"We draw this to your attention as your organisation has previously been a very worthy recipient of SBR program funding, and has significantly contributed to promoting and activating our city which we very much appreciate," it said.
"Labor councillors stand firmly opposed to [John] Church's proposal.
"If enacted, Church's election pledge would remove millions of dollars in annual funding from the SBR program, impacting the city's ability to attract and deliver popular events and initiatives."
Newcastle Partnerships, a group formed out of the ashes of business improvement association Newcastle Now - which had its funding stripped and terminated by the council in 2018 when the SBR program was reformed - questioned in an email to all councillors on Wednesday how Labor obtained the contact details of grant recipients.
"Could you clarify the basis on which this email ... was allowed to be distributed to what is essentially a City of Newcastle email database?" it said.
Cr Clausen, Labor's campaign spokesperson, labelled Newcastle Partnerships "allies" of the Newcastle Independents and said a list of recipients was publicly available on the council's website, which he used to search for recipients' email addresses.
"I spent two hours Googling the recipients one by one," Cr Clausen said.
"No council records or resources were used, it was entirely put together by me."
Council CEO Jeremy Bath said "no contact details were provided" to any councillor.
