But intervention would be "an absolute overreach", the Labour MP said.
Councillors will vote this week on whether to notify the council’s land and water plan.
And despite several government ministers calling on the council to delay the contentious plan, progress towards a potential October 31 notification date has found favour with a 7-5 split among councillors.
Ms Leary, who has previously told Environment Minister Penny Simmonds to "stay in her lane" over the issue, yesterday confirmed she was using official information laws to discover if there had been any direct communication between any councillors and Ms Simmonds or Resources Minister Shane Jones.
"This is a government that seems to ride roughshod over process and rules, as we’ve seen across many different sectors, including with the Gumboot Friday procurement, and also now the noises it’s making — prematurely, in my view — around the Wellington City Council.
"Given the special meetings that have been called and votes taken — even though those seeking the vote knew they would lose based on numbers — it strikes me there could be an agenda to create a perception of chaos at the Otago Regional Council by some members to try to prompt government intervention."
The ODT received an email chain showing councillors were informed of Ms Leary’s request on Tuesday last week, advising them to divulge any communication with the ministers by Friday.
On Wednesday, in response to questions from the ODT Cr Kate Wilson provided a letter she sent to Ms Simmonds in August.
In it, Cr Wilson, on behalf of four other councillors, called on Ms Simmonds to tell the council to re-consult on its draft land and water plan.
Ms Leary said she made the official information request to see if there were direct lines of communication between councillors and ministers.
And to see if councillors were agitating for the government to step in and intervene "in what is democracy playing out".
She said it would not surprise her if some councillors had direct lines into government parties.
"The fact that councillors have unilaterally disclosed some of those direct communications would suggest that my investigations have shaken some things out of the tree, but people can form their own opinion as to why that may be.
"Sometimes democracy is messy, but that’s part of the journey, and it would be an absolute overreach if the government were to try to use any of the internal disputes and differences of opinion to step in when there’s no way under the Local Government Act any kind of threshold is close to having been reached."
In response to ODT questions about Cr Wilson’s letter, last week Ms Simmonds said while regional councils were responsible for freshwater within their regions, central government set the national policy direction, which was set to change.
"I am continuing to monitor the council and have not ruled out further interventions or appropriate actions to ensure the freshwater planning does not impose unnecessary costs on ratepayers," Ms Simmonds said.
