Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: A. B. B.

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  • Gareth Ward,

    That said, Alex Swney would be my pick for mayor, all things being equal. But it looks like he can't do any more than make it easier for Banks right now.

    He would be mine too and will be on my form. I have considered the whole tactical voting implications but I for one line up almost 100% with his key messages and like to think that if he can get 8-10% (bit of a stretch perhaps) he'll be encouraged to run again - perhaps next time he won't be caught out as the spare sausage at a previous Mayor fight...

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report Reply

  • Terence Wood,

    Oh - you Aucklanders have cheered me up!

    Here I was in a flunk about the fact that, here in Wellington, we are most probably going to get another term of mayor-for-life Prendergast. This is despite the fact that she has erected the most vacuous campaign billboards in the history of political campaigning.

    But hey - at least we ain't going to elect Banks again. If you Aucklanders do that, then I think the Paraguians and Botswanans may indeed look on with wonder.

    Since Nov 2006 • 148 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I wouldn't trust him feeding my cat, let alone looking after my wallet at the beach.

    And I wouldn't trust someone who - to quote Churchill's typically waspish assessment of Stanley Baldwin - resembled a pillow, in that he firmly bore the imprint of the last person who sat on him. By that criteria, the pornographer should win in a landslide.

    And with all due disrespect to Mr. Rudman, IO, I rather hope that enlightened perspective will be reflected in the (depressingly and predictably) cretinous election coverage from the Herald. Seems like they've decided the rest of their circulation area doesn't exist (or at least the results are a foregone conclusion), and the Hubbard-Banks freak show is the only game that matters.

    Oh well, guess the next round of Herald lay-offs and budget cuts have started to bite.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    get another term of mayor-for-life Prendergast

    Oh poo. You sure know how to depress a guy. Are any of her opponents reminding voters of the fantastic success the bypass was/is? Best obstacle to traversing a city I've ever seen! Although the barricade from Les Miserables would've been prettier.

    How much time a road link between Korokoro & Grenada will be saved for the 3 people who might ever want to use it?

    How successful ratepayer funding of Tiger Woods' visit was?

    How much we regret not getting V8 car races? (absolutely positively jubilant)

    Enter your own hated, stupid, pet project here.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    This is all getting a bit depressing. Is it even worth voting for an Auckland mayoral candidate? Should I just bow down to my new mayoral overlord?

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    This is all getting a bit depressing. Is it even worth voting for an Auckland mayoral candidate? Should I just bow down to my new mayoral overlord?

    BANKS: "Yes, and while you're down there..."
    CROWE: "Yes, but let me reposition the Tri-pod first..."
    SWNEY: "Um .. er .. ah, fuck it!"
    HUBBARD: "eh?"

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Leigh Kennaway,

    Dick Hubbard may be socially conservative, but he's prepared to look past his own background and beliefs. After his gaff with the letter he co-signed on the Civil Unions issue in 2004, he accepted an invitation to visit The Big Gay Out, where he spent a lot of time with a group of gay and lesbian parents. He also accepted an invitation to visit them again during one of their regular playgroup sessions.

    The Mayor also hosted the celebration marking the 20th anniversary of Homosexual Law Reform last year, held in the Town Hall, and he's attended a few of the partnership meetings with GLBT community groups. He may still be conservative, but I've never felt any insincerity from him, or resistance to discussing GLBT issues and viewpoints.

    C&R candidate in the Hobson ward Aaron Bhatnagar points to this function as a prime example of the current Council's money-wasting...... but David Fermah, C&R candidate in the Western Bays ward has been calling for a return of the Hero Parade, with Council support....as it was conservative C&R Councillors who provided the largest of the stumbling blocks that eventually saw the parade die I find it hard to believe they would now provide enough funding and support to resurrect the event.

    Having served with the previous Mayor and this one, I know who I'd put my money on as a genuine bridge-builder!!

    Western Bays • Since Feb 2007 • 79 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    North of the bridge - I'll come out of the closet and admit that ten minutes with the candidate information booklet brought me to the conclusion that the most responsible act was to rip my ballot paper into very, very small pieces and burn it.

    Oh, I too am tempted, Craig. Very, very, very. And I have no idea what to do about it. I want to vote. It's my duty, I believe that I must exercise this democratic right. But........I am very near to not voting at all. And I hate that.I would normally vote for City Vision candidates but this year, I don't know. Please help me - if anyone can, you politically motivated lot can.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    Dick Hubbard may be socially conservative, but he's prepared to look past his own background and beliefs.

    I'd be really really happy to be proved wrong, and it looks like I might be. But, honestly, it's not the sincerity of his homophobia that worries me. If he's genuine, it still worries me. Because, okay, he didn't think gay people deserved basic rights, then he met some and realised he was wrong. Is he going to have to do that with every single other group? He seems... awfully malleable.

    And yeah. Almost every time someone talks to me about Hubbard, they start talking about Banks. Swney seems okay. But I also wonder why I care at all about the Auckland mayoralty.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Brent Jackson,

    Well said InternationalObserver. The Mayor does stuff-all towards implementing policy. Banks' statements makes it seem that he doesn't understand that. Since he's already been Mayor, I guess we put it down as JMB (just more bullshit).

    Everybody lambasted Christine Fletcher because she seemed wishy-washy and didn't get anything done, and now they're saying the same things about Hubbard. It is not the Mayor who gets things done - it is the council.

    Cheers,
    Brent.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 620 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Andrew,

    Can anyone tell me, historically, why we have a separate vote for mayor? Why don't we vote for the councillors, same as we do for MPs, then let them work out who the head cheese will be?

    Its amazing how many people I've never heard of suddenly have poster up with "re-elect" on them. I have no idea what these people do for the other 2 years and 10 months. They may be beavering away on any number of committees and working parties, but they don't get name-checked in the media very often if at all. The regional councillors are even worse, and don't even start on the DHB candidates!

    Hamiltron - City of the F… • Since Nov 2006 • 900 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    Well, thanks, Aucklanders, you've made me feel so much better about the choice here.

    Prenderghast is not someone I can be enthusiastic about but she's a cut above Banks or Hubbard.

    I haven't bothered to vote for the DHB. DHBs are like school councils: they have very little real power but are allowed a bit of a platform for people who like that sort of thing.

    I've voted against two of our sitting councillors - one Labour, one Nat-leaning - after seeing them in action over a row in our street about a new footpath. The Labour councillor - who I'd voted for last time - was just plain dumb: the other one - who I'd also voted for - lived up to his reputation for having a bit of an anger management problem. I was actually more impressed with the candidates for the regional council.

    The city council in Wellington seems to have more than its fair share of plain bile-driven fruitcakes. An acquaintance is standing - not in this ward, unfortunately - and I've suggested her slogan should be 'Vote for me, I'm not a bitter obsessive with a major personality disorder'.

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    An acquaintance is standing - not in this ward, unfortunately - and I've suggested her slogan should be 'Vote for me, I'm not a bitter obsessive with a major personality disorder'.

    Well that rules her out of being qualified for local body politics!

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • 81stcolumn,

    I admit after several years of paying taxes and rates I was quite looking forward to having my own little say about how it got spent. I open the letter and this monster of democracy leapt out and devoured my motivation to vote. The process really does look like a recipe for instant paralysis.

    Motivation aside it occurred to me that the spiel next to the faces was probably a lie or at best sanitised. Hence my dumb question of the day. Is there a voting record for major issues to be reviewed for any of the candidates who have already held office ?

    Nawthshaw • Since Nov 2006 • 790 posts Report Reply

  • Brian Murphy,

    The memory gets unreliable too, what were the issues

    Boobs on bikes
    Hero parade
    The eastern highway
    The billboard by-laws
    The trees on Queen st
    The rugby world cup
    The waterfront stadium

    And how many of these were just beat ups from our media, or those who dislike the current regime?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 48 posts Report Reply

  • daleaway,

    I spent a couple of years on a management committee with Kerry Prendergast in her pre-Mayoral days, and though I disliked her political stances and have never voted for her, I was forced to admire her capacity for sheer hard work. Not a shifty, two-faced, big-noting poser. She puts the toil in. Even a bit try-hard by Wellington standards.

    But it could well be a case of buy one, get one free where her husband is concerned, and he's a whole other can of...

    Since Jul 2007 • 198 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    ... and as a final insult, the gum on the back of the envelope tastes really disgusting.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    That is entirely apt

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    It reminded me of Jeremy Clarkson on QI describing seal flipper as tasting '__exactly__ like licking a hot Turkish urinal'.

    Lots of you haven't licked it yet, right? The envelope, not the urinal.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Andrew,

    'exactly like licking a hot Turkish urinal'

    You have to bow to the voice of experience...Never having been to Turkey myself.

    Hamiltron - City of the F… • Since Nov 2006 • 900 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I'd be really really happy to be proved wrong, and it looks like I might be. But, honestly, it's not the sincerity of his homophobia that worries me. If he's genuine, it still worries me. Because, okay, he didn't think gay people deserved basic rights, then he met some and realised he was wrong. Is he going to have to do that with every single other group? He seems... awfully malleable.

    He can be a bit of a dick. But I seriously think that any comparison with Banks is way off the mark. I think Hubbard is good-hearted. Banks is just a creep.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Michael Fitzgerald,

    Isn't Crowe still facing serious fire arms charges?
    If I were him I'ld run for Pope if I thought it would get me off.

    Some of the political Graffitti in CHCH is brilliant.
    Bob Parkers Reb Dreds = Sideshow Bob

    The apathy has extended to the council as well. Selwyn E-Can has 2 people going for 1 spot.

    Can anyone let me in on the appeal of Banks?

    Since May 2007 • 631 posts Report Reply

  • Conor Roberts,

    Russell,

    I write regarding your dilemma on voting in Western Bays.

    Following on from your post about how right-wing candidates in this year's local body election claim credit for things they did not do, well the opposite is true too – they try to blame City Vision for things they put in place.

    I noted C&R's attempt to say that the City Vision candidates wanted to ban people from having a drink on Ponsonby Road at 11pm.

    Bollocks.

    In fact the proposal for an 11pm outdoor dining curfew came from a review of the liquor by-laws by the previous Banks/C&R Council. It has received no support from City Vision councillors who have continually voted against it. It is absolutely dishonest for Sally Wenley and Greg Moyle to claim otherwise.

    Al fresco dining is a part of the Ponsonby lifestyle and I don’t want it threatened by Banks and his merry band of reactionaries.

    I can only hope that when people go to vote in this election, they remember just how bad it was under Banks and C&R. I’ll never forgive him for trying to sell off council housing and putting older Aucklanders through the anguish of worrying about their abodes. We will go back to the brashness and bitterness of Bank’s council. They will not protect public assets and we’ll have years of underinvestment in council services again.

    Don’t doubt that if C&R gets back in we’ll see higher annual charges, hurting middle and modest income people most. We’ll see underinvestment in our streetscapes and services. And we’ll again move away from making our city a modern and progressive metropolis.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 57 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    Emma Hart wrote:

    ... and as a final insult, the gum on the back of the envelope tastes really disgusting.

    Mine wasn't even all that absorbant, and the corners were sharp.

    Totally impractical.

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Oh, and it does annoy me the way some of the local CitRat people attack City Vision over things their own councillors voted for. The Queen Street redevelopment was a magnificent example.

    Now, the CitRat members of the Western Bays Community Board placed a hysterical full-page attack ad in the (somewhat bizarre) Ponsonby News this month, alleging that the old red-chip footpaths being replaced were (ahem) a heritage feature. They're not -- they're a piece o' crap cheapo solution put in by a previous CitRat council and they're falling to bits. And, of course, the CitRat councillors voted for them to be replaced...

    The ad also advises readers to vote CitRat if they don't like the fact that they can't eat or drink outside the area's restaurants after 11pm.

    This is absolutely deranged: the 11pm curfew is a direct result of the review of the liquor strategy carried out by the CitRat council under Banks. City Vision opposed it.

    At the other end of the spectrum, of course, you've got the Water Pressure loons, who lost any iota of my respect with their harassment of a dying Phil Raffills, and seem to be as aggressive as ever.

    I would go so far as to say the thing I like about City Vision is that they're not as weird as any of the others ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

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