A “changing of the guard” imminent in Auckland?

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

from The New Zealand Herald....

Auckland Mayor Len Brown loses backing of top campaign team

Advisers want Goff/Hulse to run for mayor.

By BERNARD ORSMAN | 5:00AM - Wednesday, March 18, 2015


Key campaign and mayoral advisers have delivered the “blunt message” to Mr Brown that he has
no chance of winning and should step down. — Photo: Greg Bowker.

AUCKLAND MAYOR Len Brown has lost the backing of key members of his campaign team, who are turning their attention to other left-leaning candidates at next year's local body elections.

The New Zealand Herald has learned of a meeting last month where key campaign and mayoral advisers delivered the “blunt message” to Mr Brown that he has no chance of winning and should step down.

Mr Brown was told he would receive no financial backing, political support or volunteers to erect billboards and deliver pamphlets for a campaign where his sex life would be centre stage.

One source said Mr Brown's wife, Shan Inglis, who stuck by her husband after the publicised affair with council adviser Bevan Chuang, did not deserve to be “dragged through the sewer” again.

Last night, Mr Brown issued a statement saying he enjoyed the support of his campaign team.

“I meet with lots of people all of the time who give me advice on all sorts of things, that's the nature of the job,” Mr Brown said.

At least two of Mr Brown's inner circle have held talks with Mt Roskill MP and former Labour leader Phil Goff about standing for the mayoralty.

There is also support for deputy mayor Penny Hulse, who has expressed interest but said she would never stand against Mr Brown.

It is understood Mr Brown was shaken by the actions of his campaign team and mayoral staff, some of whom are longstanding friends. He has not responded to their request.

Mr Goff could not be reached yesterday, but has said he would consider contesting the mayoralty “but I don't believe that is where my career path is currently taking me”.

The 61-year-old former foreign affairs minister is keen on an overseas posting, but needs to weigh up the chances of Labour winning office for that opportunity to arise.

Present at the meeting with Mr Brown were key members of his campaign team — Labour strategist Conor Roberts, who ran the mayor's successful 2010 election campaign; David Lewis, chief press secretary to former Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark who ran Mr Brown's 2013 election campaign; advertising guru Mike Hutcheson; and Pacific Events Centre chief executive Richard Jeffery.

Two senior mayoral staff were also present, chief of staff Phil Wilson and chief policy and political adviser James Bews-Hair.

The meeting was confirmed by four sources, none of whom wanted to speak on the record.


LEFT: Chief of staff Phil Wilson. | CENTRE: Political adviser James Bews-Hair. | RIGHT: Pacific Events Centre
chief executive Richard Jeffery.

One source said Mr Brown would struggle to raise money for a campaign, where the limit for mayoral candidates next year is $618,300.

On the right, former ACT leader and Auckland City mayor John Banks and Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Barnett have said they could challenge Mr Brown.

Mr Banks is considering resurrecting his political career after the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction for failing to disclose donations from Kim Dotcom to his mayoralty campaign in 2010.

He is now seeking to have a second trial for filing a false electoral return thrown out after the discovery of evidence which the Crown failed to disclose to his lawyer.

An online NZ Herald poll following a December story about possible mayoral contenders attracted nearly 5,000 votes.

The unscientific survey showed Mr Goff as the preferred candidate on 26 percent, followed by John Banks (22%), Michael Barnett (15%), Maurice Williamson (14%), Penny Hulse (13%), Mr Brown (5%) and John Palino (5%).

This week, Mr Barnett accused the council of “jumping from crisis to crisis” after Mr Brown and councillors were blindsided by a number of issues hitting the headlines, including a London posting by the council's economic development arm, wharf extensions at the port, and resource consent to fell a kauri tree in Titirangi.

Grey Power Auckland zone director Bill Rayner said there was a growing perception that the mayor and councillors no longer had effective control of council.



Loss of support

• Campaign and mayoral advisers urge Len Brown to step down at the next election.

• They say he has no chance of winning and his sex life will dominate the campaign.

• Key advisers turn attention to Phil Goff or Penny Hulse.

• Brown says he has support of his campaign team and gets advice “on all sorts of things”.

• Bernard Orsman is Super City reporter for The New Zealand Herald.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11418822


from The New Zealand Herald....

Goff considers Auckland mayoralty bid

By MATHEW DEARNALEY | 10:50AM - Wednesday, March 18, 2015


Labour MP Phil Goff has served in Parliament for 31 years. — Photo: NZME.

SENIOR Labour politician Phil Goff says he is giving deep and serious consideration to running for the Auckland mayoralty.

The veteran MP for Mt Roskill, who has served for 15 of his 31 years in Parliament as a cabinet minister in portfolios including foreign affairs, defence and housing, said today he had received approaches "from right across the community" to lead the SuperCity but had yet to make up his mind.

“Obviously for all of my political career to date, it's been based in central government, but I do acknowledge the importance of the Auckand City mayoralty and its governance, and it's not something I should simply shrug off,” he told the Herald.

“It's something that I need to give some pretty deep thought to.”

Mr Goff was speaking after the newspaper's disclosure this morning that Auckland's incumbent mayor, Len Brown, had lost the backing of key members of his campaign team.

The 61-year-old MP refused to be drawn on whether that development was accelerating his interest, saying what Mr Brown did next was “entirely up to Len”.

“I've got no advice that it would be proper to give,” he said.

“I've worked with Len over the time he's been mayor and he's had significant achievements and he's going to have to make up his mind about what he does, and he'll do that without gratuitous advice from anybody else.”

“He's obviously had a rough six months or so and he'll have a whole lot of things he'll want to take into account.”

“He's passionate about what he does and at the same time he also understands politics, so he's entirely able to make up his own mind and reach his own conclusion.”

Mr Goff would not comment on whether he believed the mayor was hamstrung while he and his councils had been "blindsided" by officials, as implied by potential right-leaning mayoral candidate Michael Barnett, chief of Auckland's Chamber of Commerce.

But he said Auckland needed strong leadership while facing a raft of pressing issues, transport and housing being foremost among them.

Although the MP indicated he had several options ahead of him, including offers from the private sector as well as staying in Parliament, he acknowledged he would "obviously" have to make up his mind on the mayorality before the end of this year.

“With the election next year, and I've been given responsibility [by Labour leader Andrew Little] for Auckland issues, I'm spending quite a long time thinking about Auckland issues,” he said.

“And there are a lot of discussions I want to have and a lot of thinking through of the sort of difference that I might or might not be able to make if I was in that position.”

“Six months ago I would not have thought at all about even entertaining the idea [of contesting the mayoralty] but I have had quite broad-based support for running and have just given an undertaking to those people who have approached me from right across the community that I would consider it seriously, and that's what I'm doing.”

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11419140


Related thread @ XNC2....

• Fortunate timing for Bonky Brown

[nitpicker1]

Will a Real Mayoral Candidate Please Stand up
Thursday, 19 March 2015, 12:02 pm
Press Release: Affordable Auckland 

PRESS RELEASE

ISSUED BY AFFORDABLE AUCKLAND

Will a Real Mayoral Candidate Please Stand up

Affordable Auckland’s Stephen Berry believes Auckland has a bleak future ahead if the names put forward repeatedly by the New Zealand Herald are all there will be to choose from. “At the moment the only names being mentioned look like an audition for the next Jurassic Park movie and I’m not referring to the human roles.”

The 32 year old has not yet made a decision on whether to run for Mayor and, true to form, the mainstream media hasn’t asked. “Len Brown has now been written off as a dead duck and this means the campaign for the Auckland Mayoralty will probably start in the next few months.

“Currently we have a line-up of near retired politicians or persons who have followed Len Brown down the path to ruin. Most of them will plod along on a journey of business as usual. None of them will embark on the program of reform that desperately needs to happen to get Auckland Council’s books in order.”

Stephen Berry’s analysis of the potential candidates mentioned so far…

John Palino (54)

He ran a reasonable campaign when he was the Medias right wing favourite by default. His poor handling of the Bevan Chuang incident (he flew overseas) means his short political career is pretty much over. Palino campaigned for the idea of creating a new CBD in Manukau to take the pressure off central Auckland. Hardly ground breaking stuff.

Penny Hulse (55)

Penny has been Brown’s wing person throughout and therefore bears full responsibility for the disastrous state of the Council’s books. She voted for the latest rates increase, backs the City Rail Loop and has been a leading cheerleader for the Unitary plan. Hulse has previously said she won’t stand against Len Brown but I’m sure that will change once she gets a whiff of blood.


Len Brown (58)

If his opponents are from the Jurassic period then Brown is a relic from the Triassic. He’s already extinct.

Phil Goff (61)

Reached his peak in Wellington and looking for a higher paying retirement plan. Once a dynamic reformer when he was a Minister in the fourth Labour government; now pretends it didn’t happen. An article today shows that Mr. Goff supports building the city rail link and is an advocate for light rail. Thinks a partnership between local and central government will fix the housing crisis. He's appalled by people cutting down their own trees. Len Brown the second.

Maurice Williamson (64)

We know he’s clever because he’s told us but he’s never actually expressed any interest in the Mayoralty. Gave a nice speech about a rainbow once.

Michael Barnett (64)

Michael has spent many years in local government on the Auckland Regional Council. He is also head of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. Barnett seems to believe the Council is responsible for planning economic development and dealing with high unemployment rates which is not a core role of Council. Were Barnett elected I anticipate more business as usual with a mild tinge of blue.

John Banks (68)

Only John Banks thinks he still has a political career.

“At this stage there are no contenders who would support restricting rates increases to below the rate of inflation, funding only the core essentials necessary for the functioning of the city or controlling the Council’s rampant borrowing. Nobody is backing the rights of property owners nor do they have a realistic plan to tackle skyrocketing house prices.”

In 2013, Stephen Berry’s Mayoral campaign flew under the radar and was virtually ignored by mainstream media. He ran on a low budget of just a few thousand dollars and campaigned mainly in Central Auckland. Despite this Berry finished in third place with a respectable vote, reaching up to 8% in parts of Rodney.

“Should I decide to run for the Auckland Mayoralty it will be the longest campaign in Auckland local body history.

“Watch this space.”

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1503/S00531/will-a-real-mayoral-candidate-please-stand-up.htm

[Calliope]

Right-winger Stephen Berry has pulled out of the Auckland mayoral contest at October's local body elections and endorsed centre-right candidate John Palino.

[guest49]

To say I liked Berry when he was a member of this board would be extending things a bit far, but I admired his chutzpah.  He wasn't frightened to stick up for what he believed in.

[nitpicker1]

Right-winger Stephen Berry has pulled out of the Auckland mayoral contest at October's local body elections and endorsed centre-right candidate John Palino.

To say I liked Berry when he was a member of this board would be extending things a bit far, but I admired his chutzpah.  He wasn't frightened to stick up for what he believed in.

He sure did know how to use shock tactics.

I was worried about him when he left to infiltrate and eventually expose RELIGION. I sort of thought he might get born again and we'd never again hear from him. That venture didn't last long, but I didn't hear the exposé.

Seems to me that he could perhaps join the Greens for the next General Election.

Remember this?

V


   
Re: Fortunate timing for Bonky Brown
« Reply #80 on: March 05, 2014, 04:49:38 pm »
Reply with quoteQuote


Who are Len's donors? - Stephen Berry

Affordable Auckland, FuseworksMarch 4, 2014, 6:57 pm

..."Very serious and justified questions have been raised over the integrity of our Mayor since the election. We know he lied when he claimed following the affair there were no more skeletons. We know he lied when he claimed to have had an error of recollection regarding 60 undeclared hotel room upgrades. He has lied to us for years about his commitment to lower rates. What more is the Mayor hiding?" ...

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/21816777/who-are-lens-donors-stephen-berry/

 I hope our Steve isn't flying too close to the sun.
 

The linked article is long gone but it's memory lingers on in xnc2