Mostly the local body elections have been a yawn-fest, but there are some results that are interesting, funny, or utterly strange.
Wellington:
Justin Lester has been given the arse card by Andy Foster. Three other councillors were given a DCM as Wellington voters voted for change.
Auckland:
Phil Goff comfortably saw off the challenge from John Tamihere. It was to be expected with JT’s “team” beset with ego-driven maniacs with track records of losing. Having Michelle Boag there pretty much guaranteed he was going to lose and be out of pocket. Having a sopping wet Christine Fletcher on the ticket wouldn’t have helped either.
The National Party proxies suffered a defeat in Howick and Botany. The National Party-aligned ticket lost their majority on the local board. When Jami-Lee Ross ran their campaign they got 8 out of 9 seats. This time they got just 4 out of 9. Although Katrina Bungard won again, the loss of her teammates may hurt her in the Botany selection.
The National Party proxy candidate, Josh Beddell, also let a Labour candidate beat him in the Maungakiekie-Tamaki ward.
The National Party has yet again suffered by running their proxy brand, and more to the point running it badly. Yet again they have let ratepayers down by refusing to run under their own brand. Parties all over the world run under national brand names in local body elections. National stubbornly refuses to do what the Conservatives in the UK or the Liberals do in Australia. The MPs and Board need a thorough caning for ignoring the will of members who want this and even passed a remit to that effect. No amount of renaming, gay colour changes and re-badging can detract from the fact that they are tits at campaigning.
Hawkes Bay:
Fenton ‘Jong-un’ Wilson finally got his arse card. He was the last of the die-hard dam promoters and the former chair of the HBRC. He was beaten by a guy with a full-face moko and probably wasn’t helped by a close relative being charged with murder just as the voting papers were sent out.
Chris Tremain, once a National Party minister, now an also ran, lost as well. He ran a terrible campaign and was previously on the wrong side of amalgamation and selling the power company.
Hastings District Council incumbent Sandra Hazlehurst has been re-elected Mayor. Damon Harvey aka Mister Anna Lorck was soundly beaten. Hawkes Bay’s powerless couple seem to have lots of ambition but no one likes them in sufficient numbers to actually get them elected. There is a better than even chance that his results were hampered by his partner’s reputation.
Dunedin:
There must be something bad in the water in Dunedin. Their new Boss Womble is in fact a womble.
Aaron Hawkins is 35 years old, a vegetarian, cannot drive and often hitch-hikes to work. He’s also now Dunedin’s mayor.
He’s the first ever to be elected on a Green ticket, party co-leader James Shaw says.
Stuff
James Shaw, as usual, is wrong. Sukhi Turner was a Green.
Christchurch:
The poofs’ revenge has ousted Deon Swiggs. He has vowed to continue legal action over the “flawed” inquiry into his alleged inappropriate behaviour towards young people, but that won’t actually matter as he is out on his arse.