Phil Goff has tried to appease everyone by expanding the size of the Auckland Council trough. Now all can have a swill, even his opponents:
Phil Goff appears to be trying to keep even his political opponents onside, finding a role for all 20 councillors in a widened committee structure for his second term.
However, there were already signs of ripples as Goff unveiled the divvying-up on Monday of political jobs in front of media and most of his freshly-elected council.
Goff’s creation of 32 positions of responsibility could either be a masterstroke of political patronage, or turn out to be a broth spoiled by having too many cooks.
There are no surprises with the big jobs.
Bill Cashmore remains deputy mayor, Chris Darby stays as the chair of Planning, and Richard Hills moves up from deputy, to chair the Environment and Climate Change committee, a spot vacated by the retiring Penny Hulse.
Desley Simpson moves up from deputy chair of Finance and Performance, to replace Ross Clow who missed re-election.
The sad thing about this is that one of the biggests troughers, Bill Cashmore, was elected unopposed. But Goff has been even sneakier than usual:
Six new liaison roles have been created, putting councillors at the board table of the five Council-Controlled-Organisations (CCOs), but they won’t have voting rights and will channel information between the agencies and the council.
Darby and Cashmore will work with Auckland Transport’s board, Linda Cooper with Watercare, John Watson with ATEED, Richard Hills with Regional Facilities Auckland, and Darby with Panuku Development.
Good grief, they are powerless, message deliverers. All the appearance of power but in actual fact, none.
The “jobs for all” approach knew no boundaries, even Rodney ward councillor Greg Sayers – who voted against almost everything in the past term, and fashioned himself as a leading Goff opponent – accepted the chairing role on the Strategic Procurement committee.
Veteran councillor Christine Fletcher who teamed-up with Goff’s main mayoral challenger John Tamihere during the election campaign and was scathing of the mayor’s performance, will line up as Goff’s deputy on the Appointments and Performance Review committee, and take on the portfolio lead role for Parks and Open Space – a personal passion.
On paper, Goff’s approach to make this council “as inclusive as I can make it” looks good, but the managing of 20 occasionally difficult relationships will remain one of his major challenges this term.
Stuff
Room at the trough for all.
