Banks gets bitten

Written By: - Date published: 7:05 pm, February 2nd, 2010 - 31 comments
Categories: auckland supercity, local body elections - Tags: , , ,

In a sure sign that the political phone is off the hook for John ‘Mayor for Remuera’ Banks, the deputy mayor of Rodney John Kirikiri has a scathing letter in yesterday’s Herald criticising the super-mayoral candidate’s cynical electioneering.

After a couple of high-profile high-cost staff hires (he has ex 3 News political reporter Scott Campbell as his spin-doctor and PR image consultant Janet Wilson on board), Banks has appeared a lot in the media recently.

In what seems like a desperate attempt to turn around Len Brown’s growing momentum, Banks is frantically trying to up his profile by jumping on any issue that pops up. Yet it seems that all his appearances simply serve to reinforce to people why they don’t like the man.

Firstly there was this disastrous Campbell Live interview, where Banks tries to stick up for Aucklanders by attacking Transpower boss Patrick Strange over power outages, but simply succeeds in looking as angry and crazy as the Waikato farmer who caused the problem in the first place. Facepalm.

And then he came out in his most robo-Banks faux-outrage campaign voice to condemn the senseless killing of dogs up in Rodney.

However, in another example of Lord Mayor Banks’ political Tourette’s syndrome getting him into trouble, the people of Rodney don’t seem to have taken too kindly to Banks’ bleating.

Deputy mayor Kirikiri is a very high profile person in the district so his words will carry a lot of weight there. He writes, ‘I am appalled at the statement from Auckland Mayor John Banks over the Wellsford dog shootings. It appears to be little more than an attempt to gain political capital out of a tragic event. What concerns me event more is what this may foreshadow for Rodney if it is absorbed into the Super City under his governance.’

Kirikiri concludes, ‘Mr Banks’ statement highlights that he is contemplating ruling an area (Rodney) and a culture (rural) that he cares little about and of which he has little understanding.’ Ouch.

Banks’ problem is that he is (rightly) seen as the mayor for downtown Auckland who is running to enhance his own ego and to suck money and power away from communities around the region. People have stopped listening to him and no amount of expensive spin-doctoring or political grandstanding is going to change that.

Banks’ campaign slogan is: ‘The Mayor for a Greater Auckland’. Make that: ‘The Mayor for Grating Auckland’.

31 comments on “Banks gets bitten ”

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  1. Jared 1
    2 February 2010 at 8:25 pm

    On a tangent, how did the Waikato farmer cause the power failure? It was transpowers responsibility to trim the vegetation underneath the sagging power lines and they failed to do so.

    • Captain Rehab 1.1
      2 February 2010 at 8:41 pm

      didn’t he refuse to let them access the lines?

      • Lindsey 1.1.1
        2 February 2010 at 9:28 pm

        Yes, did you not see the sign on TV. The mad farmer had lots of “No tresspassing Transpower” signage up. The pylons were there when he bought the farm.

        • Jared 1.1.1.1
          2 February 2010 at 10:06 pm

          I was under the impression the farm had been in his family since the 60s and that the farmer wasn’t not allowing Transpower access, but wanted them to give him adequate notice and request permission to enter his property. Not unreasonable requests.

          • killinginthenameof 1.1.1.1.1
            3 February 2010 at 9:58 am

            No, that is not the case. Questions remain still about how the fire actually started also.

        • mickysavage 1.1.1.2
          2 February 2010 at 10:27 pm

          And he had lots of guns …

  2. gomango 2
    2 February 2010 at 8:59 pm

    Deputy mayor Kirikiri is a very high profile person in the district

    What? How do you get that? Never heard of him……… and i live in Rodney.

    • Scribe 2.1
      3 February 2010 at 9:02 am

      gomango,

      Indeed. Sam Cash, any supporting evidence for your claim Kirikiri is a high-profile person? Most people have no idea who a deputy mayor in a city/district is.

  3. PT 3
    2 February 2010 at 9:02 pm

    sam cash is len brown activist goman, whoopdieshit he hates banksie

    [lprent: Who doesn’t hate ‘banksie’? The more he is on TV the more I remember why. ]

    • mickysavage 3.1
      2 February 2010 at 10:29 pm

      Good attempted diversion. It has been tried many times before. Why debate the issue if you can have a crack at who you think is the writer?

      [lprent: Yeah but he narrowly avoided direct speculation – which I don’t allow about the psuedonyms. So I didn’t ban him. I did add a note. ]

    • PT 3.2
      3 February 2010 at 8:19 am

      banksies great prentice, which is why he kicked your cereal king out of office last time, how did the labour party do in auckland city elections last time? oh thats right, you got creamed

  4. lukas 4
    2 February 2010 at 9:11 pm

    “Deputy mayor Kirikiri is a very high profile person in the district so his words will carry a lot of weight there.”

    As someone who lives in Rodney… no. Never heard from or of him since the elections.

    Keep dreaming.

  5. illuminatedtiger 5
    2 February 2010 at 9:11 pm

    He characterizes everything that is wrong with the Auckland …. errr Epsom … voter. For fuck sake Aucklanders – get out there and vote this time!

  6. 350ppm 6
    3 February 2010 at 7:47 am

    @Jared Under the Electricity (Hazards from Trees) Regulations 2003 (http://bit.ly/TreeRegs), landowners usually have the legal obligation to keep vegetation clear from power lines. It’s not yet clear whether this applied in this particular case.

  7. 350ppm 7
    3 February 2010 at 7:55 am

    On another note, John Banks got a free ride on Campbell Live last night in a piece about transport preparations for the RWC2011. Banks carried on as if ARTA never existed, and he had single-handedly convinced Auckland City Council to revamp Auckland’s rail system. John Campbell failed to bring any facts to the story.

  8. tc 8
    3 February 2010 at 8:20 am

    Surprise surpise….the MSM gives banks another soapbox for him to take credit for others efforts. Banks also took credit for Britomart station (Fletchers baby) yet no-one follows up with him after his all too familiar rants about power/rail/dogs to see if he’s actually done anything like for example after a rail issue “putting the govt’s feet to the fire…”

    Watch campbell live descend into ratings savvy drivel (admittedly the drop wont be huge) as they struggle to justify their existence in the debt loaded Mediaworks…..the school uniform pieces so far say alot about the focus.

    If Banks is the answer for supercity then the question must have been pitched at 10 year olds.

    • PT 8.1
      3 February 2010 at 8:25 am

      you lefties always hate democracy thats why you keep saying voters are stupid and mistaken

      • Craig Glen Eden 8.1.1
        3 February 2010 at 9:04 am

        I don’t remember any one on the left saying they hate democracy, it does have its flaws and strengths though, which anyone with half a brain would have to acknowledge.

        Gee the wingnuts really hate the idea that they might be going to loose another election aye, they come out with their usual little nasty attacks.

        Oh and PT I am starting to hear a few people say they think they have been conned by Key and that they made a mistake voting for him. I guess everyone can make a mistake.

        • PT 8.1.1.1
          3 February 2010 at 9:28 am

          the polls evidence doesn’t support what you say craig, looks like youre lying

          • lprent 8.1.1.1.1
            3 February 2010 at 9:38 am

            Apart from anything else, the polls lag public opinion. Because of the sample sizes and the people who are targeted it takes a reasonable movement to register. But the polls have been coming down on the party vote for national for a couple of months.

            I’ve been hearing the same over the last couple of months – since about late October

          • Craig Glen Eden 8.1.1.1.2
            3 February 2010 at 10:22 am

            Show me two polls that have Banks leading Brown!

            • Craig Glen Eden 8.1.1.1.2.1
              3 February 2010 at 10:27 am

              with regards to National politics if I am wrong why has the PM dived in to rescue Tolly . Bad move by the way he is going to get badly damaged, but hey I am sure NZEI and PPTA will say thanks for coming dumb arse.

              Watch as the middle ground starts to shift and Key starts to panic!

              • PT …
                3 February 2010 at 10:41 am

                yeah right craig, like the voters who voted key in want the unions to make education policy, dream on loser

        • BLiP 8.1.1.2
          3 February 2010 at 9:35 am

          I’m hearing the same thing, Craig.

          • Craig Glen Eden 8.1.1.2.1
            3 February 2010 at 10:56 am

            Careful Blip, PT might start calling you names!

            What do reckon the IQ level of PT is Blip, a hundy maybe if he’s lucky!

            • felix 8.1.1.2.1.1
              3 February 2010 at 11:13 am

              He’s used to dealing with people even stupider at his own blog though so he doesn’t even realise how slow he is.

              Sad really.

  9. handle 9
    3 February 2010 at 10:31 am

    Banks taking credit for rail was reflecting good advice from his new well-paid PR handlers: act like you already are the supercity mayor who controls everything and repeat the same messages over and over so they survive editing. Most shows do not do what Campbell Live did and leave the repetitions in, which is one way to respond to spin.

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