Granny is surprised, no-one else is.

12 comments on “Granny is surprised, no-one else is. ”

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1. Gooner 1

   3 January 2010 at 6:26 pm

   Lprent, I cannot believe you would get excited about this when the election is 10 months away. A day is a long time in politics, 10 months is an eternity. It’s simply not worth considering at this time. But I realise this blog has an agenda to deliver a left wing mayor so I’ll put it down to that.

   [lprent: Fixed the http that was in your name. Have a edit next time – it appears to be coming from your cookies. ]
   • lprent 1.1

     3 January 2010 at 10:36 pm

     The race is interesting even at this point. I guess you didn’t read my comments from 2007 and 2008 where I was pointing out to run an effective election campaign these days in NZ, you need to be running at least 12 months out.

     Those comments were in the context of the EFA, which in my opinion set the electoral period too short. NACT has reduced that down to what 5 months? For me campaigning for general elections has been starting over 12 months before the probable election dates.

     However the mayoral campaigning in Auckland by both Len Brown and John Banks has been going on since April last year, what 18 months before the election?? Similarly the campaigning for council positions is likely to start with a bang in the new year as soon as the wards are finalized after the tweaks are finished. The electoral period for local bodies is what – 3 months? Patently ridiculous.

     Perhaps you should read up on how elections are won. You don’t seem to understand how it operates.
2. Robert Winter 2

   3 January 2010 at 7:36 pm

   It is not the election date in question at the moment. It is the selection of the Right’s candidate. The Left has Mr Brown in the running; no-one with sense thinks that Mike Lee, the other possibility, will stand with the intention of splitting the vote. So where will the Right go? I’ve had my money on Ms Shipley for months. I doubt if Mr Tindall would stand as the Right candidate (and I think that his name is a ‘spoiler’ in the Herald poll). Mr Banks will not win, and there is a growing sequence of numbers to show this.
3. andy 3

   3 January 2010 at 7:53 pm

   The fringes of Aucks have a different problems than those of the centre , and the tub thumping nature of Banks scares the bejeeezus of those on the outer fringe.

   The centre has to replace ageing infrastructure vs building out for the future of the fringe. The good people of the fringe understand the nature of where they live, the Burghers of Remuera may like MR Banks but his style and innate conservatism but do not understand the nature of the wider city they inhabit.

   The ultimate irony would be Rodney;s stupid city entrenching a left wing council in Auckland, thus moving the national discussion (due to size, weight and inevitable demands of a third of the population) to the left.
4. mickysavage 4

   4 January 2010 at 10:08 am

   I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this election will be incredibly tight. Len should get home because he is a good competent mayor and candidate and he is not John Banks.

   But the elections for the Council seats are going to be really important. The current boundaries are a joke and if they remain this way then the left are going to lose some good candidate battles. You only have to look at the Orakei Maungakiekie ward where the voters of Remuera and Kohimarama will likely swamp the voters of Otahuhu and Te Papa and elect two right wing councillors in an area that should have one of each.

   Overall I suspect that without a good campaign the left will struggle to get a majority and Len may struggle to organise and control the Council.

   By far the biggest problem however is that the heads of the CCOs are going to be appointed by Hide. These people will have extraordinary power and will effectively determine how super city is run during the next three years.

   What happened to my democracy?
5. Sanctuary 5

   4 January 2010 at 10:50 am

   mickysavage:

   I also have these fears, especially as we have the character assassination of Hubbard by the C&R backing Herald as a precedent as to how the main local media player responds to a mayoral candidate who may be a threat to the local region hegemons.

   Fortunately for Len Brown, most people outside Auckland city proper don’t read the Herald, and TV is more even handed. But the election of Len Brown is only round one in a long fight to dismantle Rodney Hide’s Pinochet fantasy.
6. Armchair Critic 6

   4 January 2010 at 10:52 am

   mickeysavage – “What happened to my democracy?”
   Under the cover of a range of distractions the government took it away from you, and everyone, and they gave it to their mates. You might get it back in ten or so years.
7. quenchino 7

   4 January 2010 at 8:26 pm

   I can’t recall if this has been linked to before, but it is highly pertinent.

   Detroit’s City Council doesn’t work that way. It works on what is arguablyso they thinka higher ideal. Their entire City Council, and also their School Board, is elected At Large. If you want to get on Detroit’s City Council, you get elected by the entire city. Same if you run for the School Board. The top vote-getters in every election, city-wide, get to be on the City Council, and the School Board.

   That sounds more liberal and more populist. But in truth, it’s a recipe for chaos. If you look at Detroit’s top vote-getters right now, what you honestly have is a bunch of incompetent morons who couldn’t care less about anything but their jobs. They almost all live in one very ritzy and nice part of the city. They’re totally isolated from those who actually vote for them. They don’t have to answer to anybody but “the entire city,’ which means none of them has to answer to anyone in the local neighborhood they live in. In fact, none of them has to live anywhere in particular in the city, except wherever they think is nice. So you’ve got this concentrated pool of elected officials who all live really near each other, and think of themselves as the ruling class. And the result has been one sad story after another of ideologues who have to answer to nothing but their own ideals.

   An interesting perspective from someone who has actual experience with Hide’s moose.
8. tc 8

   5 January 2010 at 6:28 pm

   They promised no asset sales, so this is the compromise….asset strip the queen city into your mates/backers pockets.

   They don’t give a toss if Banks runs and looses….Mickey S hit the spot, it’s a lame position designed that way by wodney and johnny clown co. Pity the sod who wins and expects to change that.

   Banks has thick skin to match his head so no damage happening on that count either…zzzzzz.
9. prism 9

   5 January 2010 at 8:51 pm

   Like the lively reporting in the Southern Squall – they refer to northern media casting Tim Shadbolt as a “twinkle toed” politician. And if the toes don’t twinkle the flashing teeth will blind the punters. That a large percentage are interested in him rather than Mike Lee shows confusion and a lack of wariness about their possible future. It is still early days though. But they may have to stop listening to the local commercial radios and their inane chatter and music and take time for major debates with facts and the various possibilities discussed.
   • lprent 9.1

     5 January 2010 at 11:24 pm

     Yeah I read some of their stuff after they linked here the other day, so I popped them in the blog roll under ‘Other blogs’. Enjoyed the writing

Links to post

1. Aucklanders want Tim as Super Mayor « Southern Squall: posted on 4 January 2010 at 7:39 pm

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