Leggett does a runner

16 comments on “Leggett does a runner ”

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1. Petertoo 1

   11 March 2016 at 6:51 pm

   Hang on Mike – not so fast on singing Justin Lester’s praises! Yes, he has small business experience, but from various reports Kapai doesn’t pay a living wage. It has even been suggested that the chain could be sad about the demise of zero hour contracts. Like Leggett, Lester has a background in real estate – he is still on the executive of the Property Council, so he well and truly trumps Leggett on that score. As for an eye on resources – one thing is for sure, if Leggett has any intention of selling assets, he may well be too late as Lester and Co. are getting rid of them at such a rate, there may not be much left to flog off to the developer mates come election time. In short, there may be a chance that these two faux-Labour types could cancel each other out if they go head to head – a good thing as Wellington doesn’t need either. However, that would give rise to another problematic situation. It would open the way for Celia Wade-Brown to slip through a third time or alternatively, open the door to the true-blue Nicola Young. Admittedly, she is probably the lesser evil. What is very much needed is an alternative: a decent, progressive aspirant for the Wellington Mayoralty.
   • Wainwright 1.1

     11 March 2016 at 8:52 pm

     Sounds like astroturf. Who are you spruiking for?
   • Kenya 1.2

     11 March 2016 at 9:57 pm

     So this attack on Lester is utter nonsense. He is paying a living wage. A bit of history. Lester has supported the living wage as a councillor for years.

     As a businessman, here’s a report in 2013 saying he was getting 75% of staff onto living wage with a plan to get to 100%

     http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/8300471/18-40-an-hour-needed-for-living-wage

     In October last year he announced he would have it in place for all trained staff by he end of 2015.

     https://twitter.com/wellingtonista/status/659562114143551488

     I understand he even took a pay cut as a director to do it.
   • Kenya 1.3

     11 March 2016 at 10:13 pm

     Also: I call bullshit on the ‘zero hours’ claim on Lester. ‘It has been suggested’ is weasel words of the highest order. By all accounts Lester is a bloody good employer, as his advocacy for the living wage both as a business owner and a councillor has shown.
     • Petertoo 1.3.1

       12 March 2016 at 6:51 am

       “Also: I call bullshit on the ‘pays living wage claim’. ‘By all accounts Lester is a bloody good employer’ is (sic) weasel words of the highest order.” That was after choking on the coffee with the other implied leg-pull line. It wasn’t, “… leaves Council meeting as a well paid deputy mayor to help staff with lunch rush”, but “… forgoes exorbitant Directors fee to meet deficit in under-budgetted payroll of overblown family business.” Another hinted at line line was a doozy too. “Politician who doesn’t pay living wage votes with majority, for a small proportion of Council staff on less than subsistence level pay to get living wage – after a high profile public campaign!” Just like another of his erstwhile Labour stable-mate councillors who is also in the catering game. For heaven’s sake, Lester represents one of only two predominantly low-wage suburbs that needs its own WINZ office and has a voting base that has many families that live in very straightened circumstances. Would he really be expected to stand against paying a living wage when it wouldn’t come out of his own pocket? Yep Kenya – still chortling over your oh too-sophisticated leg-pull lines.
       • One Anonymous Bloke 1.3.1.1

         12 March 2016 at 8:11 am

         from various reports

         It has even been suggested

         No weasel words there whatsoever 🙄
2. swordfish 2

   11 March 2016 at 7:33 pm

   Leggett is very popular in Porirua”

   Well, that’s certainly the spin his chums in the media keep promoting.

   The Dominion Post called him “Porirua’s Golden Boy” a few days ago.

   A couple of weeks before that, the Listener suggested he was some sort of rising star and tactical genius for Labour because he was (1) vaguely associated with the Party, (2) had won the Porirua Mayoralty for a second time and (3) like the Listener editor, was advocating Labour support John Key’s deeply unpopular flag change campaign. How this quite made him a tactical genius was never really explained.

   Reality is: Virtually no one had ever heard of Leggett when he stood for the Mayoralty. He’d received some brief publicity about 12 years earlier for being the youngest-elected councillor, but then went completely off the radar (and I think was off the Council for a term or two). Your average Porirua resident wouldn’t have known who the hell he was. Zero name recognition.

   But he was astute enough to convince the retiring Mayor, Jenny Brash, to endorse him (both from the same Northern Ward) and the resulting headlines in the local press during the campaign were enough to convince a plurality of voters (not a majority but just a plurality in a crowded field of contenders with a FPP system) to cast their vote for this virtual unknown.

   Naturally (and certainly in Porirua) the incumbent Mayor always wins their second election (particularly when the other two candidates are unknown minnows).

   Very much a Blairite type, good chum of Phil Quin and Josie Pagani, part of the extra-Parliamentary wing of the old ABC faction, long-time collaborator with former Labour-turned-Tory political operative Fran Wilde, both aggressively advocating for the deeply unpopular amalgamation of various Wellington Region Councils – a dogmatic, inherently undemocratic campaign that ultimately lost Fran her job as Wellington Regional Council Chair. And now, of course, we hear that Leggett’s been pursuing a Wellington-Porirua amalgamation behind the scenes. It’s been pretty obvious for some time that this uber-ambitious careerist has had his eye on the Wellington Mayoralty and his amalgamation plans seem to be part and parcel of his career strategy.
   • miravox 2.1

     11 March 2016 at 9:34 pm

     Wellington deserves better for a mayor than a choice between a fake greenie and a couple of property development advocates.

     Still, I guess they’ve made a National/ACT candidate a redundant proposition. Just what some labourites on the right of the spectrum are calling for isn’t it? A shift to the ‘centre’ to pick up the disaffected NActs?
     • swordfish 2.1.1

       11 March 2016 at 10:04 pm

       Yep, Wellington remains a Left-leaning City, Dunedin’s just about the only other place you can say that about these days (I’m talking General Election Party Vote here).

       With STV at the local body level, Wellington’s political Right know that the likes of Leggett and Lester are as good as it’s ever gonna get for them. No official Tory candidate has a snowball’s chance in hell.

       ——————————————————————————————————————
       Give my regards, incidentally, to Vienna (assuming you’re still there). Had a one-night stop-over there on the way back to NZ from Blighty last year. Gave us just enough time for a quick peek around the famous old centre of that beautiful city. Particularly stunning all illuminated at night. I’d love to be there when it’s snowing.
       • miravox 2.1.1.1

         11 March 2016 at 11:03 pm

         I love Wellington but I’m pretty disillusioned by local politics. Sadly, I don’t think STV has done much to increase public engagement either.

         Yes, we are still in Vienna. You’re right, the centre is beautiful in the snow, with the lights. Extra sweet that a fair proportion of the costs are paid for by business – the council / business partnership has done the sums and know that the extra customers are worth it (yeah, I know, I’m a sad case enjoying things like that).

         While acknowledging the Environment Court confrontations, Wellington did have some sort of shared vision that made the place better for residents and increase business opportunities (outstanding example – the waterfront developments) but seems to have lost the plot, imo.
3. Wainwright 3

   11 March 2016 at 8:51 pm

   Anything to keep Auckland’s right wing from being the #1 laughingstock of the country this local election round.
   • tc 3.1

     12 March 2016 at 11:27 am

     No need, nacts supershitty is the joke that provides an endless laugh track.
4. RedBaronCV 4

   11 March 2016 at 10:01 pm

   I’m also wondering if he knows something the rest of us don’t.
   When we had the meetings here about amalgamation (which pretty much everyone was against) there were some comments afterwards from the commission?
   minister ? that to me implied the commission was going to go back to try to force through another amalgamation scheme ( and waste more ratepayer money) but it has all gone quiet.
   I’d love the MSM to ask the local government commission what they are currently up to
   • RedLogix 4.1

     11 March 2016 at 11:11 pm

     Quite probably because after all the public jibbering and posturing about the evils of amalgamation has died down, a cold quiet realisation has crept into a few council chambers that maybe, just maybe Fran Wilde was right all along.
   • The Chairman 4.2

     12 March 2016 at 11:00 am

     http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/business/77639480/wellington-and-porirua-in-talks-that-could-strip-regional-council-of-its-powers
5. The Chairman 5

   12 March 2016 at 10:56 am

   Wellington and Porirua city councils are currently in talks regarding a merger, thus that may result in him becoming redundant.

   As Wellington City Council is set to become a bigger player in the property market, one wonders if his invites are related to that and his real estate background?

   Wasn’t there talk of him possibility standing for Labour? Or is that yet to come?

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