Michael Wood standing for Mt Roskill

Written By: - Date published: 3:30 pm, April 16th, 2016 - 17 comments
Categories: labour - Tags: ,

Media release in my mail this morning saying that Michael Wood will be standing for selection as the Labour candidate for Mt Roskill. He’d replace Phil Goff who will be standing for the Auckland Mayoralty.

“The Labour selection in early June will enable local party members to democratically choose their candidate and I look forward to seeking their support over the coming period”, says Wood.

My short take on this is that Mt Roskill party members should and probably will grab him with alacrity as their candidate.

He has been running good campaigns in Roskill for a long time, is a very good local and extremely competent young* politician, and will both represent Roskill well for Labour’s local members and for the voters of Roskill. I have every confidence that he will be just as competent and decisive on the national arena.

While personally I’d probably disagree with him just as often as I did with Helen Clark in the Mt Albert electorate, he’d both take advice on board and make up his own damn mind in the way that we need local representatives to do.

He has had experience in the Finsec union, on the local boards, being the candidate in Epsom and Botany, and running a whole lot of campaigns for Phil in Roskill. I can’t think of anyone else that I’d like to see campaigning for Labour in my neighbouring electorate.

12289736_10153723325237889_5644274938242143093_nHis partner and wife is Julie Fairey, another local board member and (these days) occasional blogger from The Handmirror. They have a increasing number of boys to help keep them grounded and focused. I am pretty sure this is the youngest helping to present at a Puketapapa Local Board presentation last year (ain’t that cute…)

I’d have run out there today to see him announce his candidacy. But Lyn just nicked my fuelled up car to pick up her dad and there isn’t time.

But i’m not just going to be a lazy keyboard warrior in support in this rather unsolicited and possibly unwanted personal endorsement **. I will brave running out of gas and go and see what he says.

 

  • * ok – I’m biased. I’m getting old enough now that most of the good candidates look damn young to me these days…
  • ** It is damn hard to tell me not to do these things. 😈

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17 comments on “Michael Wood standing for Mt Roskill ”

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  1. McFlock 1
    16 April 2016 at 4:11 pm

    Good luck to him. I’m sure he’ll do well 🙂

    • fender 1.1
      16 April 2016 at 6:51 pm

      +1

      And being married to Julie Fairey means he’s destined for greatness, as the saying goes.

    • billmurray 1.2
      18 April 2016 at 5:27 pm

      I agree with you though Michael needs to watch out for carpet baggers even high profile one’s. Labour is in such a mess that the party list has higher importance and some may see a chance of standing in a safe seat a better chance than being low on the list.
      Jacinda Ardern is green with envy and even though she will be high on the list, there is argument coming from her camp that she could politic and get the 3 votes from head office and all she would need to sew it up would be I vote from either the floor vote or the delegate from floor vote.
      This matter has a way to run, the Mayoral vote is not until early October !!!!.

  2. Wainwright 2
    16 April 2016 at 4:23 pm

    Less an announcement, more a confirmation of what everyone already knew. One of those Young Labour types who’s worked his way up through the party machine over the years. But Roskill should be a safe seat, even if Goff lost the party vote to the Nats last time.

  3. Anne 3
    16 April 2016 at 4:29 pm

    A further unsolicited endorsement from me.

    I heard him speak at a Labour event about 5 years ago and my reaction…

    Here’s a young man going places. Intelligent, articulate, photogenic (yeah I know, but it seems to matter these days) and with that rare commodity – the X factor. And apart from that, he’s a damm nice person.

    • Nessalt 3.1
      17 April 2016 at 12:15 pm

      Haha, x factor. something in preciously short supply in the labour party. he’s got plenty of what everyone else in the labour caucus have got, lack of experience in the real world.

  4. Jenny 4
    16 April 2016 at 6:17 pm

    Hmm… this makes things difficult. I have met Michael, and you are right Lynne he’s a damn nice person.
    I had considered using the opportunity of this by-election for the Left to take the fight to the Centre Left, over the Centre Left’s support for deep sea oil drilling and other climate destroying policy positions.

    This puts me in a quandary. I make a point of personally lobbying politicians about the danger humanity is facing from climate change, and the need for New Zealand to make a stand. Michael, of the Labour politicians I have talked to, at least had the decency to pretend to be listening. The consummate politician Michael was completely non-committal in all his responses, not agreeing or disagreeing. But at least he listened, and you cannot unhear the truth.

    We may just have to see how he goes on the hustings, where silence is not an option.

    • Colonial Viper 4.1
      16 April 2016 at 6:20 pm

      Wood is a fine guy, but he has had to contort himself for years to fit within the Labour Party machine orthodoxy and group think to get to this point. Don’t expect anything from him.

      • McFlock 4.1.1
        16 April 2016 at 10:11 pm

        🙄

        • Colonial Viper 4.1.1.1
          17 April 2016 at 12:42 am

          The way to get ahead in this party is to spend years campaigning for a soft neoliberal rogernomics veteran like Goff.

          • Psycho Milt 4.1.1.1.1
            17 April 2016 at 6:36 am

            You mean there are parties that won’t expect to have seen you working in support of your existing local MP before you try and become one yourself? I guess there’s National – you seem to be able to become an MP for them without any history of effort if you’re a celeb of sorts, or bring a lot of money to the table. But who’d want to emulate that?

          • McFlock 4.1.1.1.2
            17 April 2016 at 1:13 pm

            And yet by resisting the urge to call everyone he slightly disagrees with “neoliberal”, his political career has already done more actual good for people than yours ever will.

  5. mickysavage 5
    16 April 2016 at 9:57 pm

    Michael is an outstanding local representative and a dedicated activist. He has done the hard yards and also stood in the Botany by election in 2011 and gave Jami Lee Ross a bit of a scare.

    He will be a tremendous MP and if he did not stand then his wife Julie would be just as good if not better.

    There will be a selection process and I am pretty sure that others will put their hands up but I believe that the party should select Michael.

  6. Mosa 6
    17 April 2016 at 1:16 pm

    This a war we are fighting against a clever well funded enemy
    I hope he is up to the challenge.

  7. Michael 7
    17 April 2016 at 5:53 pm

    What a surprise! (Joking.)

    He is a strong candidate and will be a nice addition to the Labour caucus.

  8. The Pink Postman 8
    19 April 2016 at 12:13 pm

    Best wishes Michael from members of the Cambridge NZLP.branch.