Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is providing National strategists with a rather large headache.
He was elected on the basis of being Mr Fixit, he ran a policy platform that was really light and during the campaign he was relentlessly negative. He also suggested his professional and corporate experience meant that he was well suited for the job of running the country’s biggest city.
This style is very similar to that presented by “I used to run an airline” Christopher Luxon.
Luxon’s relentless negativity is legend. Yesterday he complained that schools should have been opened the day before, even though no students were actually due to be at school that day.
Every statement he makes is negative
As for professional and corporate experience being essential leadership qualities the past week would suggest that other skills may be more important.
Like the ability to communicate. As Auckland was deluged with a storm the likes of which have not been seen in recorded history the Mayor was eerily silent. Progressive Councillors and MPs filled in the void with helpful news but the failure to front this is startling.
And as news has emerged it appears that being angry does not mean that you are effective. Brown complained that he had to cancel his tennis match because of the “drongos” in the media. He told a Herald reporter not to f@$k with him. He then tried to gag councillors and suggested that he and deputy mayor Desley Simpson should be the one voice for Council. This suggestion has not gone down well.
What is most startling is Brown’s complete lack of compassion. There are people out there who are really hurting. Having sympathetic and supportive messages from on high really help in these situations. But Brown has shown no such compassion. His aggressive defence of his position is Trumpian.
Imagine Jacinda Ardern in this situation. She would have fronted this crisis immediately, communicated effectively and displayed compassion for those effected. In a crisis these are really important leadership qualities.
National’s problem is that people, particularly Aucklanders, will judge his leadership credentials by Brown’s performance. And many of them will decide that they do not want to risk an angry relentlessly negative corporate sort from taking over.
This perception is already evident in Luxon’s trust rating. The latest Reid Research poll result suggests that most kiwis trust Hipkins, and his trust ranking has a net positive rating of 26%. Luxon however is not trusted. Only 36.9% of those polled state they do not trust him while 43.8% state they do not trust him.
Paula Bennett has suggested that in Wayne Brown Aucklanders have got what they voted for. National will be afraid that it has got what it invested in. And that its investment is turning into a liability.
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