Ratepayers face $120K bill for Banks hagiography

Written By: - Date published: 1:48 pm, June 17th, 2010 - 22 comments
Categories: auckland supercity, local body elections - Tags: , ,

So, you’re the mayor of a council with nearly a billion dollars of debt. Your council is about to be abolished and you’re running to be the mayor of the new supercity. Your attack dogs are fixed on your opponent, who is beating you in the race. Now what? How about getting your soon-to-be former council pay $120,000 for a book saying how great you are?

That’s what John Banks and his C&R councilors have just voted to do. Infamous rightwinger and hack historian Michael Bassett will get a lovely pile of cash to write a history of Auckland City Council. You know what it’s going to be like, it’ll be the same as the other crap Bassett turns out. Banks will be the hero, the Left the villains.

It’s a pretty desperate attempt to paint Banks in a good light and, Auckland, it’s being done with your money.

22 comments on “Ratepayers face $120K bill for Banks hagiography ”

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  1. TightyRighty 1
    17 June 2010 at 2:13 pm

    I don’t see the reasoning behind either of the proposals. A history of auckland? Yawn, one commissioned by the council will be boring and stuffy. Critters in Aotea Square? yea thats a winner too. A billion dollars in debt you say eddie? while I know $120k is small change compared to the total, I know where I would be putting it.

    • comedy 1.1
      17 June 2010 at 2:23 pm

      A pox on both their houses – City Vision and C&R – no difference between them over the years …. put up the rates and fuck over the public – troughing turds most of them.

      • felix 1.1.1
        17 June 2010 at 4:28 pm

        Hi hs.

        What does this have to do with city vision?

        • comedy 1.1.1.1
          17 June 2010 at 5:27 pm

          I don’t know what the fuck hs is but read the link.

          ‘But the idea has infuriated the left-wing City Vision faction, which would rather see the money spent on furniture for Aotea Square shaped like “critters” – an American term that generally refers to domestic animals such as cows, horses or mules.’

          Monty Python couldn’t come up with this shit.

        • tard 1.1.1.2
          17 June 2010 at 6:43 pm

          Read the article that Eddie’s linked to.

          “But the idea has infuriated the left-wing City Vision faction, which would rather see the money spent on furniture for Aotea Square shaped like “critters” ”

          It’d all be quite funny if it wasn’t with ratepayers money but neither mob care a fig for the long suffering ratepayer outside of local body election time.

          • felix 1.1.1.2.1
            17 June 2010 at 8:46 pm

            So what? I’d rather see it spent on a big fucking cake but that’s not going to happen either.

            It’s like as if Marty kicked your dog but instead of getting mad at him you shout “that cunt felix has been wanting to kick my dog for ages”.

            It’s a weird mental disconnect you have. You should see a doctor.

  2. peter 2
    17 June 2010 at 2:53 pm

    This Sucks bigtime, Who in God’s name would actually read it ? Are the Cit Rats really so vain ??

    • Bright Red 2.1
      17 June 2010 at 3:14 pm

      I can’t imagine anyone buying it but let’s be generous and say it gets through a 1000 copies – big for this kind of book in NZ. That means it has been subsidised to the tune of $120 a copy.

      More likely, they’ll just print a few hundred and give them away to ‘VIPs’, libraries etc.

  3. deWithiel 3
    17 June 2010 at 3:48 pm

    There are already two histories of the Auckland City Council, both commissioned by the council itself: Graham Bush, Decently and in order : the government of the city of Auckland 1840-1971 : the centennial history of the Auckland City Council (Auckland : for the Auckland City Council by Collins, [1971]) and Graham Bush, Advance in order: the Auckland City Council from centenary to reorganisation (Auckland: the Council, 1991). Given the council’s wanton destruction of the city’s historical built environment it seems a bit stiff that they want yet another history of themselves. I guess Bassett will be wanting to play catch up – reorganisation to abolition, vaunting the extraordinary successes of Banks’ brilliant initiatives such as the Great Eastern Motorway and the V8 championship inner city raceway.

  4. tc 4
    17 June 2010 at 4:34 pm

    Why am I not surpised……I see Banks still can’t stop handling himself even though he’s surrounded by his own handlers.

    Wondered what form the self congratulatory icon would take and I had to laugh at the line about this being required rather than a big piss up……they’ll still be doing plenty of that before their trough’s pulled away.

    Mr Austerity shows a real good grasp of the concept to enhance his prospects…..hilarious.

  5. Santi 5
    17 June 2010 at 4:46 pm

    Waste of money all round. Who needs such a “book”?

  6. Rharn 6
    17 June 2010 at 9:30 pm

    Bassett that SCAB. Some clown on Radio National was advocating that he would be their man of choice or Paul Goldsmith. Yep it’s a PR history designed for no other reason that the glorification of the current councel and mayor.

    • Armchair Critic 6.1
      17 June 2010 at 9:47 pm

      “Yep it’s a PR history designed for no other reason that the glorification of the current councel and mayor.”
      So a sheet of A4 printed both sides and folded in three will suffice? Perhaps they could splash out and use coloured paper.

  7. SHG 7
    18 June 2010 at 12:17 am

    “Infamous rightwinger and hack historian Michael Bassett”

    You mean “long-serving Labour Party MP and Labour Cabinet Minister Michael Bassett”, right?

  8. Marty G 8
    18 June 2010 at 12:49 am

    that’s right. He’s a rightwinger who was part of the rightwing take over of Labour in the 80s.

    • SHG 8.1
      18 June 2010 at 1:06 pm

      Along with Helen Clark and Phil Goff, Bassett’s colleagues?

      • Pascal's bookie 8.1.1
        18 June 2010 at 1:39 pm

        Nope, basset got the boot, ran away and has been spending his time nursing his grievance, licking his wounds, race baiting for brash and getting sacked from The Dominion for telling lies.

        try and keep up mate.

  9. prism 9
    18 June 2010 at 10:36 am

    Picture icon great satire Eddie

  10. randal 10
    18 June 2010 at 12:04 pm

    nothing is impossible if someone else is paying for it.
    makes all the other stuff look pretty paltry.
    stick that in your family album.

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