Recalling John Banks

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 23rd, 2009 - 8 comments
Categories: auckland supercity, john banks - Tags: , , , ,

2297070John ‘barking mad’ Banks’ cheerleader WhaleOil has called for Rodney Hide to introduce the power of recall into the legislation for the new Auckland super-city.

I wonder if that is such a wise call. Remember Cameron Slater is the son of Citrat president John Slater, so he should be well aware of Banks’ infamous track record in office. Perhaps he’d like to consider the fact that Auckland’s unstable far-right Remuera mayor might have been tossed out on his arse for decisions such as:

– Privatising half of Auckland City Council’s share of Auckland Airport

– Selling off pensioner housing because the elderly living in them were a ‘non-core’ activity

– Pushing a failed V8 race in downtown Auckland against the wishes of local residents and costing ratepayers $750,000

– Trying to ram a $4 billion highway through the eastern suburbs

– Trying to close down Auckland nightlife by bringing in an 11pm closing time and admitting ‘my fingerprints’ were all over the policy

– Making people pay for after-hours car parks, meaning you’ll have to pay to park when you see a movie or visit a restaurant in Auckland’s CBD (plus a secret plan to extend to Ponsonby, Newmarket and Parnell)

– Threatening to fire 2,700 employees in the new super-city, meaning council services such as libraries, pools, parks and community centres will need to be cut

– Being a toady of Wellington and not standing up for Aucklanders during any of the super-city changes

Banks might be trying to moderate his approach to leadership by allowing his council to almost become a do-nothing council, but given his recent statement that ‘If I wear my policy on my sleeve I won’t get elected’, Slater and son better be careful what they wish for.

8 comments on “Recalling John Banks ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Graeme Edgeler 1
    23 October 2009 at 8:13 am

    This would be hilarious madness. But at least it would show up the problems with first-past-the-post. The problem that arises when someone can be elected with 35% of the vote, is that 65% of people wanted someone else to do it.

  2. Tigger 2
    23 October 2009 at 9:31 am

    Much as I would love the idea of recalling certain officials, the certainty of electing someone for a set period has a nice practicality about it.

    I assume Slater is raising this as a diversion – ‘hey, here’s your escape clause so the Supercity mayor as god thing is really okay so vote for the Supercity, mkay?’

  3. Rodel 3
    23 October 2009 at 10:33 am

    Mayor Bwanks used to refer proudly to Don Brash as ‘the Don’ and snidely to Dick Hubbard as ‘the Dick’.
    I notice he doesn’t refer to our PM (or himself) as ‘the John’. I wouldn’t sink so low.
    Damnit I just did.

  4. Whaleoil 4
    23 October 2009 at 2:18 pm

    You mock but if the power of recall existed then you wouldn’t have had those things that you use for examples happening. So, I missed your point if you were actually making one.

    unlike most of you guys here at the Standard I typically despise all politicians including ones on my “team”.

    Why don’t you try to be a little bit honest about it yourselves for once.

    • snoozer 4.1
      23 October 2009 at 3:06 pm

      “I typically despise all politicians including ones on my “team’

      that’s because you’re a sad little angry man.

      A healthy skepticism of people with power is one thing. Dispising people because they have chosen a career in public service is quite another.

  5. Rodel 5
    26 October 2009 at 10:29 am

    Whaleoil said
    ‘You mock but if the power of recall existed then you wouldn’t have had those things that you use for examples happening. ‘

    Sorry I don’t understand the sentence. Is it post modern, Bankspeak, or just right wing logic?

Links to post

The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.