Simon who?

Written By: - Date published: 7:52 am, November 22nd, 2018 - 43 comments
Categories: auckland supercity, elections, local body elections, local government, national, phil goff, Politics, supercity - Tags:

National is keenly looking for someone to stand in the next Super City elections as the Mayoral candidate for the right.

Someone who is well known, a household name. Someone who occupies a senior position in the party. Someone can relate to Auckland’s ethnic and religious diversity. Someone who can campaign in the South and West of Auckland where every successful Mayoral campaign has been won so far.

Ladies and Gentlemen National has found this candidate. It is …

… drumroll …

Simon O’Connor!

Simon O’Connor??

From Bernard Orsman at the Herald:

The National MP for Tāmaki, Simon O’Connor, is considering running for the Auckland mayoralty next year.

O’Connor said he had been approached by people involved in local and national politics about putting his hat in the ring and is considering challenging Phil Goff for Auckland’s top job at next year’s local body elections.

Goff, the former Labour MP for Mt Roskill who led the Labour Party between 2008 and 2011, is expected to announce early next year he will seek a second term.

Waipareira Trust chief executive John Tamihere and two-time mayoral candidate John Palino are also considering standing for the mayoralty.

O’Connor said a lot of his constituent work related to local issues and concerns, like rates, the regional petrol tax, the upgrade of Tamaki Drive and cycleways.

He said the “council needs to be kicked into shape”, become more accountable and show stronger leadership.

O’Connor started off with an attack on Goff over a cost blowout in moving Speedway from Western Springs.

The problem is that either his maths or his comprehension is not very good.  He said:

Moving the Western Springs Speedway is going to cost $30m more than originally thought! How has the figure tripled in six months? This is disgraceful. The Mayor needs to do much more than just ask “hard questions”, he has to show some leadership.

Simon will have to improve his maths if he wants to become Mayor. The cost has gone from $13 million to $30 million an increase of $17 million. The $30 million is the total cost, not the increase.

He says he will decide before Christmas whether to ramp things up and make a formal decision in the new year.  No doubt National’s pollsters will be busy.

43 comments on “Simon who? ”

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  1. Chris T 1
    22 November 2018 at 7:59 am

    Tbf they can’t do any worse that Goff or “Hit myself in the face weirdly. Leg over” Lenny

    • mickysavage 1.1
      22 November 2018 at 8:08 am

      Potentially unpopular opinions:

      1. Goff has held things together remarkably well. The Mayoralty is one of the most difficult jobs in politics. He has managed to hold costs and at the same time significantly increase investment into perserving the city’s environment.

      2. But for his personal difficulties Len will go down in history as one of the city’s best mayors. The day that the City Rail Link is opened is a day that all Aucklanders should toast Len for his contribution to the city’s future.

      • Sacha 1.1.1
        22 November 2018 at 8:52 am

        And both of them worked as mayors across the left and right, including councillors, community and business stakeholders. Does a meek Nat MP from Tamaki have a hope of doing the same?

        • Draco T Bastard 1.1.1.1
          22 November 2018 at 3:03 pm

          Of course not. A Nat MP is always about promoting business at everyone else’s expense and they can’t do that even when working with a Left that’s almost as business friendly as the Nats.

      • Mr Marshy 1.1.2
        22 November 2018 at 11:09 am

        Goff is a lame duck leader, 12 hour council meetings are a testament to that. Defending him is just laughable. And the wholw headline assumes a candidate needs to be some household celebrity. Says a lot about the socialist mentality

        • Enough is Enough 1.1.2.1
          22 November 2018 at 1:35 pm

          Have to agree

          Len was great managed to get some real traction on important issues, in a very hostile environment. If he had managed to keeps pants on he would have gone on to be a multi-term mayor and real change would have been achieved.

          Goff has been unable to get consensus on anything and has therefore achieved the sum amount of fuck all.

          • Bewildered 1.1.2.1.1
            22 November 2018 at 2:29 pm

            Bring back pants down Brown 😊

          • crashcart 1.1.2.1.2
            22 November 2018 at 2:39 pm

            Len was a self absorbed show boater who when push came to shove had no real appreciation for those around him.

            I was in a parade he reviewed for the Navy a number of years ago. A hot day. He was instructed to inspect the parade. This normally consists of walking quickly along and talking to the occasional person. He literally took more than an hour. I would normally put this down to him not being aware of what he was doing but people started falling over left and right. By the end of the parade there was almost 2 whole platoons of people who had fallen over, been treated, and recovered enough to go and stand again. The whole time he was walking around those escorting him were tying to speed him up. Pointing out the harm to those on parade. He didn’t give a shit

            I drove for him a couple of years later. I asked him about it and he just laughed. Apparently he felt it was pretty funny. He can go eat a shit sandwich if you ask me.

      • Rapunzel 1.1.3
        22 November 2018 at 12:14 pm

        Those opinions are not unpopular with me for one they are relevant to the time Aucklanders and most of NZers find themselves and the country in and have who have woken up to that. The old quote about some of the people some of the time and then all of them etc and then there are those determined never to pleased about anything ever again.
        If you are looking for a “Simon who?” look no further than the one called Bridges who advertised widely a public question/answer meeting in his own home town of Tauranga on Monday night and got, according to the local paper report, 20 attendees – yes just the 20 – it did not say whether that incl Bridges himself and the reporter/photographer.

  2. Visubversa 2
    22 November 2018 at 8:18 am

    Palino, Tamahere, O’Connor – all I see there is a bunch of contenders for the 7% going begging now that Penny Bright is no longer with us.

  3. Dean Reynolds 3
    22 November 2018 at 8:59 am

    An ex priest living in the waterfront suburbs of East Auckland – yep, should have as much broad appeal as National’s last failed mayoral candidate

  4. SaveNZ 4
    22 November 2018 at 9:32 am

    is there something about the name Simon, which means they fail basic arithmetic?

    As usual slim picking for Auckland council. I hope a decent centre left candidate runs who is not a woke leftie with a mistress on the pay roll, so there is someone to vote for.

    • Draco T Bastard 4.1
      22 November 2018 at 3:06 pm

      WTF is a ‘woke leftie’?

      • SaveNZ 4.1.1
        22 November 2018 at 4:08 pm

        A left wing nut job who is extreme in their opinions and has irrational justifications to their views in a similar vein of distortion, impracticality and lack of empathy as the far right but for the far left (however they are somehow agreeing on a lot lately).

        • joe90 4.1.1.1
          22 November 2018 at 6:54 pm

          You appropriate decades old African-American vernacular that refers specifically to the political consciousness of black people of their own oppression and liberation, bastardise their vernacular, and then sneer.

          Nice.

          /

  5. JessNZ 5
    22 November 2018 at 9:35 am

    Lest we forget, Simon O’Connor is the one who brought up euthanasia to score political points on Jacinda over youth suicide.

    His wife was allegedly the teacher who played the creationist video for her students.

    I’d like to see a new MP for Tamaki, but not move him on to the Mayor!

  6. veutoviper 6
    22 November 2018 at 10:33 am

    ROFL.

    So even Simon Bridges’ own brother in law* is trying to leave the sinking ship?

    * Married to the sister mentioned in JessNZ’s comment at 5.

  7. Macro 7
    22 November 2018 at 10:44 am

    He’s probably been asked to move on by Simon to make way for one of the 2 new a Chinese MPs as his “question rate” is falling behind.

  8. Tiger Mountain 8
    22 November 2018 at 11:03 am

    heh, will he attend the Big Gay Out one wonders as per Banksie…

    the last SuperMayor election saw multiple candidates from the right tripping over each other for a minuscule share of the approx 38% turnout

  9. AB 9
    22 November 2018 at 11:09 am

    We don’t need a right-wing mayor because:
    – we’ve got one in Phil Goff
    – we’ve had generations of them and their craven toadying to business interests has created the irredeemable f**ked upness that is Akl

  10. Gabby 10
    22 November 2018 at 12:26 pm

    Has Gfoffloffle upset his ceo?

  11. Pete 11
    22 November 2018 at 3:08 pm

    O’Connor won’t be running for mayor:

    1 He wouldn’t win and he knows it.
    2 It would be a waste of a lot of money because he knows he wouldn’t win.
    3 He could be MP for Tamaki until 2048 if he wants.
    4 Being an Opposition MP for Tamaki is a lot easier than being Mayor of Auckland and he knows that.

  12. WeTheBleeple 12
    22 November 2018 at 5:46 pm

    His campaign slogan: Not the other Simon.

  13. R.P Mcmurphy 13
    22 November 2018 at 6:41 pm

    he is a piss useless member of parliament and the way he keeps fiddling with his tie when he orates is very creepy.

  14. Tamati Tautuhi 14
    23 November 2018 at 4:42 am

    Is he an ordained monk ?