Written By:
Bunji - Date published:
1:46 pm, September 26th, 2010 - 18 comments
Categories: auckland supercity, class war, democratic participation, First Past the Post -
Tags: matt mccarten
Matt McCarten has finally got his website up for which SuperCity candidates to back.
As Rodney Hide has forced the Auckland mayor, Council and Local Boards to be less-democratic First Past the Post elections, Progressives need to vote in a block – we don’t want Banks’ C&R (ie National) candidates to squeeze through the middle. So if you haven’t voted yet, here’s some good suggestions to coalesce around.
I’ve heard a leading pollster has described this as a “class war” election. Len Brown most definitely has the most supporters, but they are the poorer, less-likely-to-vote types. John Banks has well-heeled voters who will support him. So it’s vital we push hard to Get Out The Vote.
Matt McCarten had intended to have this up a few days ago to catch this weekend’s voters, and to have consulted more with others on the choices, but he has a very good excuse in having been in hospital – I think we’ll forgive him for that! As such he hasn’t got local board suggestions up yet either – hopefully he’ll still get to add them.
Anyway, if you’ve been waiting to see who to vote for to support Len: read it.
Sone interesting choices. Thanks to Matt for doing this.
Out west I would endorse Paul Walbran and Sandra Coney. They have done the hard yards for many years. They are both dedicated to protection of the ranges and they both have the talents to do what will be a really difficult job.
Cheers. Good to have some names to work with while thinking through the list of names.
Damn, I’ll have a read of that. I only have about half of the ticks/numbers done.
Just as a thought for local boards – my local board is North Shore… there’s not the greatest choice of candidates but Mike Cohen and Chris Darby are good.
“my local board is North Shore”.
No it’s not.
That’ll teach me to comment on the run. By ward is North Shore, my board is Devonport-Takapuna… and Mike Cohen and Chris Darby seem to be the good options in that board. There may be others – there are some I’m inclined towards and lots that I’m inclined against, but those would be my solid picks.
That local board fight is going to be tight, Bunji. There are 10-12 very good candidates for only 6 positions.
Glad that the hijack is being seen as class war.
http://redrave.blogspot.com/2010/06/supercity-fight-is-class-war.html
At least there are left candidates in the super city.
Down here in the New Plymouth District (it used to be a city before ’89), the ballot papers are full of Tea Party-types. Which means we are going to have a slash and burn bonfire after October.
Down here in Hawke’s Bay, home of the ‘vested interest’ councillor, it’s predominantly white mildle-aged males up on the billboards, so this time around I have only two criteria for voting: no encumbants and no-one who has blue as the predominant colour in their propaganda.
Just spoil your ballot..that’s what I did..
you might need to run next time, millsy.
yeah millsy, run the next time round. and get like-minded ones to join you
On the North Shore most of the progressive types have blue as their predominant colour, so it’s ceased to be any distinguishing feature. The perils of living in an electorate that gave Wayne Mapp a 14,000 majority I s’pose…
I voted for Brown yesterday – simply because he isn’t Banks…
This candidate caught my eye:
Loving the honesty…
Out West (Waitakere city) walbrain/cooney dont have a strong record for including the people
(yes the ones who pay their wages) But Penny Hulse is always sensible, and able to be contacted for issues important and less so. We will desperately need people like Penny on the new Council.
Thanks Matt BUT for Waitakere Councillor – Penny Hulse is a Must-Vote . No one has worked harder and longer for the West. She secured a workable framework for the Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Act to protect the Waitakeres, has the ability to bring people together to solve local issues and will take forward the Eco City values of the current council. I reckon she has the skills and experience needed to take on the CCO’s of Hide’s machine .. its never been more important to have people like Penny there.