North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams Should Resign If He Continues Attacking Ministers And Other Mayors.

Power Of Recall Needed For ‘Supermayor’.

In a media release yesterday, “Hide’s fundraising rort the first of many”, North Shore Andrew Williams once again lodges into an ill-informed personal attack on a government minister.

Mayor Williams gets paid a sizeable salary by his ratepayers and should not be spending even more ratepayers’ money on making continued rude, personal and unnecessary media attacks on Local Government Minister Rodney Hide.

His latest outburst concerns an ACT Party fundraiser in Christchurch – and has no relevance at all to the ratepayers of North Shore City .

For many months Mayor Williams has achieved notoriety for his personal attacks on other mayors and government ministers – with absolutely nothing gained for the city he is meant to be serving.

If New Zealand had a system of ‘recall’ for elected members who failed their voters I believe Mayor Williams would have been long gone.

He has presided over a council which introduced the highest rates increases in the Auckland region and one of the highest in the country.

His council, in secret - without consultation, paid over $4 million for a beachfront house that was valued at just over $2 million.

In an ongoing battle, victims of a landslip have been trying to get a fair deal from Mayor William’s council – but have been refused information as all meetings on solutions to their problems are held in secret.

For Mayor Williams to attack Minister Rodney Hide of making ‘secret decisions ‘is laughable – in fact it was the Minister who proposed to Cabinet that Cabinet papers on local government reform should be released to the public.

Many of my own constituents and friends around the Shore and throughout Auckland have told me of their disbelief at many of the antics of Mayor Williams.

A Mayor is often referred to as the ‘First Citizen’ and the community generally shows considerable respect for the office – even though many do not particularly like a current holder of the office. This convention of respect has been sorely tested in North Shore City .

What concerns me most is that in future if we elect an ‘Andrew Williams’ as ‘SuperMayor of Auckland’ we will have to put up with him [or her] for three years.

What we need is a power of recall, as used in the United States , where citizens can call for a poll to remove an elected incumbent from office.

For now Mayor Williams should desist from his ongoing personal attacks and set about a real job of making sure that, in the transition to a new governance structure for the Auckland region, he should be ensuring that the best interests of residents and ratepayers of North Shore are pursued to a successful conclusion.

If Mayor Williams cannot do that he should resign immediately.

ENDS

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