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ISSUED BY AFFORDABLE AUCKLAND

Will a Real Mayoral Candidate Please Stand up

Affordable Auckland’s Stephen Berry believes Auckland has a bleak future ahead if the names put forward repeatedly by the New Zealand Herald are all there will be to choose from. “At the moment the only names being mentioned look like an audition for the next Jurassic Park movie and I’m not referring to the human roles.”

The 32 year old has not yet made a decision on whether to run for Mayor and, true to form, the mainstream media hasn’t asked. “Len Brown has now been written off as a dead duck and this means the campaign for the Auckland Mayoralty will probably start in the next few months.

“Currently we have a line-up of near retired politicians or persons who have followed Len Brown down the path to ruin. Most of them will plod along on a journey of business as usual. None of them will embark on the program of reform that desperately needs to happen to get Auckland Council’s books in order.”

Stephen Berry’s analysis of the potential candidates mentioned so far…

John Palino (54)

He ran a reasonable campaign when he was the Medias right wing favourite by default. His poor handling of the Bevan Chuang incident (he flew overseas) means his short political career is pretty much over. Palino campaigned for the idea of creating a new CBD in Manukau to take the pressure off central Auckland. Hardly ground breaking stuff.

Penny Hulse (55)

Penny has been Brown’s wing person throughout and therefore bears full responsibility for the disastrous state of the Council’s books. She voted for the latest rates increase, backs the City Rail Loop and has been a leading cheerleader for the Unitary plan. Hulse has previously said she won’t stand against Len Brown but I’m sure that will change once she gets a whiff of blood.

Len Brown (58)

If his opponents are from the Jurassic period then Brown is a relic from the Triassic. He’s already extinct.

Phil Goff (61)

Reached his peak in Wellington and looking for a higher paying retirement plan. Once a dynamic reformer when he was a Minister in the fourth Labour government; now pretends it didn’t happen. An article today shows that Mr. Goff supports building the city rail link and is an advocate for light rail. Thinks a partnership between local and central government will fix the housing crisis. He's appalled by people cutting down their own trees. Len Brown the second.

Maurice Williamson (64)

We know he’s clever because he’s told us but he’s never actually expressed any interest in the Mayoralty. Gave a nice speech about a rainbow once.

Michael Barnett (64)

Michael has spent many years in local government on the Auckland Regional Council. He is also head of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. Barnett seems to believe the Council is responsible for planning economic development and dealing with high unemployment rates which is not a core role of Council. Were Barnett elected I anticipate more business as usual with a mild tinge of blue.

John Banks (68)

Only John Banks thinks he still has a political career.

“At this stage there are no contenders who would support restricting rates increases to below the rate of inflation, funding only the core essentials necessary for the functioning of the city or controlling the Council’s rampant borrowing. Nobody is backing the rights of property owners nor do they have a realistic plan to tackle skyrocketing house prices.”

In 2013, Stephen Berry’s Mayoral campaign flew under the radar and was virtually ignored by mainstream media. He ran on a low budget of just a few thousand dollars and campaigned mainly in Central Auckland. Despite this Berry finished in third place with a respectable vote, reaching up to 8% in parts of Rodney.

“Should I decide to run for the Auckland Mayoralty it will be the longest campaign in Auckland local body history.

“Watch this space.”

Ends

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