So it’s true then, the warfies weren’t the only ones Len Brown was screwing? If this drama were a book, it’d be called ’50 Shades of Brown’.
This week has given us the best examples of Journalism like Native Affairs’ courageous investigation into spending irregularities at Kohanga Reo & Campbell Live’s devastating deep sea drilling interview with Simon Bridges while giving us the worst examples of Journalism with Whaleoil’s drooling sleaze.
Let’s be clear, Cameron Slater and Stephen Cook ARE NOT scum! Scum rises to the surface, they are more the slime that sticks to the bottom of the sewer.
Slater is hardly the christian family man shtick he adopts for his site, and as for Stephen Cook, well his demise from credible media is a well discussed event and his role in the suicide of a witness seems beyond any ethical journalism.
Where is the public interest in the exposure of these kind of lewd details? I didn’t vote for Len because of his spinelessness over the Ports of Auckland and his needing to be dragged to the Living Wage, but the humiliation being handed out to him and his whanau by two characters with all the social charm of Mexican drug cartels is just spiteful cruelty.
But what of Bevan Chuang? All too often we blame the mistress for indiscretions rather than sheet the responsibility to the man. Was she a victim of a powerful charmer or was she a scheming ambitious seductress or was she something in the middle? To be honest I pity her, whatever Slater and Cook told her, it can’t have prepared her for the backlash she and her family will need to endure now her name is public.
Should we be disappointed that Len couldn’t keep it in his pants? I think we should, but all up, I refuse to judge someone for consensual sex, I might mock them, but I’m not going to judge. If there are no more details or revelations or favors returned then it comes down to how Len’s family now react.
I care more about Len Brown implementing a living wage, urban density and better public transport than I do about his sex life. If his whanau can forgive him, we should too.
Some won’t, for them this is a terrible flaw of character that is reprehensible, and we should respect that stance, but if someone like Len doesn’t deserve a second chance, I’d suggest we are setting the benchmark way too high.
I feel for Chuang, Brown and both their families at this humiliating time and I’m horrified that Slater & Cook think this is how adults should discuss the important issues of the day. What they have both perpetrated here is ugly, cruel and malicious.
If Len can gain a family unity moment signifying that forgiveness (his inauguration?) and as long as there are no further details, I think Len can survive this. If he can’t get a public moment of unity, then I think Aucklanders will see that as a sign his family won’t forgive him and they won’t either. Brown becomes a lame duck Mayor and he loses political credibility.
The only person rejoicing all of this is Simon Bridges’, grateful that Len’s indiscretions overshadowed his meltdown on Campbell Live.
If it’s in the public interest to know how long Len lasted then it’s in the public interest to know Bevan’s price? How many thousands did the Slaters pay for this? That’s the real story.
Who sleeps with who doesn’t matter if they are not married. If one of the people is married it does matter. If a married person can’t keep the public promises he made to his loved one than how can he be credible about anything else.
The story was obviously all lined up (they had affadavits etc), it just needed the right opportunity to release it. So was it released yesterday in order to deflect from Simon Bridges showing on Campbell Live? Or Bill English’s debarcle with Solid Energy? Or is there another mistress story waiting to come out and that Whale Oil wanted to upstage……
Let’s face it, Banksie is in court accused of soliciting fauxnonymous donations right now as well. The timing is perfect for the right.
You are making an assumption that every “married” couple shares the same view of relationships.
As a non-married partner of over 28 years, I hope my partner and I share the same definition of what our relationship boundaries are. However, I don’t presume to know what other couples – in and out – of legal wedlock – agree to.
And nor should I – I’m not part of their relationship.
There are many possible factors about the timing of the release of this ‘boardroom bonking’ drama by whalespew, all of them political
• The right could not beat Brown in a straight fight so have adopted the US tactic of undermine after the election
• Bevan Chuang was a (unsuccessful) candidate herself in the elections, waiting for the result?
• Slater may have had to wait until the affidavit was officially released which apparently was 15 oct.
• John Slater ’spews dad was involved in Pallino’s campaign
• The right raved on about “honey traps” re Richard Worth but there may have been pre meditation on the rights part here
etc etc. ‘Lenslider’ as he shall henceforth be known should not need to resign if he can function ok as Mayor.
How to deal with this
a Smear those who release the information (though in this case was hardly necessary but do remind the public of their history) tick
b Remind those in power that they are also vulnerable to this type of attack (read Russell Brown’s rather pointed twitter) tick
c Attack the woman involved (check the comments on this blog for evidence of that, she came from Hong Hong, honey trap etc) tick
d Explain it is a dirty poltical trick, don’t explain why it was left till after the election though, tick
So, all done
In the Stuff article below Chuang’s true colours come out… she wants to get paid!
‘She outed Brown over the affair after she said he dumped her in the lead-up to the elections. “I was being treated like a prostitute, except for one thing – I wasn’t getting paid,” she said. “At least if I was a hooker I would have got something out of this, but I got nothing. I was starting to feel like Monica Lewinsky,” she was quoted as saying.’
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9287275/Mayor-defiant-as-affair-exposed
If the affair had come out before closing of the polls, I would have seriously considered not voting for Brown, but I suspect in the end I would have ended up voting for him, weighing up all the factors and comparing them against the other candidates. Sure he’s lost a bit of trust, in my eyes, as a family man, but not as a Mayor who plans to get the city moving forwards.
Just like a coin this story has 2 sides while we are all aghast at what the head is doing, the tail is madly swishing up more dirt.
A man in the media attention, playing hide the cigar with his work colleague is nothing new It seems that women spurned and denied ongoing favoritism always seem to cough up the nano bits of the sordid affair for revenge and what better revenge than giving all the information to people who love to hurt and hate to love, who will then milk it for all it’s worth for page views.
This woman could have gone to the police but instead chose to create deep hurt and humiliation to the innocent children of Len Brown who will forever be reminded that their father was a sucker for a sucker. It is a timely reminder to all in the media, to Keep in ya pants.
Yes , I like your Post . Thanks Bomber . I was pondering the greater implications of Elastic Len once I started to give a vague fuck .
Let those who are innocent snort first in indignation I say .
Cameron Slater ? Oh boy . What a piece of work . He makes a dirty , dirty old world dirtier and whenever I think of him , sweating over his key pad , his self righteous baby lips pursing at every sleazy detail , beads of sweat pilling on his thick , bristly neck … he’s like a demon feeding on the misery of others . There’s no love in the guy . None at all . He represents The Dark Side . He is The Dark Side . And indeed , my heart goes out to browns family , particularly his wife . She’ll feel the shame , humiliation and pain that Slater gets paid to peddle .
It’s my opinion that Len Brown is a sociopath and a career politician who’s crap at his job because he doesn’t care . He has a script and he knows that if he sticks to it , he’ll do ok . So far , so good huh len ?
When I can be bothered to stick my nose into Auckland politics , I see ‘ Boardwalk Empire ‘ everywhere . Sadly though , without the gun play and disappearances . Oh , and the Class . There’s absolutely no Class in Auckland politics . Carpetbaggers spring to mind .
Any blogger or failed “editor” of a rubbish weekly paper, who presents “news” like he does, must be suspected of doing the same kind of stuff that he and this “Miss Chuang” now have accused Len Brown of.
I can really imagine Cameron Slater sitting there in front of his computer, with the sleaziest porn videos on his screen and engaging in activities that he accuses Len Brown of, and that he now enjoys to publicise widely in detail. What does Cameron Slater have for a background, how many girls and women has he had “contacts” with, I ask, and in what form of conduct???
What a damned wa**er that guy is!
Rather irrelevant as he is not a public office holder and has not used his office to carry out personal affairs.
Like Martyn I didn’t vote for Len this time, because of his weak stand over the Ports of Auckland dispute.
Any politician has to be seen as being squeaky clean. Len was very stupid to have had this affair with Ms Chuang, considering he was a family man. With the latter fact in mind, what sort of woman would go into an affair anyway, given Len’s domestic situation? Speaks volumes about her lack of morality!
The timing timing of recent revelations is interesting, which indicate National party and right wing involvement –
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11140650
Not surprising. It seems Ms Chuang went public with the affair to intentionally discredit the mayor, once he was elected. Chuang, an aspiring National politician, was the “honey trap”!
Bevan Chuang, along with her “mentors” Slater and Co are the dregs of society!
Fairly extreme rhetoric, Martyn, but nevertheless on the whole i have to agree with the points you raise. It’ll be a sad day for this country when political agendas are driven by right-wing moralising extremists. In my experience, those who take the moral high ground on issues like there all too often turn out to be the biggest hypocrites of all!
Len may survive for now, but unless his confession of the affair (after it lasted 2 years, and while he actually seemed to have enjoyed it) will lead to true humility and a more honest conduct, and unless he can somehow sort things out with his wife, the whole matter will prove to be highly corrosive on his mayoral leadership role.
I fear it will be dragged to the surface again and again by his adversaries, and it will also make it harder for Len Brown to work as a convincing, good mayor within council itself.
Yes, I also did not vote for Len, as he disappointed me for other reasons, and I expected more commitment from him to the issues of the ordinary Aucklanders, particularly those struggling and suffering due to housing and social issues. There was his unconvincing stand on the Ports of Auckland dispute, and there was his appalling decision to work with private developers and a mismanaged Housing NZ on East Tamaki and Glen Innes developments in the housing sector.
Bevan Chuang is a somewhat dubious figure. She is 32 years old, has been actively involved in a number of roles, with ethnic affairs, council roles, with media and more, and she is clearly driven by high aspirations to get attention, and to also get somewhere in life. I have read a bit about her now, and in 2012 there was a NZ Herald article where she announced she was seeking a sperm donor to have a “Dragon Baby” (child born in the Chinese year of the Dragon).
I was wondering whether she may have thought the mayor’s contribution may just have served her interests there, while also having a “sugar daddy” kind of favorable man in high office “assist” her to get ahead in social and other life? I am a bit tired of this frequent approach by some in the public of accusing the older man for “exploiting” the “innocent” young ladies, as it takes two to tango, and she was never forced to continue an affair for two years.
If what she says in her affidavit is true, that she did not like the treatment she got, she should have walked away from it, but she did not. She is well qualified and could easily have found other employment, and I am not convinced her work for Council was in a role where Brown could put undue influence on her. She did not work in his office or near him at all.
She does not convince me as being the “victim”, to be honest, and there are questions that she must answer also, if others expect Brown to answer to more on this.
Apart from this, Slater and his smut blog deserve to be attacked for the dirty tactics that are quite evident. Yet I already hear talk-back radio and others exploit this whole saga.
The most sensible comment about this matter that I have read and I did not vote for him.
I don’t draw a distinction between the private Vs public life of anyone in office. If he’s willing to cheat on the family and woman he made a public commitment too, why should we think he’s going to be any different when it comes to “public” issues?
Yeah, I’m a man and was married too. I like woman but never cheated on my wife despite many opportunities as I made a commitment. How can we be sure Len is committed to Auckland ?
He’s lost all credibility in my mind, no longer can he tell me what is “best” for my well being in this city as he’s obviously willing to lie to the very person he married.
Crikey, I know I sound like a moralistic prick but I hope you hear me..
This really makes me wish that instead of running for mayor, Minto had run for a council seat and put in a solid term showing that he is a capable holder of public office and more than just the ‘professional protester’ he is constantly written off as by the MSM and the right. Barring some kind of uncanny process of redemption, Brown’s prospects of a third term just flew out of the window. I don’t doubt that Minto might try again as the true candidate of the left, but I think the road would be a lot easier with a term in council behind him.
I agree, Bomber: Len Brown shouldn’t resign. He’s fallen into a sad and seedy trap, but it isn’t illegal. If every man – or woman – prominent in politics or business were obliged to resign over a peccadillo of this sort, there’d be nobody left. And it’d be impossible to persuade anyone to put themselves forward for such jobs.
I usually stay away from the Whaleoil blog – having little appetite for pond scummery – but on this occasion, I held my nose and read the affidavit. I remarked to visitors here that it reads like 50 shades of gray – or should that be brown?
But it’s her version only. Even though it’s sworn, unless she’s been keeping detailed notes as the affair progressed, I’d be doubtful about the accuracy of much of it. Memories are notoriously fallible.
I also wonder about the language used in the affidavit. She speaks English as a second language, which is clear when one listens to her. Yet the affidavit reads as if it were written by a native speaker of English. I’m suspicious that someone else was involved in writing it.
I reserve my compassion for Brown’s family, especially for his wife. This is profoundly humiliating for her, as no doubt Hillary Clinton would attest. I do wish that people in prominent positions would spare a thought for their spouses before they indulge their desires in such a fashion. Faint hope, I suppose!
Len said he spoke to his wife about the affair a week before it came out into the public. Perhaps Chuang had fallen for Len and now he’s telling her to stay away from him. Perhaps she’s only done all of this because of a broken heart? Would it not cross our mind to get back at our ex’s in the same way?
It is entirely possible that Len Brown could bring a slander or libel case against Slater and Cook. Truth is no defence against such a suit. If Brown can demonstrate that his ‘outing’ was malicious, then Slater and Cook will be shelling out the bux. Good.
“Truth is no defence against such a suit.”
Err you will find that actually it is, look it up.
This seems to be a classic case of attacking the messenger.
The reality is this is a mayor who uses the offices we paid for and apparently also during the time that we pay him for, for his own sexual gratification.
We shouldn’t tolerate this simply because he’s on ‘our’ side.
Dock his pay for the down time.
No.The allegation are a legally signed affidavit.
It is all so sleazy,however, had a wage slave be caught shagging in working hours within the councils chambers they would have been sacked on the spot,and the union would have had a serious job on their hands deciding if it was defensible.
Myself i reckon the Dunne/Vance scandal put the wind up him as it was just prior the hustings run,so he decided to end it. If that had not happened i recon he would still be tucking in.
I can honestly say that Len just got involved with a woman who simply took his fancy. But to keep things above board, be could have been more honest to his wife about his attraction to the woman, rather than getting it on with her behind her back. The wife could then make the decision to leave or stay and try and work it out with him. Women cheat too by the way. I know of plenty of young and older women you’ve had secret affairs with married men and they themselves are married. Bevan is not a victim here at all. She is clearly a media wannabe otherwise she would have stayed quiet about the whole thing. It’s a shame because NZ is such a small country and she’s blown it for herself as well. She and Len has lost credibility here. But I still think Len has a big heart and although not perfect has much of offer.
Having a scandal to live down might pressure Len into being a better mayor than he otherwise would have been. I see no reason for him to step down. Far better that he stays on and redeems himself through commitment to his work. He should certainly not bow to the demands of shrill armchair moralists who are themselves of questionable moral calibre.
Simple question – If this was part of a dirty tricks campaign why was it not published BEFORE the election?
There is certainly enough evidence of misuse of public property for personal reasons that it could have had some bearing on the recent election.
I think that there is far more destructive power in releasing this afterwards than before the election.
Exactly – sort of an insurance policy. If Brown lost, they could sink him with it should he try a comeback. If he won, they can take him down hard in the eyes of the public and force another election. All Palino would have to do from there is beat Minto, whose profile is still too low across greater Auckland. Plus we all know who the media would promote in that contest.
Added to that is Chuang’s measure of self-interest. She could hardly go out there and urge Brown to pull out (sorry, couldn’t resist) while seeking election herself.
Gosman, I think you are right for a change. Maybe he ditched her after the election, when he was ‘safe’, and she has exacted revenge by going to slimeball Slater with prurient details. She is as weird as Brown is stupid.
Simple answer:
It is standard practice for professional mainstream politicians (and the state forces) to collect black files on each other. But by mutual agreement, they rarely resort to them.
But these files are always there, kept in reserve and they all know it, (or should). It is a hidden threat that makes sure that none of our mainstream politicians stray outside any of the mutually accepted boundaries, at the risk of mutual destruction. (or, in military parlance, risk the other side going ballistic as well). An example of how such files, usually kept in reserve, are used, was against Peter Dunne in revenge at leaking details GCSB illegal activity.
So to answer your question:
Cameron Slater’s father worked on Palino’s campaign and had access to Palino’s black file on Brown. Through his father, Slater junior got wind of this dirt on Brown. And as proved on a number of occasions, Whaleoil does not play by the accepted rules. But he did agree to withhold this story till after the election. The worry for the Right was; Who knows what embarrassing personal secrets Palino harbours, that may, or may not be known by the Len Brown team?
That Len Brown has not also not gone to defcon 1, suggests none. But the Right didn’t know that. And still don’t know it, (or at least can’t be sure). So they would have prevailed on Slater not to release his salacious scoop, at least not until the election was safely over. And possible damage from any returning fire would be minimal.
What does all this mean for the upcoming national elections. Hopefully nothing. Otherwise we will have a campaign where the burning issues that need to be debated are obscured by allegations and counter allegations of personal failings and human fallibility.
The other take away lesson that needs to be heeded especially by the Right, is that you can’t trust Cameron Slater.
We need a slogan, a rallying point, calling for him to stay, him v Banks:
Banks v Brown?
What about Banks’ pranks?
We still need Brown around.
Keep Brown around.
these are just starting points … any more …
Juxtapose these two headlines, one after the other on Stuff:
Banks to stand trial
Should Brown resign?
Shouldn’t we say Banks when we say Brown?
Just a technical point Martyn – you’re quite right that scum floats to the top. Slimes creep along surfaces at all levels though, so strictly speaking our unwontedly prurient bloggers would in fact be sludge.
I suspect WhaleSpew only published this crap because Bevan had given him a lower score than Len’s 4/10.
I didn’t vote for him either, but I actually think Brown has handled the situation well. He didn’t lie about it, he owned up to what he did and acknowledged that his actions had hurt his family. He may be the only one in this sordid saga that comes out of it with a bit of dignity. I predict that this story will be next week’s fish and chip paper. I also think the Herald reached a new low in putting the papparazi-style photo of Len with his obviously distressed daughter on the front page. Criticise Len’s behaviour if you want, but leave his family alone. They’ve got enough to deal with.
Should we be disappointed that Len couldn’t keep it in his pants?
He isn’t my friend or family member, and presumably not yours. Which makes the more relevant questions “Should we care that Len couldn’t keep it in his pants?”, and more to the point “Is it any of our business that Len couldn’t keep it in his pants?”
Len Brown has shown poor judgment, a lack of concern for his wife and children. He has conducted this affair on Council property, likely in Council time. The affair was with a woman considerably his junior, from a minority culture. Already that screams power imbalance. It turns out he is also responsible for whether or not the council Chaing sits on is disbanded or is to remain in November this year.
I have not read much of the details of the affair (I don’t want to know), However I did read that according to Chaing, Brown chased her having just met her via text, i.e. he sought her out. If this is true, hard to see it as a honey trap. Brown still has to take responsibility for his actions.
[…] it all starts coming out now doesn’t it? Beyond the hypocrisy of Slater and the ugly tactics of Cook, the manipulation of Chuang at the hands of her ‘boyfriend’ Luigi Wewege and Slater […]
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