NZ Herald Editorial Team
I’m uncomfortable about the rush to burn Len Brown.
The people of Auckland decide who the Mayor of Auckland is, not the bloody NZ Herald. A newspaper whose 150 year history is littered with vicious abuses of power and hate mongering. This week they decided to print a column by Bob Jones gloating over goading a fellow human being into suicide. I’ll take my ethical cues elsewhere thanks.
I’m sick of defending Len, but again, I don’t care about his text, phone calls or hotel upgrades, those are him sharing perks with his girlfriend, distasteful as that is. The bugger does have some explaining to do in regards to taking free rooms from Sky City whilst the dirty deal for their convention centre was done. On that he needs a hard spanking. But should he stand down because the NZ Herald demands it?
Cameron Brewer not only has a dog in this Len Brown fight – he has the cages, stadium and owns both dogs.
If the censure against Len works, at what point does the government start feeling ‘pressured’ by the NZ Herald to take over the SuperCity? When does Chris Tremain step in as Minister of Local Government to announce a Crown Review Team, Crown Observer, Crown Manager or Commission to take over Auckland the way this Government has taken over Christchurch?
How much of this witch hunt is manufactured to those ends? The left are scrambling to see if Phil Goff is ready to step away from Parliament towards standing for Mayor if Len can be convinced to step down, but the right have no interest in standing another weak right wing candidate against a City that clearly wants money spent on public transport, they want a means to do what the super City was constructed under Rodney Hide for, and that is to sell off all its assets.
This witch hunt is designed to create instability and an excuse for the Government to need to step in. Expect new lurid details to miraculously appear on Whaleoil to this end.
The left should beware of what it is getting by adding their voices to the NZ Herald’s.
I think Len is a clown for getting himself into this, but he has the skills to make the will of Aucklanders – that we get infrastructure money now from Wellington – a reality. My fear is that this lynching is inspired to create the impression of crisis to give the Government the excuse to step in.
If the point is for Len to step down so fresh elections can be held, that’s one thing, but if this is an exercise in disinformation to manufacture a knee-jerk reaction to give the Government an excuse to take over, then demanding Len’s demise is playing directly into those forces who want to rob Auckland, not build it.
You were at the front of the hysterical media led lynch mob demanding JT and Willie be burnt at the stake over the roast busters affair, and now your singing a different tune when it’s someone on the same side of the political column.
The people of Auckland are speaking and they want Len to go, we don’t want a mayor accepting free gifts under the table from the same Casino whose right’s he then expands.
Geoff, that’s a bizarre thing to say. Willie and JT are (nominally, at least) left-wing. Questioning the dress of a rape victim on air was not a political issue, it was perpetuating rape culture.
Not political, not remotely relevant.
I agree that accepting hotel upgrades from Skycity was a terrible decision. But as far as I’m aware, the people haven’t had an opportunity to speak on this yet. Correct me if I’m wrong.
The Herald is NOT “the people”.
Not declaring upgraded hotel rooms is something people can understand (even not actually a law breaking offence) – breaking the law by having an agency spy on a New Zealander when they are not legally allowed to, and then lying about it as a Prime Minister of New Zealand seems to be something that is too hard for a lot of New Zealanders to understand
The people of Auckland elected Len Brown on false pretense.
The people of Auckland thought Len was a family man who prided his honesty and strived to make the city a better place for Aucklanders.
Since the election it has been shown that those qualities are not present in Mayor Brown.
He has no mandate and should resign.
The only basis on which Len should even consider stepping down on is that there will be a full fresh election, anything else is coup territory by the right.
I’m very glad to see that Len has stayed on. For a while, it seemed a little bit too likely that the far-right conspirators would actually achieve their objective of undermining democracy and overthrowing our freshly elected mayor.
I, for one, couldn’t care less about the state of Len Brown’s marriage, or if he got a few free hotel upgrades. What matters to me, is a mayor who will do something about our public transport, affordable housing, about making Auckland a better place for all Aucklanders and not just the elite few.
What also matters is that we live in a democracy, and it’s just not right for a few mudrakers to do all they can to undermine a freshly elected mayor, and force a reelection, just because they didn’t like the outcome.
Anyone (almost) but Goff. Let Shits and Rats find their own candidate. I don’t want to see more zoning for lifestyle blocks, more private prisons, more draconian sentencing, and fewer council services. We need a living wage for council workers, not a living death waiting for a postponed retirement on a reduced pension. Goff and Tina can fuck off. Let ACT find their own mayor. The “left” should not give them one by proxy.
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