The news that Len has hired security in the wake of his affair doesn’t surprise me and doesn’t even pass as news as far as I am concerned. The weird melding between the Penny Brights of local protest and the hard right of Cameron Brewer has led to a constant hate campaign against Len that serves one purpose and one purpose only – to destabilise the Mayoralty.
Brewer’s ‘bevy of heavies’ line has all the rehearsed staccato timing of Brewer’s hero, John Banks, minus any of the charm.
While I have much respect for Graham McCready I find his latest attempt to humiliate Len by dragging his wife into the legal proceedings has little of the honour and dignity those preaching from their moral high ground claim.
I didn’t vote for Len, I thought John Minto would be a far better Mayor for Auckland, but the constant moralising and attempt to roll around in the mud with Len serves no purpose other than those with bitter political vendettas.
While I don’t condone Len’s actions, what I do want is for him to get on with his job of demanding Wellington cough up for our desperately needed infrastructure upgrades, and if Len needs security to protect him from the usual suspect screaming lynch mob participants to do that, so be it.
The Mayor may not have shown his position the dignity it deserves, but the position does deserve more dignity than his accusers are prepared to display.
Indeed.
All it takes is for one misguided nutter (from the Left or Right) to assault (or worse!) Len Brown, and that would send New Zealand politics into uncharted territory in terms of political violence.
The result of any such violence would be wholly predictable; someone does harm to Brown; there is outrage; then justifications would be voiced (“but he shouldn’t have blah blah blah”); and the government would have the perfect justification to ratchet up State power yet even further.
As for Mr McCready dragging Brown’s wife into this matter… Thus far her has proven to be astute in his actions. But taking Brown’s wife to Court for actions surrounding the mayor?!
All I can think of is that this is a nasty witch-hunt/drum-head, and a re-victimsation of this woman.
On this point, I would hope Mr McCready reconsiders his decision.
LB is in a position entirely of his own making, and if he was a right wing politician the left would be excoriating him in exactly the same way the right (and some elements of the left) are. No commentator is preventing LB getting on with the job, it is his on actions that have robbed him of credibility, and if he had considered the wishes of most Aucklanders and stepped aside the city would be able to get on with business. Until he does, this circus will continue.
That’s not addressing the issues raised here. As usual, IV, you’re off on your own weird tangent…
I know fuckloads of left wing people who don’t like him and didn’t vote for him, so I’ve NFI what the point of the counterfactuals are.
How does the fact that people don’t like him because he had an affair negate the potential need for security now that there are obsessive nutjobs following him around? He’s the mayor. Do we start exposing public officials to potential harm unless they make santa’s list of good boys and girls now?
Precisely. Well said, Jones!
The point you obviously aren’t aware of is that LB had little or no security in his first term…quote “Mr Brown also explained why he was flanked by security guards during a public appearance on Saturday, saying members of the public were usually surprised to find him without security during his previous three years as mayor.” (NZH). LB has claimed the extra security was organised by Auckland Transport. The security guards themselves claim they were working for the mayor. Whose telling porkies? But the real point is Auckland ratepayers are paying for extra security because LB can’t keep his trousers on.
Perhaps you should have said that at the beginning instead of wandering off into la-la land of Left & Right wing commentators, “excoriations”, etc.
One day you’ll learn to make your point a bit clearer at the beginning…
By the way, IV –
– I’m guessing that ratepayers would pay a helluva lot more if he was forced out of his job and a fresh election held.
…and I’m guessing a significant majority would willingly pay up!
The point I am very obviously aware of is that you avoided my question, so I’ll ask it again:
How does the fact that people don’t like him because he had an affair negate the potential need for security now that there are obsessive nutjobs following him around? He’s the mayor. Do we start exposing public officials to potential harm unless they make santa’s list of good boys and girls now?
No I addressed you question directly. He didn’t need them then, why does he need them now? The only change is of his own making.
But that isn’t what I was asking. I was asking you whether we should put him out there without security just because some people disapprove of his private morality? Are we only providing security for public officials whose conduct has passed moral scrutiny now? Wouldn’t that mean we need them all to let us know as much about every other politician’s private life as we know about Len’s?
Your question makes an assumption you haven’t demonstrated, i.e. that LB needs security to protect him from harm as a result of his moral degeneracy. There is no evidence for that, and in the meantime Auckland ratepayers are paying for that extra security, plus all the extra spin staff LB employs.
How do we know he hasn’t been threatened? And at what point do we decide anyway? There has been plenty of comment on our PM’s penchant for a large security detail, well beyond the amount Helen used to have with her. Do we demand to know about his private life to see if we should be paying for it or not?
It’s good to see that Mr McCready has decided not to follow through on a private prosecution of Len Brown’s wife. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/233712/private-prosecution-likely-against-brown
From what I can see Brewer etc are bassically acting in collusion with the government which wants Len’s head. Sadly, Len seems to have been remarkably naive in not knowing he could not afford one false move in such pirana infested political waters as this govrnment calls its natural habitat.
One false move? I don’t think so. The affair lasted 2 years. Two years of deceiving both his family and the constituency who saw this man as championing family values. The reasoning the left is hurting is because LB is one of their own. If this had been a RW politician, you’d all be screaming for his head.
IV, you clearly are either not that well read, or prone to stereotyping. My piece on The Daily Blog (published in December) spells out exactly why Len Brown should stand down.
Where’s the stereotype? I’m well aware some on the left have been calling on LB to resign, but that doesn’t excuse the type of sycophantic drooling from others.
PS I agree with most of your points in the Dec article, except I’m not sure on what grounds the Govt. could step in and remove him now, unless there was a no-confidence motion from the council. At this stage that threat seems to have passed. Unless there is more to come out?
John Minto would have been a terrific Mayor.
Not hard to work out who destabilised the Mayoralty. None other than the Mayor himself.
Do we really want a village idiot flanked by security guards running our city?
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