Adultery and Democracy: Should Len Brown Resign?

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JIMMY CARTER famously told Playboy magazine that he had committed adultery in his heart. Not to be outdone, the next Democratic Party President, Bill Clinton, committed adultery with Monica Lewinsky in a little room adjoining the Oval Office.

 

Seymour Hersh, in The Dark Side of Camelot, reveals that President John F. Kennedy kept two young women on the West Wing payroll whose job descriptions remained curiously imprecise. Their nicknames, “Fiddle” and “Faddle”, do, however, strongly suggest that they weren’t hired to offer the President foreign policy advice!

 

Clearly, sexual shenanigans in high places are nothing new.

 

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Not even in New Zealand.

 

The Nineteenth Century financier, politician and castle-builder, Sir William Larnach, upon learning that his beloved young wife was engaged in a passionate affair with his favourite son by an earlier marriage, took a pistol into one of the committee rooms of Parliament and blew his brains out.

 

According to that left-wing gadfly of the First Labour Government, John A. Lee, there were mornings when the ministerial offices of one notoriously louche colleague positively reeked of cheap perfume.

 

So notorious was the sex life of the National Party Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, that Wellington’s infamous pamphleteering collective, The Double Standard, once posted dozens of mock newspaper flyers declaring: “Rooting Pig Shot in Ngaio – PM Safe.” (Ngaio being the alleged suburban home of the PM’s alleged mistress.)

 

Muldoon’s successor, David Lange, fell in love with and eventually married his speech-writer, Margaret Pope, but not before his aggrieved wife, Naomi, broke the story of her husband’s adultery in the Dominion Sunday Times.

 

When placed alongside these famous philanderers, the Auckland Mayor’s, Len Brown’s, intermittent affair with his 32-year-old ethnic advisor, Bevan Chuang, doesn’t seem quite so scandalous. Not when you consider that at one point during his presidency JFK was sharing the favours of Los Angeles socialite, Judith Campbell, with the Mafia boss, Sam Giancana. It was a dangerous liaison of which FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover, was well aware, yet it continued for two years under the White House roof – even after Hoover made sure that JFK knew that he knew.

 

Nor is it the case that Ms Chuang is believed by Len Brown’s colleagues to have wielded undue political influence within the Mayor’s Office. In the case of the relationship between David Lange and Margaret Pope, however, it was widely believed by the Prime Minister’s Cabinet colleagues that his mistress had undermined his faith in the policies of Finance Minister, Roger Douglas. Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials were similarly concerned that Ms Pope’s relationship with the PM was influencing the future direction of New Zealand’s foreign and defence policies.

 

In none of the cases cited above did the politicians involved consider an adulterous relationship sufficient grounds for resignation – not even when, as happened in the cases of Bill Clinton and David Lange, their adultery became public knowledge. Perhaps it would have worked out differently for JFK if his womanising had been exposed. The early 1960s, in marked contrast to the late-60s, were a pretty straight-laced period of American social history.

 

It is, however, highly unlikely that the US news media would have co-operated in exposing JFK’s behaviour. Very few, if any, political journalists in Washington DC were unaware of the President’s predilections, it’s just that they didn’t see them as being especially relevant to his political role.

 

Obviously, the rise of the political blog has allowed those who do think that a politician’s private behaviour cannot – and should not – be separated from his or her public role, to make an end-run around the gatekeepers of the so-called “mainstream” news media. (It was a blog, “The Drudge Report”, which broke the story of Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky.)

 

Just as Drudge was able to do, Cameron Slater and his Whaleoil blog have thrust the Brown/Chuang affair into the public’s face in a way the mainstream news media simply cannot ignore. What’s more, in conformity with the early twenty-first century zeitgeist, Slater and Steven Cook – the journalist responsible for breaking the story – have left no detail of the affair to the reader’s imagination. Ms Chuang, as befits a young woman growing up in the age of You-Tube, Facebook and Twitter, has held nothing back. She has told us everything.

 

In doing so, Ms Chuang is asserting both the reality and the validity of her experiences with Len Brown. Rather than accept the traditional role of the “other” woman: i.e. the essentially inconsequential, entirely sexually defined, adjunct to the “important” and/or “powerful” man who has condescended to couple with her; Ms Chuang is demanding that Aucklanders acknowledge that what happened to her took place in a political context, with a political person, and should, therefore, be seen as every bit as consequential as any of the other happenings involving the Mayor of Auckland over the past three years.

 

When viewed from this perspective, Mr Brown’s decision not to include what happened with Ms Chuang among all the other things for which he was responsible – and upon which he was inviting us to pass judgement with our ballot papers – takes on a morally dubious character.

 

If Mr Brown, or his campaign team, had become aware that his affair with Ms Chuang was about to become public knowledge, then, surely, the ethical, the democratic obligation was to come clean not only with his wife and family – but with the electors?

 

The full acknowledgement of his relationship with Ms Chuang: its effect upon his wife and daughters; and of how he would now explain the affair, both to himself and to Ms Chuang; would have given the voting public a much more complete picture of the Mayor’s first term.

 

Set against the solid achievements of the past three years, his all-too-human encounter with Ms Chuang would almost certainly not have cost him the election.

 

His actual confession, delivered after the votes had been cast and counted, and in the face of Ms Chuang’s own detailed revelations, speaks a great deal less of him than the alternative described above would have done.

 

Will he resign? Probably not.

 

Should he resign? That depends entirely on who, and what, Len Brown believes himself to be.

 

34 COMMENTS

  1. So then we would have had Mr Palino for mayor which would have increased the chance of a 3rd term for national. Not an entirely straight forward moral decision.

  2. Slaters: aka, pill bugs, sow bugs, woodlice. Slaters are mainly scavengers. They are omnivorous, feeding on a variety of decaying vegetation, tree bark, rotting wood, etc. Slaters may also graze on fungi associated with decay, or consume dead animal matter, such as dead insects or larger animal carcasses.
    One subspecies, Isopoda Oniscoidea Blubberii, recently discovered in New Zealand, is noted for it’s especial attraction to the radiance of computer screens. Easily distinguished from others of the species by it’s prurient purulence, flabby flapping labium superius oris and labium inferius oris, also it’s corpulent bipedal body. It is thought to be a mutant, the mutation being the product of environmental toxins, recessive genes or both.
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10813552

  3. I understand Slater had an affair himself – does that mean he should resign from his job as well?

    Do we expect only our politicians to abide by our personal moral codes as relates to something totally private – sex, which has absolutely no impact on our own lives, at the cost of good decision making on issues that actually do?

    Furthermore, as much, if not more, deaths and other sufferings have been caused by faithful partners as unfaithful ones.

    And lastly, most people have more than one sexual partner in their lives these days and the majority have quite a few. If we are only going to vote for people certified as being in a monogamous relationship (single people don’t even have a hope of being elected to high office) we may have a very limited pool of candidates to choose from.

  4. I don’t care if Len had an affair, he should go because having sex, phone sex and masterbating at the office in meeting rooms is wrong, and if caught you resign or get fired.

    • I don’t care about this at all. I don’t care if it happened to a right winger or a left winger it is not cause for resignation from any job it was simply consensual sex. No law was broken. Moral outrage is self serving politically motivated bullshit. Catch him stealing stuff or selling favours and then ride him out of town on a rail. Otherwise shut the fuck up.

      • Nigel was talking about misconduct at a place of employment.
        Not to be confused with consensual sex and/or marital infidelity in one’s own time.

        I expect most employees would expect dismissal or formal warning if caught doing similar acts on office/factory time and if caught doing so on employer premises.

        Simply strange to expect that politicians warrant an exemption card.

  5. “When viewed from this perspective, Mr Brown’s decision not to include what happened with Ms Chuang among all the other things for which he was responsible – and upon which he was inviting us to pass judgement with our ballot papers – takes on a morally dubious character”

    By that standard are we now to expect all candidates to reveal everything about themselves – not just political views, but past & present relationships, whether they watch or read porn, whether they masturbate & if so whether any of this has ever taken place at work (at their desk, during their lunch break or whatever), whether they use contraceptive, ever taken the morning after pill, ever had an abortion, had pre-marital sex, how many sexual partners?

    Serious question. Where will we draw the line? Would this transparent assessment of public figures be reserved for politicians who should we also be given the personal information of those revealing it or perhaps other key figures in the community – heads of departments, companies & non profits.

    Which leads me to John Palino. OK. So we were all privy to Len’s sex life before voting then what about Palino’s?

  6. ( Warning ! Contains sarcasm . )

    Employee to Boss …

    ” Ah ? Mate ? Just poppin’ out for a root , be back in thirty OK ?

    Boss .
    ” Yeah Mate . Might as well swing by that fancy fuckin’ restaurant for a feed and a beer while you’re at it aye ? ”

    Employee ; ” Sweet , might as well see ya tomorrow then ? ‘

    Boss . ” Nah mate . I’m takin’ the week off to go pissing up and whoring with my homies so take the week off too ”

    Employee ; ” So , you’re gonna invoice the client then ? Ya know , for the root , the feed and a week off ?

    Boss ; ” Fuck yeah Man . Of course . You wanna pay for that shit yourself ? Fuuuuuck ! ”

    Len should pack up his penis and fuck off with it . Further more , he should repay his salary for that period of time he was humping the pin up girl at the rate payers expense in the rate payers office on rate payers time .

    Len says he loves his job and he wants to stay on . Of course he fucking does ! Wouldn’t you ? I would love a job like that too . Shagging pretty girls behind the wifes back while deceiving the entire rate paying population of Auckland , cleaning up on a six figure salary , riding around looking all contrite and droopy moose faced IN THE BACK OF A LIMO ! In the immortal words of the Dahli Lama … WTF ?

    The Neo Right are so deviant and cunning that I reckon this is how it’s playing .

    Len gets caught out prior to his being re elected , we know this . He knows that the dirt’s going to come out sooner or later right ?
    So , he calls Slater and Cook to release the ‘ news ‘ as an antidote to the inevitable AFTER voting has taken place and Len is secure once more .
    All Len has to do is bleed tears of remorse and go all ‘ awww poor me ‘ and we lap it up like fools .
    Meanwhile , Slater and Cook make headlines and are so thick skinned they can weather any condemnation of their ‘ under hand tactics ‘ and ‘ cruel expose`s of a man who indulged in a little human error , and clearly , he’s not the first so that’s all right then .
    Slater and Cook may look like a couple of complete arseholes but remember , all advertising is good advertising .
    I’m completely over crooked/deviant/sociopathic/amoral government officials getting off on our money and so should we all be .

    • I think you make a fair point, but you have to be consistent.

      If you want to take people to task for potentially having sex during work hours or on work premises then you need to apply the same rational to all activity that is personal. This would include personal phone calls, smoke breaks outside legal breaks, not working at 100% while supposedly doing your work due to participating in workplace gossip (or due to just being a bit nil), long lunch breaks so you can do exercise or go shopping & skiving off work early to do personal errands.

      Adultery is no ones business but the people directly involved & if he had been having sex with his wife no one would have battered an eyelid – in fact, he would probably have gotten heaps of kudos.

      So for the objection to stick it must be about personal activity being carried out within work hours on work premises & then apply the test of reasonableness.

      This woman claims Len was only good for it for a max of 2minutes. So for me I would consider all those so-called hard working folk who chin wag when at work, take long breaks, do their nails or anything else that isnt actually in their job description as far more serious than a 2 minute sexual rendezvous on the odd occasion.

      Personal activity during work hours – including commenting online, people! – is stealing from your employer.

      So if you want to make an objection on that basis then apply it consistently and further, make sure you are not guilty of the same.

      FYI: I’m self-employed. 🙂

  7. Am I alone in thinking that what consenting adults do in the sack is none of the public’s business.

    Time we all grew up and left this prurient tut tutting to American Tabloids.

    Anyone with the slightest bit of decency and concern for the innocent parties in this case would have refused to publish it.

    I hope the mud sticks to Cook and Slater and all the other holier than thou creeps.

  8. I have to disagree. It’s his private life, and there is zero evidence that this had any effect upon his job performance or in any way constituted political corruption.

    The people saying we can’t trust him are asking for a level of trust that they aren’t entitled to. Brown contracted with the voters to trust him as a politician. Hence, they have the right to demand that he resign if he demonstrates political corruption. But he has not. He did not ask them to trust his sexual integrity. Were that a campaign promise, nobody would get elected apart from nuns.

    Len Brown had a consensual affair with someone he met professionally. There’s no evidence that this impacted his work performance or any promise he made to the voters.

  9. Aucklanders have had a narrow escape

    Is Len Brown’ political career damaged by these allegations, possibly.

    But what about Palino the right wing US contender for Mayor of Auckland?

    The brutal emotional blackmail of Ms Chaung has done more harm to Ron Polino than Mayor Brown.

    The ugly face of Palino

    Palino’s reputation has been damaged far more than Brown’s by the latest revelations released by Chaung. Revelations that reveal that a leading member of Palino’s team, close to Palino, used emotional blackmail and pressure against a reluctant, Bevan Chaung to reveal the scandal, to engineer an electoral upset to give Polino an undeserved win.

    The venal and corrupt brutally calculated exploitation of Ms Chaung’s emotions. Behaviour exposed by Chuang of Palino’s closest advisors, is a warning to Aucklanders of the sort of brutal behaviour they could expect if this right wing, born to rule scum, ever gets anywhere near the levers of power.

    But it is also a warning to the Right of the dangers of reaching for the nuclear option

    • Blowback and the dangers of going to the nuclear option.

      In an effort to distance himself from the sleazoid tactics of his underlings, John Palino is caught out blatantly lying to the public.

      Palino makes claim in the Herald that he did not know that one of his top campaign advisors was in a relationship with Bevan Chuang.

      Last night, Mr Palino said he also had no knowledge of an intimate relationship between Mr Wewege and Ms Chuang.

      NZ Herald October 17, 2013 at 5:21

      To make the point that he is lying, just above this quote from Palino, the Herald has placed a photograph of the three of them together. Wegege has his arm around Chaung while she rests her head on his shoulder. While Palino leans into the shot of the couple, to get his picture taken with them.

      What else are we to make of this picture?

      Other than that John Polino clearly knew that Wegwege and Chuan were a couple, but now is trying to claim that he was ignorant of this fact in an effort to distance himself from having any prior knowledge at all, in whole, or in part, of this sordid can of worms.

      A blatant and desperate lie like this, points to the opposite, That Polino had full knowledge of what his team were up to.

      It also points to the fact that Polino knows too, that by implication he too, is in trouble.

      But John Polino is not the only one trying to rapidly distance himself from this business….

      Asked about the political overtones now emerging as to how the affair came to light, Mr Key said he was confident the National Party was not involved.

      NZ Herald October 17, 2013 at 5:21

      No one has suggested that they were. What moved Mr. Key to make such a statement?

  10. Brown should have gone down (no pun etc.) by voters tick for his desertion of the wharfies and the GI residents. The perma tanned Pallino crew do not present any plausible alternative for supercity residents either. They are as Bob Dylan said–“ free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise”.

    Boardroom bonking is no real reason for a recall but it might focus a few more ‘dorklanders’ on what it is all about for their town. Randy old goats inevitably get it wrong like Paul Holmes and Fleur Revell, and so on.

  11. What are people’s views on Len Brown providing a reference to enable his mistress to get a job at the council run art gallery?

    I believe Nick Smith resigned for something that wasn’t even as blatant a conflict of interest as this.

    • My view is that you are entitled use anyone as a reference for a job.

      Should someone in a DHB not be able to put the name of the CEO down as a reference person? Should a referee comment on personal attritubes, professional capabilities ability to work in a team? How was Len Brown used as a referee? Did he merely say he knew her and he considered she was of good character? Do you not put anyone’s name forward as a referee because they have power, status or are well known?
      This is just another example of people jumping on the emotional bandwagon.

      • I’d suggest it is a different matter entirely if you are engaged in a personal relationship with the person you are providing a reference for. At the very least the people receiving the reference should be made aware if this as it enables them to understand the context. At the very worse it is a conflict of interest.

  12. Bonking on the job in the councils or any other employers time will get you the sack,simple,and the union would have a hard job defending that.Now it has come to light, Len, has also used his position as Mayor,to aid his mistress into employment, by way of recommendation within the councils business portfolio.

    What should Len,do.Ride the storm,resign and stand again,or sign on as Mayor, and resign later due to family commitments and hand the reigns over to the Deputy Mayor.

  13. Mr Palino is fighting dirty. Would you actually want someone like that running your city? John Banks with his dishonesty over not declaring Skycity, or Kimdotcom contribution to his Mayoral campaign. Surely that’s deceit to the voting public as well as violating the integrity of our political system. Is that not more serious? Here we are seeing a double set of standards, should Banks resign as an MP for his dishonesty? The reality is, in my opinion, the elections are done, the votes have been casted, Brown was elected on his track record as Mayor, and because he had a good campaign team. To dispute his legitimate right to be mayor puts us in the same third world pseudo democracies as in Zambia, Zimbabwe and co. No Brown should not resign, he campaigned well and he campaigned good. He has a moral duty to complete his term, any thing else in my opinion would throw NZ in a political crisis.

  14. When Len ran as a family man who you can trust (photo ops with happy family, the Pacifica vote (who seemingly didn’t like voting for Gay candidates, so I guess cheating husbands are out too, etc), he should resign. He’s been shown to be a hypocrite to present himself as a family man whilst having an affair.
    If he hadn’t made such a thing about being a trusting family man, then in my humble opinion it is OK for him to stay, if it was only an affair.
    But has all the info been ‘outed’?
    Was he really using company time and ‘office’ to have his affair. If so, he should be severely sanctioned and maybe fired.
    If he’s used his position to further his mistresses career, then he’s of suspect character and should be asked to resign.
    Basically he’s been shown to be conservative with the pertinent facts and thus should leave public office.
    A new ballot should be held and Len can stand if he TRULY wants to be able to claim he has peoples backing !!!
    No the second place guy should NOT automatically take his place.

  15. I had a wank in my office at work once. I also had sex a few times in the same office, and a few times in the other participants’ offices. I also work at home quite a bit, but to compensate, I have slept in my office. When I was working in a warehouse I had sex in the toilet a few times. When I was painting houses, I had sex in one or three of the houses with women who lived in them.
    Shoot me.
    Leave Len alone for this, or join up with Colin Craig’s Conservatives. Attack Len for being a class collaborating sellout, not out of what is probably middle aged jealousy that he was doing something most of you would give an arm and a leg for. What a load of shit.

  16. This article by Chris Trotter has already been overtaken by events, as most will already know. If it had just stayed with that “affair” the mayor had for about 2 years, with an opportunistic, playgirl like young ethnic Chinese woman of a migrant Hong Kong origin, then a simple fronting up, apology and what else may be advised, would have sufficed.

    But now we are talking about Len Brown having given a reference to his then mistress, when she applied for a job at the Council run and financed Art Gallery. Len Brown had a conflict of interest there. And him being the mayor of Auckland City, he would have been a referee that most likely did make the difference for his mistress to get the job.

    He should have stated a conflict of interest, or refused to give a reference in that case, to appear neutral, but apparently he did not. There are now other questions about hotel rooms having been rented, and about sexual exploits in Council offices and during office hours. Len will say he paid for it himself. Some will say his salary is paid by the ratepayers. Now an inquiry appears to be planned by Council.

    Indeed, this has got so messy now, if Len Brown has any common sense left, he must resign.

    Bevan Chaung, who has been flirting and sleeping with a guy from the Palino election campaign camp (Luigi Wewege), who has been trying to chase perks and fame on both sides of the political fence, then worked together in the end to discredit Len Brown, is a highly questionable person. She has totally discredited herself now by first having agreed to work with Cook and Slater to publish the dirty affidavit details and discredit Brown, but also she is now turning around again, lashing out at Slater.

    How could Len get involved with such a toxic character? His involvement with such a person raises more serious questions about his judgment, not just in “personal affairs”. And that must be seen in the light of him always presenting himself as a Christian family man.

    I recommend the following Herald article, as it reveals so much now:
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11141316

    No, Len is gone in my eyes, me must resign, and the summary conclusion about all this is: NZ politics has become totally corrupt now. Having watched Parliament’s question time this afternoon, and the debate that followed, only adds to my impression, that there is a need for people to revolt in the streets, to protest against all these corrupt happenings that are occurring much more often than is being reported! I know that it is just the tip of the iceberg, what we now see. Corruption, favoritism, cutting corners, back-room deals, networks sticking together to cover up wrongdoings, this is widespread in NZ, it is NOT the least corrupt country it claims.

  17. Goodness me, it seems NZ politics is full of the F word at the moment. Fornication and Fraud!

    I don’t think Len Brown should resign. But I do think he has a long way to go to make things right with his wife and daughters for his stupid indiscretion with Ms Chuang. It seems his family are still supporting him and if they can, then I think Aucklanders can as well.

    If there was another election soon, Len would still win, because his rival John Palino has sullied himself badly through his close involvement with the scurrilous Slaters and their equally grubby parasitic hangers on!

  18. Off course politics is corrupt,no more than this present corporate regimes rule..Len,has been caught with his pants down,and it would appear by what is coming forward, bonking a wistful user.

    Len!s appearance on the Cambell, show did not seem to me like a contrite humbled scorned being,more like i have messed up but i love this job and Auckland needs me.Seemed to me more care for the power of the job than the shame he brought to his position and more importantly the shame he brought on his wife,as his daughters have already said, that they will stand by their father,daughters and fathers loyalty what a bond.

    Len should front and stop ducking his Mayrol duties, as he ducks and dives the daily new revelations.

    For sure the daily revelations of his zip ups, are politically driven.But there you are,power corrupts and absolute power is corruptible.

  19. Len Brown has been a fantastic Mayor for Auckland. He has reached across petty party politics and made some real and lasting gains. However, it’s hard to see how he can do this now. He has lost his Mana. What’s best for Auckland is for him to resign and rebuild his life.

    I would support him coming back as a Councillor in a few years time. Having said that, Palino nor Cameron Brewer are good for Auckland. We need a progressive Mayor who’s not afraid to stand up for Auckland and can work across party lines when needed. David Shearer perhaps?

  20. Should he resign? That depends entirely on who, and what, Len Brown believes himself to be.

    I’m guessing here Chris, but he may well believe himself to be someone as entitled to have consenting sex with other adults as everyone else.

    • “I’m guessing here Chris, but he may well believe himself to be someone as entitled to have consenting sex with other adults as everyone else.”

      Do you believe you are entitled to have sex at your work place, during work time, and with someone whose position you are responsible for appointing?

      Yeah right.

  21. I have to say I’m annoyed as heck by my fellow feminists and commentators talking about Chuang being a victim. As a woman I’m insulted by the automatic belief that she’s helpless. Any look at her background, what she has achieved in life and the details of this saga, tell me something else. This is no naive, shrinking violet.

    I think enough has been said, and I don’t think he should resign, but does anyone else have a gross feeling that the “victim” and her buddies have filmed him (or them) together?? *shudder*

    When Slater says he “worked with her for weeks” and there’s more to come, I’m having nightmares of audio or covert filming.

    If they did, what are the legalities of this in NZ?? Nobody needs to see, or hear that.

  22. I think there is a male-female divide on this issue. And if I may generalise wildly a little…

    Women will forgive an adulturous man if it’s about LOVE – they’ll forgive Lange because he married his mistress; but if it’s just to scratch an itch they’ll find that less forgivable – women find it difficult to comprehend why a man would humiliate his wife and put his family through the grinder for something so trivial.

    While men seem to view it as “if any adulturous sex is ok then all adulturous sex is ok” which tends to split them into two camps according to their view on the first clause.

  23. I notice many people today have confused notions about “cheating”.
    The SIMPLE RULE for the confused is that-
    Any person in a Public Position of power and influence should be seen to be of MORALLY STRONG CHARACTER.
    Therefore, if they are caught out “cheating” in their private life alongside their Public Position , then it is fair to assume that their “cheating” might also leak into other areas, deeming them potentially untrustworthy, and of questionable character.
    This is clearly an UNDESIRABLE trait for any person in a position of public responsibility. Period.

  24. My guess, is that Bevan Chung probably believed Len Brown was far more important and interesting than she thought and that confronted with Palino she probably hasn’t taken long to reach the same conclusion. A week before the vote, I told a Palino supporter hustling for votes, in the Britomart Precint that Local Government in Auckland was irrelevant.I wouldn’t vote. Naturally as she was good looking and professionaly presented, I gave her my political take, in a ten minute kerbside exchange. I assume Palino has numerous good looking Eastern North Pacific Seaboard women hustling for him. In the 2010 Local Body I ticked only Banks and Lee, neither with enthusiasm, on the basis Len was worse and Lee at least introduced himself to me and was a public transport and tram enthusiast Other than few left wing operators and mavericks, most of the councillors are idiots who can not scrutinise or dissemble the council planners work.
    My understanding is that most of JFks women were whores paid for by his retainers. Most American and British politicians were equally active in the bedroom, indeed much of the point of going into politics was to engage with multiple partners and get smashed each night and the same was true of the staff and the press core, half of whom were in bed with the politicians the same was true in Australian politics until very recently. Coddington in a column in the Sunday herald claimed women politicians didn’t engage in such activity, speicifically mentioning Julia Gillard and Lianne Dalziel as being abstainers. Both were notorious goers – with extensive hetro careers until quite recently. The US Black op black propoganda on Helen Clark describe , Mike Lee as her last hetrosexual lover, paid off with the job as Transport chair. Certainly I do no that in naval and airforce officer circles honeytrapping her was extensively discussed even as late as 1984-5 and that nobody including me or any taxi driver even knew she had a husband. In fact when on a few occasions i rang her, the irrelevan squeak that initially answered, I assumed was only some irrelevant flatmate.
    So I all for people having as much hetrosexual patners as possible, it will improve their health and intelligence. My impression of Clark, never actually have met her in person or shook her hand ( true in that specific case) she and Micheal Fay( who I have never been in the same room with- even though I wrote most of propoganda that privatised rail) would be just about the only people in this country who share a wide range of similarity of view, with me. LIke Abbot , Clark is all for sex.

  25. Yes they currently have a deputy mayor Penny Hulse in the administration who should step up, it would be appropriate for Len Brown to step down as mayor immediately and go into the background to consult so people can get on with their job of running Auckland properly. No matter how optimistic he is about continuing his role, this scandal is just effecting everything he does as a mayor. It is an embarrassment having such a person as a representative public leader of Auckland, not to mention tarnishing the image of NZ internationally if he stays. I mean what does this say about Auckland and New Zealand as a whole if we were to let such a person like Len Brown be our representative leader. You can just look at the current scandal with Rob Ford Toronto Mayor as a parallel and what he is doing to the image of Canada the longer he stays in office.

  26. as a voter who voted for Len brown twice as my mayor, why don’t you people leave him alone to get on with the job we elected him to do. I bet your bottom dollars that the people whining and bitching about Len brown are the very people that did not vote for him.
    Get a life and leave our mayor to get on with the job and go and find something else to occupy your time.
    It really makes me angry the audacity of some people telling mayor Brown to resign, you carry on Len, i am sure that the majority of Auckland City have moved on and we want you to get on with the job we elected you to do.
    And if you ever decide to run again as mayor in 2016, you can be rest assured that my family will vote for you again.
    All the best to you and your family and have yourselves a very merry christmas and a prosperous 2014.

    Mayor Len Brown 2013 – 2016.

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