KEY POINTS:
The most encouraging recent appointment in Auckland local government was Mark Ford's selection last month as chairman of the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (Arta).
As chief executive of Watercare Services since 1994, Mr Ford has quietly and efficiently overseen the $500 million expansion of the Mangere wastewater treatment plant and the $130 million Waikato River water project.
Despite the odd taniwha and environmental protests, he completed both projects within budget and on time.
If you've not heard of him and his accomplishments, it's because he's kept his head down and got the job done.
If ever there was a candidate for presiding over the body charged with curing our public transport woes, it is Mark Ford.
But instead of putting out the welcome mat, conspiracy theorists at Auckland City are doing everything possible to have Mr Ford removed from his job.
They say they're worried he might neglect his duties at Watercare by spending too much time at Arta. But their real worry is straight out of the "a spaceman shot Kennedy" weird book.
Led by senior Citizen and Ratepayers councillor Doug Armstrong, the proposal is that Mr Ford is a creature from the dark side - that is the Auckland Regional Council - and that once he steps foot inside Arta, it will be only a matter of time before he delivers the ownership of Watercare, now jointly owned by the various city councils, into the hands of the evil ARC.
That any such transfer would need an act of Parliament seems to have slipped the conspiracists' mind.
They don't even have the historical nous to appreciate that it was Mr Ford who, in 1998, recommended Watercare's existing council-owned structure to a parliamentary select committee.
Mr Armstrong and his cronies should be hailing Mr Ford as their hero, not the enemy. But when did common sense have much to do with Auckland politics?
Anyway, at last month's meeting of Auckland City's finance and corporate business committee, Mr Armstrong managed to push through a secret resolution, by 4 votes to 3, calling for Mr Ford to be fired from Arta.
This was only a day or two after the Arta appointments panel had voted 10-3 to appoint him.
Yesterday, an intemperate letter under the name of Auckland City chief executive David Rankin but signed by senior bureaucrat Andrew McKenzie arrived at the other Watercare shareholding councils.
It said the Auckland City finance committee "is displeased that the board of a territorial authority owned company has endorsed a senior employee taking a significant role with the regional council, when the latter has publicly expressed its desire for the ownership of that company.
"In addition, the committee believes this appointment will inhibit the shareholding councils from open and frank communications with the board on strategic ownership matters."
It goes on to say that the chief executive position is a full-time role "for which he is fully remunerated" and that "likewise, the role of chair of Arta will require a significant time commitment".
The letter says the city would "be remiss in its obligation to protect this significant asset if it did not make its concerns known".
Mr Rankin's stand-in says he has also written to the Watercare board and shareholder representative group (the councils' advisory group) demanding that the board's approval for Mr Ford's moonlighting be rescinded.
Finance committee chair Vern Walsh opposed the motion, saying that Mr Armstrong was "over-excited".
That this is not really about Mr Ford having enough time for his Watercare work is obvious. Mr Ford already has outside jobs which his board has approved. One of these is as chairman of the Energy Commission, which requires trips to Wellington. He resigned from this job, as he said he would do, on taking up the Arta post. He will also give any extra-curricular remuneration he receives to Watercare, as has been his practice with his stipends from the Energy Commission and the Gambling Commission.
Angry ARC chairman Mike Lee says he's "not surprised some city councillors and bureaucrats are willing to put the politics and rivalry and spite ahead of the best interests of the people of the region".
He says "we have a serious problem to overcome with public transport and we believe Mark Ford is the best person to help solve the problem".
Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey, who supports Mr Ford's appointment, says the letter "is very dispiriting at a time when a unified Auckland is of major importance".
Who could disagree? It's time the white-anters came out of their tunnels with proof of their far-fetched fantasies, or cleared off, and left Mr Ford and Arta to deliver.
