Andrew Austin, Editor of Hawke's Bay Today.
Politics is a funny business.
Take for example the process to elect the deputy mayor of Hastings. Before the election, word was that Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule was keen on new contender Damon Harvey replacing Cynthia Bowers as his deputy.
However, it seemingly ruffled a few feathers, with long-time Yule
supporter Sandra Hazlehurst feeling it was her turn. Her hand was strengthened when she received the most votes in the Hastings-Havelock North ward. Mr Yule then took the interesting step of leaving it up to the council to decide who would be deputy. This was in contrast to Wairoa, Napier, Central Hawke's Bay and Tararua where the mayors appointed their deputies.
The result was that four other councillors - Malcolm Dixon, Adrienne Pierce, Rod Heaps and Henare O'Keeffe - all ended up putting their hats in the ring as well. As far as the public know from the first council meeting on Wednesday, Ms Hazlehurst was unanimously elected as deputy mayor after she was nominated by Mr Dixon.
However, voters were not told that a private voting session had been held earlier. By this stage both Mr Harvey and Mr Heaps had pulled out and after two rounds of voting (by way of secret ballot) it was a straight choice between Ms Hazelhurst and Mr Dixon. Ms Hazlehurst narrowly won the day on the back of what, I am led to believe, was a very good speech.
