Phil Goff's flirtation with the Auckland mayoralty continues apace. In a recent radio interview he would have us believe that party politics are undesirable in local body activities. He'd like us to believe that as mayor, he could act above politics in the best interest of Auckland.
The problem with Mr Goff's view is that, while councillors may be "independent", the implicit formal party involvement is essentially bordering on being dishonest.
We also believe it is possible for the explicit involvement of political parties to raise the calibre of the candidates - and therefore the level of debate and the numbers of us actually voting. We have been informed National Party figures are mobilising to form a new "centre-right" party to contest the Auckland council elections. Perhaps they have realised the public has worked out the "code" and Citizens and Ratepayers no longer works.
Perhaps those standing for City Vision, closely identified with Labour, also need to change their name - although you could argue this metamorphis has already begun, with four candidates for the council identified as being "Labour" in 2013. It is a little hard to believe that a member (or even a sympathiser) of either the National or Labour parties would become independent once they were elected - shedding all their politically-ingrained values and beliefs.