Chuang's record known to C&R

Bevan Chuang. Photo / Greg Bowker

Bevan Chuang disclosed her criminal conviction to the political ticket that selected her as an election candidate.

The 32-year-old stood for the right-leaning Communities & Residents as a candidate in the Maungawhau subdivision of the Albert-Eden local board, missing out by 211 votes.

She then revealed a two-year affair with re-elected Auckland Mayor Len Brown after coming under pressure from another sexual partner, Luigi Wewege, who was a member of the campaign team of Brown's rival John Palino.

The fallout from the sex scandal includes the disclosure of her conviction for logging into the email of Dr Vanda Vitali, the former head of the Auckland Museum, after she (Ms Chuang) was made redundant in 2008.

Ms Chuang pleaded guilty to unlawfully accessing a computer system and was fined $1000.

Residents in the Albert-Eden Local Board area have emailed the Weekend Herald to vent their frustration that the C&R team selected Ms Chuang as a candidate and queried whether the ticket was aware of her past.

Alastair Bell, a C&R spokesman, said Ms Chuang did declare her conviction on her nomination form.

"We had a discussion with her to clarify what happened and we believed there were some mitigating circumstances. Three years had passed and she was very repentant."

In an affidavit to support her unsuccessful bid to escape a conviction, Ms Chuang said she was under "considerable stress" from a growing workload and was distressed by unsuccessfully applying for three positions at the museum when her role was cut. She said a former museum contractor asked her to provide information about the restructuring, which she supplied after her contract was not renewed.

However, she did not disclose the conviction when applying for a job at the council-run Auckland Art Gallery in 2011 for which Mr Brown provided a reference for. A few months later, Ms Chuang lost the job when gallery management discovered her omission.