KEY POINTS:
Bruce Hucker has been asked to step down as a City Vision candidate or be dumped from the centre-left ticket he led for nearly 10 years.
The Herald understands that Dr Hucker's ties with City Vision will be severed at a campaign meeting tonight but the long-serving councillor will get to stay on as deputy mayor until October's local body elections.
City Vision has been unable to muster a majority of the 20-strong council to dump Dr Hucker as deputy mayor. However, it can dump him as a candidate in the Western Bays ward he has served for 18 years.
A City Vision source said the ball was in Dr Hucker's court. He had been given until tonight to step down as a candidate or be dumped.
Dr Hucker did not return calls yesterday and City Vision chairman Robert Gallagher refused to comment.
Two weeks ago, City Vision-Labour councillors said they no longer had confidence in Dr Hucker as deputy mayor. Mayor Dick Hubbard joined calls for him to resign.
The issue followed a long internal spat within City Vision over Dr Hucker's hard line on water charges. Frustrated colleagues dumped Dr Hucker as City Vision leader on June 13, a position he had held since 1998.
Colleagues agreed Dr Hucker could stay on as deputy mayor until October. When City Vision later released a new water policy and Dr Hucker reiterated his support for higher water bills, most of his colleagues asked him to step down as deputy mayor.
"If City Vision is going to be seen as a credible force at the elections, they clearly have to see that Bruce steps down," the source said.
Meanwhile, a row within the centre-right Citizens & Ratepayers Now ticket in the blue-ribbon Hobson ticket has widened.
After being rejected by the C&R Now executive for one of three council slots, community board member Julie Chambers has accused it of being "dysfunctional and arrogant".
She has written to about 300 people in the ward courting support for a new centre-right ticket.
Mrs Chambers won the backing of local members at two indicative meetings but was rejected for Paul Goldsmith, who stood for National in Maungakiekie at the 2005 elections. The executive endorsed two other candidates, political activist Aaron Bhatnagar and Auckland Rugby Union chairman Ken Baguley.
C&R Now chairman John Slater refused to comment on the selection, except to say, "Different people handle disappointments in different ways".
Mrs Chambers will decide on July 17 whether to stand as an independent.
Under fire
* City Vision councillors dumped Bruce Hucker as their leader because he refused to support their softer policy on water charges.
* They wanted to force him out of the deputy mayor's job too but did not have the numbers.
* Tonight Dr Hucker is expected to lose his position as a City Vision candidate in the October local body elections.
