Rudman's city: Banks, Hay win dogfight over deputy mayoralty

By BRIAN RUDMAN

The right-wing Citrats are poised to regain control of Auckland City, thanks to independents Victoria Carter, who couldn't help herself, and Bill Christian, who went for the main chance.

As a result, the great survivor, David Hay, seems certain on Friday to become deputy to his fellow Christian, Mayor John Banks. The powerful committee chairs will be shared among the nine Citrats on the 20-strong council and, if Mr Hay can deliver on his weekend promise, Bill Christian. Of which more later.

Ten days ago, right-wing Mr Banks was swept into office alongside a council made up of nine Citizens and Ratepayers Now members, four independents, four from the Labour-Alliance group, City Vision, and two from Labour. Since then, the battle has been on for the deputy mayoralty.

The job carries not just prestige and your own office. It also gives you, like the mayor, a vote on all the council committees. With such a closely divided council, this vote could be powerful.

All last week the plotting and counting went on. The City Vision leader and retiring deputy mayor, Dr Bruce Hucker, dreamed that with all the non-Citrat councillors supporting his bid he would have 10 votes. That left the Citrats' candidate with nine votes plus that of the mayor. In other words, a draw was in the offing.

With no mayoral casting vote in this process, it looked like the deputy mayoralty would be decided by the toss of a coin.

But this is Auckland local body politics, so nothing is quite that simple. For starters, with the ever-ambitious Ms Carter in the wings, it was never going to be a two-horse race.

On Friday, the Citrat caucus gathered to select its candidate. This was to be the first surprise of an eventful weekend.

Citrat chairman John Collinge and his band of Act and National Party worthies who cobbled together the reborn Citrat team had been rooting behind the scenes for newcomer Greg McKeown, a successful businessman who had made his fortune developing Axon Computertime.

The last person they wanted was wily, experienced Mr Hay. They didn't like the way he pushed his moral beliefs. They also saw him as a Muldoonist big-spender while they had campaigned on freezing the rates.

Also in the race was newcomer Scott Milne, a Remuera pharmacist and descendant of the Auckland haberdashery empire. Mr Milne had beaten Mr Hay to be Citrat campaign team leader and expected to inherit the deputy's job. It was not to be.

By Friday's secret conclave, Mr Milne realised he didn't have the numbers and threw his weight behind his fellow Christian (yes, they seem to be everywhere) Mr Hay, with Roskillites Noelene Raffills and Graeme Mulholland and, to my surprise, veteran planning chairwoman - and ever hopeful of continuing so - Juliet Yates.

Mr McKeown was backed by three fellow tenderfoots, William Cairns, Doug Armstrong and Mark Donnelly.

His selection under his belt, Mr Hay immediately went to work to lure one of the opposition into his camp. At 9 o'clock on Saturday morning, he and Mr Banks summoned veteran councillor, independent Bill Christian, to a meeting in Mr Banks' Princes Wharf office. They asked him to back Mr Hay. He said he couldn't; he had already plighted his troth to Dr Hucker and, as a man of his word, couldn't change his mind.

Things deteriorated fast after that and an ugly slanging match ensued, in which Mr Christian was told that his political future, particularly his coveted chairmanship of the parks and recreation committee, was over unless he came to the party.

Initially, the encounter drove Mr Christian more firmly behind Dr Hucker. But soon after arriving home, Ms Carter rang. Rejected as a candidate by the Citrat team, she had been rebuffed by Mr Banks earlier in the week when she suggested herself as a possible deputy. Now she told Mr Christian she was standing and had three Citrats and three City Vision councillors backing her.

It was fantasy stuff but Mr Christian took to heart her claim that she would never back Mr Hay or Dr Hucker. If Ms Carter was to carry out this threat, it was the end of Dr Hucker's chances, and with them Mr Christian's hope of retaining his coveted chair. By Monday it was every man for himself and Mr Christian was on the phone to Mr Banks and Mr Hay, apologising for all the shouting on Saturday.

He pledged his support for Mr Hay and asked, in turn, for their support in his bid for a chair. They gave it. The last, and hardest call, he left until late Monday night. Dr Hucker was not amused.

Of course the vote doesn't take place until Friday morning. So there is still time for Mr Christian to change his mind again and for the Citrats to split asunder. But somehow I suspect it's all over bar the shouting. For the next three years, Mr Banks and his rightist allies have the city well and truly tied up.