Debating whether the media are “drongos” with Auckland publican Leo Molloy and a raft of other well-known names, Brown sprayed obscenities, and told the crowd that New Zealand had a choice at this year’s general election “between cancer and polio”.
Brown has used a unique approach since taking the mayoral chains and one of the country’s top political offices last year.
He is, however, not the only mayor to be seemingly courting controversy.
Wellington mayor Tory Whanau speaks to Newstalk ZB's Wellington Mornings after accusations she was drunk and behaving badly at a Wellington restaurant on Friday night. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau found herself hitting headlines this month over her conduct while out to dinner.
Staff at the Old Quarter restaurant said she was tipsy when she arrived for dinner and they considered not serving her. They said she became more intoxicated over the course of the evening and decided to stop serving her alcohol.
Staff also claimed she asked them if they knew who she was.
Whanau then left without paying the bill.
In response, Whanau “strenuously denies” claims about drunken behaviour including asking a waiter “Do you know who I am?”
She admitted being tipsy and said accusations about her conduct and being refused service were “simply false”.
The failure to pay the bill, she explained, was a “miscommunication” between friends and she was “mortified” by the mistake. She apologised to the restaurant and her friend paid the bill the next day.
Whanau also said she had not been wearing makeup, which may have contributed to why people thought she was drunk.
“I was a little bit merry after a few wines and a hearty food,” she said.
Whanau said the incident would change her behaviour because she had realised that her position meant she no longer had a “private life”.
Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark. Photo / Otago Daily Times
Invercargill’s mayor found himself defending his actions last month after throwing his weight behind a controversial anti-co-governance speaker touring the country.
Nobby Clark spoke at the meeting and told journalists the group getting closed down at venues across the country was “a sad indictment of democracy in this country”.
“I don’t agree with everything that’s said at the meeting, but I probably agree with a majority of what he says,” Clark said.
“Why I attend is because I like to engage with what the community’s saying or what they’re listening to. And if you’re asking if I support the idea of co-governance, the answer is no, I don’t.”
He also came under fire in March when he was called out for using the “n-word” at a public event. He used the word when speaking at an Art Foundation event where he touched on the issue of freedom of expression in art.
Gore Mayor Ben Bell. Photo: Supplied / Facebook
In Gore, Mayor Ben Bell narrowly survived a vote of no confidence after months of dysfunction where he and long-standing chief executive Stephen Parry no longer talked,
Last year, Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson was the subject of a petition and protest march after he shut down new Māori Ward councillor Pera Paniora when she tried to open the meeting with a karakia or blessing in November.
The mayor originally defended his actions, saying he would not allow karakia in a secular council made up of people of many ethnicities and faiths.
A petition calling for the mayor’s resignation gathered almost 6000 signatures following the decision, and a protest march went ahead in Dargaville.
Jepson then backed down from the ban, announcing future council meetings would be opened with a karakia, statement or reflection as chosen by councillors.
Former Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell is now in Ukraine undertaking humanitarian work, with his aid charity Kiwi K.A.R.E Photo / Supplied
In 2020, Tauranga City Council Mayor Tenby Powell suddenly resigned after the council voted to bring in a Crown manager after ongoing conflict and dysfunction among elected members.
Prior to his resignation, the council had been divided into two factions and a report described a “toxic culture” at the council.
Powell said in hindsight he should have slowed things down, however, he did not think the outcomes would have necessarily have been any different “and I don’t believe the relationships would necessarily have changed”.
He said there had been heavy resistance and “hatred” towards him during the election campaign and some of those who opposed him were now sitting around the council table.
Outgoing Thames-Coromandel District Mayor Sandra Goudie.
Thames-Coromandel Mayor Sandra Goudie also caused controversy when she announced she would not be getting vaccinated against Covid-19 during the vaccine roll-out in 2021.
“I’m not taking the Pfizer vaccine, that I will wait for the Novavax because I have that personal choice and everybody has that personal choice,” she told Newstalk ZB in October of that year.
However, when the alternative vaccine was approved she told the Herald that she would not be getting the Novavax vaccine either.
Because she was unvaccinated and did not have a vaccine pass Goudie was forced to chair at least one council meeting remotely.
The Thames-Coromandel District Council also last week amended its vaccination policy so certain employees could attend critical meetings at the council if they provided a negative RAT test.
Len Brown and Bevan Chuang. Photo / Instagram
Infamously, was the scandal of then Auckland Mayor Len Brown’s affair with Bevan Chuang.
The scandal broke days into his second term after his successful re-election campaign.
At the time, Chuang told the Herald she felt pressured to disclose the affair by a member of his right-wing rival John Palino’s election team. She later regretted going public.
Amy Wiggins is an Auckland-based reporter who covers education. She joined the Herald in 2017 and has worked as a journalist for 12 years.
