KEY POINTS:
The manoeuvering for control of Auckland region is hotting up. The local body elections haven't officially started yet, but all the main players have been frantically jostling for line position before the elections are formally called next month.
To the relief of Waitakere's Mayor Bob Harvey, the charismatic John Tamihere has decided not to challenge him for his job. That should mean that Harvey will cruise to another term out west.
Christine Rankin had earlier fancied her chances against Dick Hubbard in Auckland but has withdrawn from that fight to go up against incumbent George Wood for the North Shore mayoralty. But Wood is everyone's runaway favourite to pull in another mayoral term. The locals seem to like the solid and dependable style of their two-term mayor.
I assume Rankin thinks that by getting herself a good vote this time she will set herself up as the front runner next time, as Wood has said this will be his last election.
In Manukau's last election, Len Brown came within 500 votes of taking out long-term incumbent Barry Curtis. This time, though, Brown should nail it. Strong rumours are that Curtis will withdraw from the mayoral battlefield and run for the regional council.
But, of course, the most interesting politics are in the biggest city, where political novice Hubbard came from nowhere last time and routed John Banks. The polarising style of Banks that works well on talkback radio and in national politics was just a bit too much to stomach at local level for most Aucklanders. Banks' defeat was very unfortunate for the conservative Citizens and Ratepayers faction as well. They have run Auckland City Council uninterrupted since the 1930s. Banks pulled them down with him and they barely survived. Their left-leaning opponents, the City Vision and Labour tickets led by Bruce Hucker swept to power.
The right wing had spent decades in power stuffing up things and their legacy finally caught up with them. Why hasn't Auckland got a train system? Because the roading and car industries got their right-wing allies on council to kill it dead. Why does poo float in our harbours whenever it rains? Because right-wing councillors bought votes by promising to lower rates, and therefore couldn't afford to fix the sewerage system. Why have we got slum high-rise apartments? Because our right-wing politicians were in the pockets of property speculators and slum landlords. The list goes on and on. On top of all that, consecutive right-wing councils sold many of our city assets on the cheap to cover the fact that the property rates weren't enough to cover the costs of running the city.
Three years ago, Auckland citizens gave the right the flick and, for the first time since the Depression, gave the left a working majority. When the victorious centre-left councillors had their first caucus, Mike Lee, the newly elected chairman of the Auckland Regional Council, cautioned them about how they must be vigilant about the ratepayers' money and their personal conduct. He warned them that while it was unfair, there was a different public yardstick when measuring the conduct of left-wing politicians as opposed to their right-wing opponents.
It obviously fell on deaf ears. It wasn't long before senior councilors were travelling the world on council business. Penny Sefuiva and Vern Walsh were lambasted. I understand these attacks were pivotal in their decision not to seek another term.
The fight over Hucker's plan to raise water rates about 10 per cent each year over the next decade has deeply split the centre-left councillors. The selection of Hucker as a candidate for City Vision for the new council elections one week and then dumping him as leader of their team a week later wasn't smart political management. Saying this decision would allow him to concentrate on his deputy mayor's duties was, of course, just hackneyed spin that we come to expect in politics.
The whole thing deteriorated into farce when, within a week, his centre-left caucus members signed a letter calling for his sacking as deputy mayor. Hubbard putting his name on this letter just reminded us of the bickering between the mayor and his deputy in the first few months of the term. As Hubbard supports Hucker's position on water rates, we can only assume this latest initiative is driven more by personal animosity than policy.
Hucker's replacement Richard Northey refusing to give a reason on National Radio why Hucker was dumped was just bizarre. How they are going to get out of this fine mess I don't know. I know a bit about internal battles about leadership a few months before an election and it won't help any of them get re-elected.
Fortunately for other left-leaning candidates in the region, City Vision is only based in Auckland city. Even then, it's only confined to three of the eight wards. But, with these wards holding six of their council majority, they are in trouble if they don't resolve things quick.
The innocents are going to be left-leaning incumbents who ran as City Vision candidates for the hospital board and the regional council. At the very least, these incumbents had better make sure they aren't running with City Vision next to their names. If the actions of Hubbard, Hucker and the City Vision and Labour councillors are going to make it more difficult for them to get re-elected, I don't see why other left-leaning incumbents should take the rap too.
