KEY POINTS:
Ewen Gilmour earns belly laughs up and down the country in his stage guise as the leather-clad, long-haired, V8-loving bogan out of West Auckland.
For the past three years, the stand-up comic has also come under the spotlight as an elected member of the Waitakere City Council.
Anyone
who has come to a council chamber debate in Henderson expecting to be entertained by the wit of the Westie cultural ambassador has been disappointed.
Rather than holding the floor, he has looked serious and been an attentive audience for officials presenting jargon-filled technical reports and other speakers making their points. This week, Gilmour announced his resignation, effective immediately, for "personal and business reasons".
The news was no surprise to his 13 fellow councillors and mentor and Mayor Bob Harvey. They knew he felt it his duty to spend more time with his wife, Cathy, who had surgery for a brain tumour last year. At the same time, he was juggling his showbusiness commitments and the job of representing the needs and concerns of 200,000 residents.
"I was not going to stand for the next term and I have a couple of opportunities in my line that for financial reasons I cannot turn down," Gilmour said yesterday. "I really enjoyed my time on council and I got a taste for political arguments."
Gilmour said he was working class and went on the council to work for the ordinary members of the community.
"I thought you could ... make a difference within minutes but it takes a long time to get things done."
Gilmour had the advantage of 12 years' experience as a comedian-actor to carry out the public side of civic duties. Last week he easily stepped in at short notice to be MC at Henderson Primary School's art auction when Pio Terei could not make it. Gilmour, in his scuffed leathers revving his Triumph motorbike, was a star turn in Henderson's grandest street parade.
An approachable celebrity, he was also a hit with the city's youth. One time he was launching a city expo which aimed to show young people the number of agencies which could help. In typical straight-talking Gilmour style, he said: "The kids are out there frying their brains. They don't realise that drugs these days are that much stronger. And those parents who are doing drugs need to keep their drug habits away from their children."
He tells them he has had 50 jobs ... "I didn't get fired, I just got bored."
He was able to turn his life around. "I like to inspire youth. I say, 'Don't give up. I was 32 when I started doing comedy. There's always a chance to turn your life around and opportunities around the corner'."
He has listened too and taken some concerns to the council table with success. Soon after his election, an 11-year-old boy was killed trying to run across the motorway from Massey West housing area to the Westgate shops. Gilmour found that the alternative crossing for the kids was a drainpipe. "I didn't want to see more deaths and now there is going to be improved access."
Gilmour on
* Council meetings: "There were meetings I just knew were going to be boring and I'm sure the monotone voice was used to get something moved. But no, I never dozed off and I never texted. But I did go outside for a cigarette when it was going on and on."
* Eden Park's makeover for the 2011 Rugby World Cup: "I'm annoyed that taxpayers and ratepayers could pay $350 million for the one game when it's full. Why don't they just hold the final in some of Australia's empty stadiums?"
* Council spending: "City councils are spending millions they haven't got and running up debts. We can only get so much money out of ratepayers."
