Len Brown used his council phone to make nearly 1400 personal calls and texts to Bevan Chuang and failed to declare more than $39,000 in free hotel rooms and upgrades.

Politics blogger Bryce Edwards rounds up reaction to the news that the Prime Minister's press secretary Jason Ede sent photos to WhaleOil.

Wellington City Council has admitted personal details of up to 120,000 people were inadvertently released by its parking contractor.

Like the colourful Mayor Rob Ford of Toronto, Mr Brown, if he so desires, can sit it out until hell freezes over, writes Brian Rudman. That's unless he's chased out of town and thus ceases to remain an elector.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown will not say if he has received free hotel rooms as pressure mounts on him to come clean on overnight stays in the city.

An Auckland councillor has launched a stinging attack on mayor Len Brown, saying the latest twist in the mayoral sex scandal has familiar overtones.

The use of hotel rooms by Mayor Len Brown is believed to be at the centre of a legal wrangle holding up the release of a report into any use of council funds during his affair.

Is it any wonder that poverty tends to be put in the 'too hard' basket, asks politics lecturer Bryce Edwards.

Without action, Auckland faces a shortage of business-zoned land, potentially hampering manufacturing, transport, storage, construction and wholesale trades.

The death of Mandela has given rise to some very important and interesting political debate in NZ, writes Bryce Edwards.

Housing Minister Nick Smith and his Cabinet colleagues have finally decided to lead from the front in dealing with Auckland's housing crisis, writes Brian Rudman. They are to fast-track the purchase of 16.5ha at Hobsonville Pt.

The Auditor-General's damning report into the Kaipara District Council's Mangawhai sewerage scheme is a salutary counterbalance to the positive Ernst and Young report on the public private partnership model for building new infrastructure.

Never before has the word 'corruption' been in so much use in New Zealand politics, writes Bryce Edwards. The legal trial of John Banks is just the latest political scandal that involves allegations of corruption.

Parliament last night passed a law without dissent validating irregularities in the setting and assessing of rates by the Kaipara District Council from the 2006-07 financial year to 2011-12.

A judge has ruled the US city of Detroit is eligible to shed billions in the largest public bankruptcy in the country's history.

A council bylaw making the wearing of lifejackets compulsory on small boats is about the changing face of Auckland, says Watersafe Auckland chief executive Sandra Harrop.

Commissioners eyeing legal action after report into Mangawhai sewerage scheme debacle.

Important debates about the state of the media and public debate bring into question the health of democratic politics in New Zealand, writes Bryce Edwards.

A push to make the wearing of lifejackets compulsory on small boats is another case of "Nanny State" and won't reduce drownings, a boating club says.

Ngati Whatua o Orakei has settled most lease payment negotiations on 20ha of waterfront land in the CBD around Auckland's Quay Park.

Ngati Whatua Orakei of Auckland has become a financial powerhouse and one of the richest iwi in New Zealand.

The basic problem Mayor Brown needs to confront is not how his extra roads and railways and tunnels are to be built, writes Brian Rudman. It's how best to prune his $12 billion shopping list.

Would-be Green Party leadership challenger David Hay - whose application to stand as a candidate for the party has been rejected - says he's not finished yet.

No one south of the Bombay Hills likes to admit the Auckland Council is having an impact on the whole of NZ, but there is now evidence that is hard to refute, says Mai Chen.

Auckland Council is in line for a $100m windfall, after Auckland International Airport this morning announced it would be paying out $454m to its shareholders.

Len Brown wants his council to look more to public private partnership models to create new infrastructure, saying it could relieve the financial burden on ratepayers and taxpayers.

There's about one year to go until the general election, and there are some very important debates and decisions in play at the moment, writes Bryce Edwards.

Politicians of all persuasions are heading to Christchurch East this week ahead of Saturday's byelection to replace former Labour MP Lianne Dalziel.