A financially troubled council body has splashed out about $41,500 on a party for 1700 staff and family at the Cloud.

When the dust settles on his sex scandal, Auckland Mayor Len Brown has another delicate task ahead - setting a lower salary for the new boss of the Super City.

Auckland councillors and local board members have been given leather satchels to carry their council documents, at a cost of $23,304.

Len Brown says the career of a mayor ebbs and flows, and the wave of negative publicity the swamped him since news of his affair broke will pass.

Len Brown spoke of the love and support of his wife Shan Inglis after being sworn in as Mayor of Auckland last night, but there was little connection between the pair.

Election Services already uses online voting with postal voting for some of the energy trusts and has found no noticeable increase in turnout, writes Brian Rudman.

Len Brown has made his first post-affair public appearance today, and says it will take a while to "reacclimatise'' himself in the eyes of Aucklanders.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown has pulled out of his first, post-affair public engagement at Three Kings Primary School this morning.

An Auckland Council inquiry into mayor Len Brown's extra-marital spending is being widened to look at a reference the mayor provided for his ex-mistress.

Bevan Chuang disclosed her criminal conviction to the political ticket that selected her as an election candidate.

The family of the woman behind the Len Brown sex scandal is asking to be left alone.

Half of Aucklanders think Len Brown should continue as mayor after revelations of a two-year extra-marital affair with Bevan Chuang, according to a Herald DigiPoll

The woman alleged to have had an affair with Auckland mayor Len Brown is Bevan Chuang.

The legislation setting up the Super City corporatised 75 per cent of Auckland's substantial assets with the unspoken aim of selling them, writes Pam Corkery.

Re-elected Auckland Mayor Len Brown is promising to tighten the belt in his second term, starting with a pay cut for the new chief executive.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown is promising more of the same in his second term leading the SuperCity.

Len Brown has won a second term as Mayor of the Super City but got a bloodied nose in the process, writes Bernard Orsman.

Super City mayor Len Brown will be staying for another three years, and the returning Mayor says he's "humbled".

I don't blame Mayor Len Brown for the nationwide apathy about local-body elections. But he can cop a fair chunk of the responsibility in Auckland, writes Pam Corkery.

The first batch of 6000 new homes for fast-track residential development in Auckland has got a lukewarm response from property experts.

Higher minimum wages are also sometimes called for here and overseas as a way to introduce a "living wage", writes Kim Campbell.

Former Labour Cabinet minister John Tamihere admits he is testing the water for a full-scale political comeback by standing for election to two local government positions.

Len Brown has not built a single metre of bus lane in his first term as mayor of the Super City.

The political make-up of the Auckland Council looks set to hinge on the outcome of six wards, where the right is out to put the brakes on Len Brown's direction.

Contender Rob Thomas admits claiming incorrectly in an official candidates' booklet that he worked 14 years for the cities of Wellington and Westminster.

Editorial: Local democracy has a delicate life at more risk of suffering from neglect than abuse. When most of its eligible voters ignore its debates and cast an unthinking vote.

Members of the Northern Action Group reckon they would do better out of the SuperCity.

It is a bit of a chore to mow the berm. I live down a right of way and have to push the machine up there for a wedge of grass between my drive and the next. Too often I forget.