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Mike's Editorial: Goff ticks all the boxes

Author
Mike Hosking,
Publish Date
Thu, 19 Mar 2015, 9:53AM
(Photo: Getty Images)
(Photo: Getty Images)

Mike's Editorial: Goff ticks all the boxes

Author
Mike Hosking,
Publish Date
Thu, 19 Mar 2015, 9:53AM

If you're a regular you'll know I am no fan of Len Brown - The mayor of Auckland.

I apologise to the rest of the country for talking about one city's issues, but the reality is Auckland is the engine room of this country and it is vital Auckland does well for the country to do well. So in a way this concerns everyone no matter where you live.

So what we have this week is reportage from the New Zealand Herald that Brown's inside support has collapsed. He's got long-term advisers telling him to flag running for another term.

They have at last seen what the rest of us have seen for the past couple of years - Brown is a mile out of his depth. He's been dishonest with ratepayers, he's been shabby in his personal dealings. In a nutshell, he's an embarrassment.

He got home last time only because his opponent was a part-time no name who despite that, garnered a surprisingly large number of votes, and in doing so indicating there was a pent up frustration with Brown's leadership and even unknown restauranteurs could give the incumbent a run for his money.

But the trouble for the left is that it's one thing to convince your man that you're no longer viable, but you can't simply hand the reins of power over to the centre-right. You need a candidate and a viable one, and that's where Phil Goff, bless his heart, comes in.

Phil Goff is now giving this race deep and serious thought, which is code, I hope, for 'I'm in'.

Goff ticks all your boxes. He's got name recognition, a ready made support base, a lot of experience at national and international level. He's a serious player and therefore a serious candidate.

He leaves Brown looking like the suburban lawyer he is.

Now if the centre-right can come to the party with a John Banks or Cameron Brewer, or a Michael Barnett, what you've got then is a proper race befitting the country's largest and most important city.

That's the critical part of this, not to back any one person but to at last welcome decent candidates to a proper race.

Now I am no fan of Local Government at the best of times. They over reach their mandate, they dabble in farcical ideas that go nowhere. They run a cost plus accounting policy where any mad idea dreamed up is simply paid for by the long suffering ratepayer.

But that's what's turned people off. That's why the Chamber of Commerce in their 17-page submission to the latest budget plan has come to the conclusion that the council is not fit for purpose and in parts out of control.

What some proper professionals bring to this race is decorum, a sense of gravitas, that is so desperately needed.

If Goff doesn't run the left don't have a viable candidate.

So on behalf of all those that want this circus brought to an end...please Phil, give it a crack.

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