There's also the roast busters scandal where he suffered public backlash after seemingly trivialising rape allegations on his radio show.

He's keen on grabbing headlines and I'm not sure that makes you a safe bet.

Sometimes it just makes you a person who makes a lot of noise.

He'll sack the AT board, sell the ports, shake up the council-controlled organisations, he says.

But to be a leader you have to actually show leadership and that goes further than finger-pointing and name-calling, it involves actually coming up with solutions.

It also involves being able to work collaboratively alongside people, and not being overly sensitive to criticism.

I don't think Tamihere has the traits needed, but Goff's been a bit of a damp squib too.

So where to from here?

Well at the risk of sounding like a gender equality preacher – where are the women? 
Not that a woman would necessarily be any better, but it'd be nice to have some variety in the race.

This is 2019, come on.

I grew up with Dame Cath Tizard as Mayor, the first woman to hold the title, she went on to be our first female Governor-General too.

She was inspirational. I remember as a 15-year-old journalism student going to interview her for the school paper.

She was full of passion, drive and enthusiasm, extremely accessible and very encouraging.

Did I love her just because she was a woman and it was novel seeing one in that position? 
I don't know. I just know that I felt inspired by her.

I don't believe in women having jobs for women's sake. I am a strong believer in the best person for the job.

But if it's a choice between John Tamihere and Phil Goff, then no thanks.