On being apoplectic, angry and Browned off- the Auckland Mayoralty affair

I suppose I should be apoplectic. I suppose I should be angry. I suppose I should be offended. I suppose  I should be outraged. I suppose I should be livid. I suppose I should be incensed. I suppose I should be baying for Len Brown’s blood.

At least that is what the prurient, the righteously outraged of the C&R, National, ACT and associated hangers on would want me to be.

But I’m not, at least not with Len Brown.

I am, though, apoplectic, angry, offended,outraged, incensed and baying for the blood of the holier than thou prurient and salaciously salivating opinionistas and right-wing councillors like Dick Quax and company. For these people are the people who have demonstrated a desire to ignore the manifold infrastructural problems, left behind after generations of inadequate governance by the Citizens & Ratepayers (National Party in drag) Councils,  that besiege Auckland and to concentrate their pusillanimous minds on the minutiae of the Mayor’s sexual dalliance.

I voted for the Mayor to be a responsible governor of the city based on his performance in Manukau and as Mayor of Auckland. I voted for the Mayor on the basis of his vision for the city. I voted for the Mayor on the basis of his record as a Mayor. I did not cast my vote  on the basis of the Mayor’s private life for if I did allow my vote to be persuaded by the private lives of those who would represent us on the Council I would probably be very limited indeed as to who I could cast a vote for.

I simply do not believe that what a person does in their private life should affect the person’s ability, as a Councillor or Mayor, to act in the greater interest of the city. There is a caveat to that. If the Councillor or Mayor was known to be a swindler, a scam artist or involved in self serving business manipulation then there is a legitimate argument to question their involvement in public administration.

However, this caveat does not apply in the Len Brown affair. Len Brown has a clean business record as a Councillor and as a Mayor. What is of concern is the readiness of those who are apoplectic, angry, offended, outraged, livid, incensed and baying for blood to accept and act upon the proposition presented by John Palino’s aide de camp Luige Wewege and the obnoxiously offensive Cameron Slater that blackmail is an acceptable tool in local body and national politics, especially if their candidate or group are to be defeated at the ballot box.

I would and will find it incredibly easy to decide not vote for or side with the group or any of the councillors who have allowed themselves to be persuaded that the revelations and subsequent enquiries into Len Brown’s private life and his affair with Bevan Chaung are the basis for undermining the progress being made to build Auckland’s infra structure and develop its services to the rate payers under Mayor Brown’s leadership.

Len Brown need not resign for to do so would be to give credibility to those who would prefer blackmail over policy, would prefer blackmail over performance and prefer to live in the dark, black underbelly of politics rather than developing and presenting programmes that ensure Auckland becomes and remains a liveable city that one can be proud to live in. Unfortunately, those who would discredit the office of the Mayor, those who would work to destroy Len Brown’s political credibility and record remain as embarrassments to the citizens and ratepayers of the city and region.
Surprise, surprise the councillors proposing to move no confidence in the Mayor have revealed themselves. They are  Dick Quax, Linda Cooper, Cameron Brewer, Sharon Stewart and Denise Krum.Their record speaks for themselves.

PS: Sua William Sio has put the case to support Len well on Facebook.