From the NZ Herald, Why I should be the mayor:
Len Brown:
Every day I wake up and, for one thing, I’m thankful I do wake up. But secondly, I have the greatest job in the world and it’s a job that enables me to make a difference, to really change people’s lives, to deliver change, new direction and positive growth in the community. I can sort of perform little miracles around our place. When the change occurred I wondered whether I could shift this position to the community that has raised me since I was 7. I have very quickly found that passion. It has been an extraordinary journey thus far and the opportunity to deliver something by the way of step change and extraordinary redirection of Auckland and taking up of its potential, a marrying of our business dynamic with our community aroha and love is something I believe is an extraordinary opportunity, and I would like to take that opportunity.
John Banks:
At age 18, I decided that I would balance the family ledger by joining the police. The Auckland police told me in no uncertain terms that I was a lowlife son of two shitbags and there was no place for me in the New Zealand police. Twenty-five years later, I became the Minister of Police. I’m doing this to balance the family ledger.
So it’s “boundless enthusiasm for community miracles” squaring off against “individual crusade for redemption, nothing to do with Auckland” in the Supercity mayoral battle. If that’s all there was to it, Banksie would be a lost cause.
L
Obivously they agreed that it was Banks’ turn to take a turn for the bizarre.
Lew, what’s your call on this line ‘I can sort of perform little miracles around the place’. Is it just a turn of phrase or, combined with his previous ‘only jesus had it tougher’ line does it show religion, in some form, entering the race?
Marty, yeah a clear appeal to religion, I’d say made on the basis of knowing his electorate. Qualified by “little” in a way that his Jesus comments weren’t, but it’s there all the same.
Essentially Brown is running an emotive, symbolic, inspirational campaign rather than one based in rational nuts-and-bolts policy. Banks is also doing that to an extent, but much more conservatively. As I say (and as I’ve demonstrated before by getting my facts wrong) I don’t know enough about the state of Auckland local body politics to make any reasonable predictions, but just on the basis of this one observation I’d say Brown’s strategy is clearly the stronger.
L
Lew – Brown has imploded. There is no chance he is going to be mayor. voters have always been ambivalent about Banks but will prefer him.
Brown strategy may be stronger but the product is completely unbalanced.
Phil, you keep saying so, but I’ve not seen any nonpartisan evidence to suggest this is the case, and all the polling I’ve seen shows Brown leading in a two-horse race. So while I’ll take your view under advisement, it’s not enough on its own.
I agree there’s a danger his red-hot passion will turn over into self-immolation, but I don’t see as it’s happened yet.
L
Lew – agreed it is only my assessment. I think it will be the end of ACT if the outcome of Supercity is to inflict Brown on all of Auckland. The good burghers of Epsom prefer someone with a little more decorum
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