Len Brown has been elected twice as Auckland’s mayor. He beat the ineffectual John Banks in the first supercity election and nobody of any note in the second.
Brown has admitted to a two year affair with a woman and his cover was blown soon after his win. The news was broken on the Whale Oil Blog. Apparently the story was known before the election but a strategic decision was taken to not release until after the votes had been counted. A decision that must have been made on the basis that the right’s candidate John Palino just might succeed in an upset.
He didn’t, so the idea now is to release the information, manufacture a scandal and force Brown to resign.
I think this whole matter stinks. Sure, Brown is a rat. Sure his ex-girlfriend isn’t much better. Anyone who is a willing partner to adultery with a married man and then can then say “as a practising Catholic the hypocrisy of Brown’s conduct was extraordinary” with a straight face is some kind of strange person. Leaving aside the other titillating detail obviously included just to add to Brown’s discomfort and help satisfy the women’s desire for revenge.
I am disappointed that this is apparently the only means the right have to defeat Len Brown. I don’t think it is a particularly honourable process. By hiding the news until it was politically convenient to release it, the right make themselves a party to the deceit.
More important, this assault on Brown as an adulterer is an admission by the right that they cannot defeat Brown the way he should be defeated- on ideological grounds. I feel it reinforces my old argument that the right are too confused about what they stand for, and too inarticulate to explain it anyway. They can only ever compete for votes on leftist terms.
If they would only believe in a set of principles. I mean really believe in them, as conviction politicians should, then that conviction should enable them to articulate those policies but more importantly, also enable them to sell them to an electorate I believe is anxious for something fresh and honest. They simply need to go out and persuade voters that there is a better way. A victory without this persuasion is hollow.
If Brown resigns then it is my opinion that he has not been honestly defeated, and it is therefore no real victory for the right. More an admission of defeat, in that if the only way they can gain power is by subterfuge rather than convincing voters to support them, then they lack the ideas and persuasive powers to sell those ideas. In other words, they’re inadequate and weak where they should be committed and strong.
If I ever supported such politicians, my support would be wasted.
TrueblueNZ 
Well put but there is a flip side in that if someone competent gets in under even these circumstances they can shift perceptions and bring about a long term change. Abbot may do that in Oz although his winning was more clear cut of course. I think using a shonky oppourtunity for good is better than having no oppourtunity at all.
LikeLike
As despicable is Len Brown is, Slater can hardly talk. His affair with that spiritual and emotional trainwreck Debbie Brown in 2010 is testament to that. It has been said that daddy Slater had to step in and offer Mrs Whaleoil a financial incentive to get her to stay on and avoid the family further embarrasment.
As for the rest, Dalziel – a proven liar elected as Mayor, Benson-Pope a bully and disgusting pervert elected to council. Even a Labour candidate who endeavours to groom 15yo boy for sex still manages to acquire nearly 4000 votes.
No morals, you see.
LikeLike
The good news in this story is that there is a glimmer of hope that we may be rid of Brown as Mayor.
Our local elections are meaningless with such a low turnout. Palino never had a hope of winning as the anti-Brown vote, the few who actually got off their butts, was split up by so many candidates standing.
LikeLike
I’ll go out on as limb here and say Brown will stay on. The political and moral culture of NZ is so corrupt that Brown’s actions are generally seen as pretty benign. The outrage is seen as politically motivated and therefore not genuine. Brown, a dirty cheating little commie swine, will beat NZ’s right again.
LikeLike
While you are right, Redbaiter, about winning on principle being the right way to win, politics is dirty and being an outsider who is new to the game like Palino, having mud like this scandal is fair game. This social mud brings down Brown a notch or two no different than his poor fiscal management has done. It’s all about the character of the man.
I think the Palino camp didn’t have this ammunition earlier enough in the game and that’s why they are using it now. If they had known about it earlier I am pretty sure they would have used it, and Brown would most likely have lost because of his large Pacific Islander base.
For me, personally, taking this Brown guy down any which way is good news to me.
However, I very much doubt this will rattle Brown; it’s water off a duck’s back to him—he simply doesn’t have any principles. The only people who can bring him down are progressives in the media, and they aren’t going to do that—I hope I’m wrong.
LikeLike
Y’know Terry, if Brown were to resign and then stand again, I would not be the least surprised to see him win again. Dirtbag Clinton is still a greatly revered progressive icon.
LikeLike
The reason why the story wasn’t sprung before the election was due to the affidavit from Ms Chuang not having been sworn.
LikeLike
Yeah, you are probably right; progressives will forget this in less than a week. The only people who won’t forget so quickly are the Pacific Islanders. Brown could go down because of them; the Conservatives got 22.5% of the vote in Mangere which is a very left-wing area which just goes to show how conservative Pacific Islanders are and this scandal may turn more the Conservative way–just hoping.
LikeLike
Really? It takes that long to swear an affidavit? Yeah right.
LikeLike
Banks was yesterday’s man after he lost the Auckland mayoralty to Dick Hubbard in 2004, but he’s addicted to the power and prestige of high level government – and as his vote for big government marriage redefinition attests, he will do anything to acquire it.
LikeLike