It's not just about the mayor!

A great frustration of many local body candidates I have talked with (of all political stripes) is the media obsession with the mayoral contest in Auckland City, to the exclusion of the rest of the campaign.

While the mayoral race is important and should be covered, the fact remains that the mayor has just one vote on Council, and ultimately the direction of Auckland over the next three years will be decided by which group has a majority block on Council. A Dick Hubbard mayoralty with a C&R majority would see a right wing agenda rolled out, and a John Banks mayoralty with a City Vision/Labour majority would see the continuation of a progressive, centre-left agenda.

Yet in spite of this, the media focus is strongly on the Hubbard v. Banks tussle.

Today's Herald poll on the mayoralty race is interesting. It shows John Banks with an 8.5% lead, which is solid, but given the small sample size (400), far from a done deal. While City Vision does not have an endorsed mayoral candidate, any City Vision candidate will tell you that Dick Hubbard, although far from perfect, has delivered far more for Auckland than John Banks with his agressive style and privatising agenda.

Interestingly, the Herald poll also asks questions about Council performance. It shows that 67% of people rated Council performance as good-excellent. This is not a bad result and shows that City Vision's policies of inclusion, investing in infrastructure, public ownership of key assets, and fairness for all citizens are valued by a strong majority of Aucklanders.