Monday 10 February 2014

Len’s Days Are Numbered

Guest post by Stephen Berry

As Affordable Auckland Leader and organiser of the Len Brown Stand Down March, I have now begun a full-time two-week campaign to promote the Len Brown Stand Down March – about which I am heartily encouraged by the feedback of residents and ratepayers around Auckland.

Will Ryan and I have been hitting the pavements of Auckland and I attended Sunday’s Big Gay Out. The feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly in favour of Len Brown standing down.

Yesterday I pressed the flesh with attendees of the Big Gay out, experiencing first-hand the groundswell of opposition to Len Brown’s mayoralty. I would certainly not be exaggerating when I tell you that 75% of the people I spoke to are right behind our campaign to unseat Len Brown as Mayor of Auckland. If my experiences are anything to go by, Len’s mandate is well and truly gone. He may have a thick skin, but the voters of Auckland are wielding one hell of a jackhammer.

The reasons Aucklanders are so supportive of Brown standing down are varied, but that doesn’t dilute their enthusiasm for his removal, and for participation in the Len Brown Stand Down March. I’ve said all along that I don’t care what people’s personal political views are, as long as they come along on February 22nd to make them known. Whether left-wing or right-wing, the majority of Aucklanders clearly want Len to hand in his resignation.

Most people I have spoken to really don’t care about his affair, and neither do I. However they do agree that having sex in the workplace is wrong, receiving undeclared gifts is wrong, and annual increases in rates, spending and borrowing are disastrous for Aucklanders.

The Len Brown Stand Down march will be held on Saturday February 22 at 12 noon. It will start at QE2 Square in Britomart, finishing at Airedale Street via Queen Street. The Len Brown Stand Down – Protest March Facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/events/630259507036725/

Stephen Berry is leader of Affordable Auckland

7 comments:

Kingswood said...

If Brown was going to go he'd have packed it in by now. You'd better be prepared to remove him from office at gunpoint - cos that's what it'll take.

Actually, Brown was lucky in that this affair was "broken" by that fat malingering adulterous hypocrite Cameron Slater. The story was jaundiced from the start by the involvement of Mr Slater sr in John Palino's mayoral campaign and the farcical way all of the gory details were ejaculated all over the front of Slater's blog - he said - she said nonsense.

Anonymous said...

If Len had any sense, he would of moved on, the problem he has, (I suspect) is where to?. also, I doubt that he has woken up to the fact that it won't 'just blow over". There is no possibility of Len going back to his previous lifestyle, before it blew up in his face. No one with any sense would trust him.

It has been argued that his private life has nothing to do with his professional life, the problem with that argument, is that it expects us to believe, he has 2 sets of standards & that there are no contradictions or crossovers.

Rather than quit & start a new life somewhere else, I suspect Len will suffer a death by a thousand cuts over the next few years instead. That's his problem.

B Whitehead

Jim Crunch said...

I'm going, thanks for organising, hopefully the summer and apathy don't rule the day

Anonymous said...

Len is safe until one of two things happen. All the contracts are signed for the new infrastructure builds (railway tunnels and all the other boondoggles he promotes) and the ratepayer of Auckland is truely locked down and deep in the hole to pay for it all. Len's backers find another person or several who are able to push the contracts through expeditiously. After either of those his backers care not what becomes of him. But until then he is safe, even if ratepayers say they do not like him much any more.

A lawyer I spoke to told me a lot about how the system operates here. He repeats a saying, "Here is a duck, let's pluck it."

Amit

Chaz said...

Evidence to back up your corruption allegations please, Amit. I suspect such evidence is the same as the evidence you didn't produce linking vaccines with autism.

Anonymous said...

Chaz

Not only are you disingenuous but malevolent as well.

There are no corruption allegations in my post.

Amit

Chaz said...

Yeah you were you were just being a little bit slimey about it, and now you're running away from your claims. That's a tad cowardly.