The Opinionated Diner

Local body politics don't usually interest me to any great degree so I guess you could surmise that John Banks, the incumbent mayor of our aspiring city, has succceeded in a way in re-invigorating the local political process. Certainly he's done more and created more controversy than the previous few Auckland mayors (since the sixties), and for that I have begrudging respect. He's also managed to extract quite a bit of cash out of central government for roading and infrastructure. That's all well and good, but I think any mayor of New Zealand's largest city could have achieved the same just by asking....the problem he looks good simply by default. The previous office holders over the past decades were either incompentant or self serving (although Banks has re-defined self serving egotism). However my real problem with Banks is simply that he's an obnoxious offensive little loud mouth jerk who talks a lot but does little. Anyone who saw Banks on Kim Hill's show on TV One last night, with Banks and his opponent, Dick Hubbard, or heard Banks on talkback on George FM last week knows what I mean. He talks people down, stretches the truth, ignores or denies uncomfortable facts, is blatantly rude to anyone to questions him. We don't need him. Hubbard provided a viable and refreshing alternative and I can see little choice in the Auckland mayoralty race. Banks is a relic of the ugly side of NZ politics past and we really don't need to go back there. And he was a lousy minister of police too