The rivalry between Auckland City's two ladies of the right, Mayor Christine Fletcher and councillor Victoria Carter, has been something to behold since they were both elected in October 1998.
Mrs Fletcher, you will recall, decided the Auckland mayoralty was the job for her after falling out with her National Party chums.
Mrs Carter was a small-time public relations operator who tossed her hat into the same ring. For a first-time political candidate, it was a cheeky move. Whether the bid was serious, who knows?
But it did attract her much more publicity than she would have got as just another council candidate. Name recognition in place, she pulled out of the mayoral race and cruised in as a councillor instead.
Full of self-confidence, she had declared publicly that her supporters for the mayoralty would switch their votes to Mrs Fletcher. Privately she hinted that a deal had been done; that her rival would stand down after one term and endorse her for the mayoralty.
The ambition of one so green should have rung the political alarm bells when old pros like Mrs Fletcher, Deputy Mayor Bruce Hucker and Citrat leader Doug Astley sat down after the election to ration out key committee chairmanships.
But they ignored the signs and appointed their potential rival to head City Attractions, the highest-
profile job in their gift. Even worse for them, it is a do-good committee that spends much of its time giving large dollops of money to future voters and their favourite causes.
Clever publicist that she is, Mrs Carter has revelled in this Santa Claus role.
Which brings us to the matter of the proposed Auckland Festival. In February, Mrs Carter persuaded the council to back her plans for a biennial festival.
The city voted to pay $350,000 for the initial "taster" festival in February-March 2001 and agreed to future annual grants of $550,000 to support subsequent festivals. By then, $73,000 had been spent on preliminaries such as a feasibility study by consultant Briony Ellis.
Since then the pace has been snail-like. A festival establishment group was set up chaired by Mrs Carter. Mrs Fletcher was on it along with councillor Kay McKelvie, consultant Hamish Keith and various sector representatives. This committee met first in May and subsequently appointed Margi Mellsop, founding director of the New Zealand International Laugh Festival, as interim project manager.
The establishment group then set about auditioning for trustees to take over from them. It also, we are told, "further developed the vision of an Auckland arts festival."
Their conclusion: "The Auckland Festival is a premium arts and cultural event that celebrates the distinct and unique characteristics of the Auckland region, particularly its Pacific style. It aims to exhilarate and enthral..."
Mrs Carter is keen that this exhilarating and enthralling event begin next February. Someone more jaundiced than myself might suggest that an election-year festival over which she queened might do her no harm at the polls.
It appears that Mrs Fletcher has had similar nightmares about her rival and has moved swiftly to neutralise any such advantage. That is if the just-announced composition of the festival's unpaid board of trustees is anything to go on.
Sitting alongside Mrs Carter on the eight-strong board will be two Fletcher allies: her husband, Angus, and PR consultant Angela Griffen, a key adviser in her mayoral campaign. Mrs Fletcher nominated her manufacturer-husband for the job. (Other members are tourist industry leader Chris Alpe, hotelier Lex Henry, Ngati Whatua leader Sir Hugh Kawharu, Samoan representative Professor Albert Wendt and arts benefactor Dayle Mace.)
With the two camps now secure on the board, both will be able to claim credit if the festival comes off. Similarly, if it fails, both will have to carry the can.
Which is it to be? Well I'm a pessimist if they press on with a 2001 date. Margi Mellsop is doing her best, but just five months out, not a penny of sponsorship money is in place, not an act has been booked. The board of trustees has not even met. We risk an amateur hour.
Better, surely, to delay until the America's Cup summer of 2003 and get it right.
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