Opinion: For one council, the voting isn't over yet

Kirsten Wise, the new Mayor of Napier, broke new ground with her election campaign. Photo / Paul Taylor

Opinion

Wahine toa.

Four out of five of the region's mayors are women, three of whom were re-elected. With all due respect to the opponents of Tracey Collis (Tararua) and Alex Walker (Central Hawke's Bay), there were no challengers likely to unseat either of these mayors, and it was a question of how many votes they would win by.

Craig Little (Wairoa) also found himself in this position.

The trio also pass the test that sadly, many conservative voters use, of "Have they done anything wrong?". If the answer is "no" then it's a tick.

Which brings us to the Hastings mayoralty race and the furore over leaked documents supposed to be secret until after the election, so that councillors didn't have to answer awkward questions about an odd project incorporating a water reservoir and an educational visitor facility.

This happened under Sandra Hazlehurst's leadership. Had she done anything wrong?

Hazlehurst was furious.

Hopefully, less so now she has her job back and can return to office and can start trying to smooth out the debris from the implosion the leak caused.

It will be a messy clean-up: Many of the personalities among the fractious debate over the water leak are still present.

What some perhaps didn't see coming within the Hastings district was the demise of Jacoby Poulain, who lost her Flaxmere position to respected newcomer Peleti Oli, who was backed by Labour during his campaign. Poulain has also lost her seat on the DHB.

Henare O'Keefe and Jacoby Poulain were running mates for Flaxmere, but only O'Keefe made it back onto council.

Poulain's passion was never in doubt but her run in with the DHB may also have counted against her in the HDC race.

Poulain questioned her DHB's role in the manner in which babies, judged to be at risk, were removed from their mothers.

She was met with righteous indignation, not only from people who supported her and railed against the DHB, but from within the DHB.

Chastised for speaking out of turn and not understanding the DHB role in the baby uplift saga, she continued to speak up about what she believed in.

Then she resigned from the DHB, and then announced she was standing again.
It all got a bit head-scratchingly confusing.

In Napier, many thought Kirsten Wise was in with a shot against Chris Tremain. But the decisive manner of Wise's victory surprised many - particularly given she broke an age-old rule about election signs, which are supposed to be brash and bold and easy to read.

Wise's election signs looked like glossy magazine advertisements, all soft focus light and smart phrases - eg Vote Wisely.

Many old-time campaigners and commenters tut-tutted. But it worked. And election signs are only part of the picture.

Richard McGrath won his seat back and also gets the award for weirdest election sign.

Napier councillor Richard McGrath proved that - he got re-elected with a campaign that included at least one sign featuring two kittens instead of his own image.

What was the message - that he was a big pussy?
Who cares, he won his seat back.

Wise performed strongly in public and has a solid track record as a councillor. Leadership though, is a whole different ball game.

Rex Graham wants to be regional council chairman again.

Whether or not Rex Graham regains his position is the big question at the regional council. As chairman, Graham led the political project around the partial sale of Napier Port and its public listing on the stock exchange.

It was a tricky one to get over the line.

Graham has another tricky one looming in retaining his chairmanship role on a council that no longer has the guaranteed majority votes in his favour.

The lobbying will have begun with congratulatory phone calls.
For one council at least, the voting isn't over yet.