Editorial: Cutforth shoes big footsteps to follow

Outgoing mayor Morris Cutforth is exceptionally likeable and will be missed from the local body political scene.

I suspect he doesn't actually enjoy politics very much, and neither will he miss public appearances on those long, tiring days when he probably would much rather have been at home with the family.

But when he looks back and asks "did I do a good job?", he should say to himself, resoundingly, "yes".

Certainly, his backers in the early days consider he did his job immensely well - he stopped incumbent Stan Semenoff from being re-elected.

But for Morris, the job didn't stop there.

He has battled with getting to grips with our bureaucratic system, ill health and the knockers who have nothing better to do than, well, knock.

All the while, Morris brought an integrity to Whangarei's local political scene and championed his town relentlessly for the town's sake.

He is not a person you will find to be disingenuous, or fake, in my experience.

He acted solely in the town's interests.

So what are we looking for in our civic leader?

A vigorous campaign, because looking at the candidates so far, there are at least two in danger of splitting votes. The job will be won on the campaign trail.

Warwick Syers and Stan Semenoff will appeal to similar sorts of voters - if someone like deputy mayor Phil Halse was to also join the race, then there is a real risk of a split vote, and a cakewalk for former councillor Sheryl Mai who is re-entering politics.

Easy to say, of course, without yet being privy to the election campaigns the candidates will run.

Voters are going to want to hear clearly and concisely from all candidates what they will bring to the table.

There is no incumbent - there is a huge incentive for all candidates to run intelligent, informative campaigns with clear policy and vision.

The only surety is that whoever wins the mayoralty in Whangarei will have earned it.