Brown gets backing from heavyweights

Dame Cath Tizard and Sir Paul Reeves (left) co-sign Len Brown's nomination for the mayoralty yesterday. Photo / Natalie Slade

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Two former Governors-General, Sir Paul Reeves and Dame Cath Tizard, are backing Len Brown for the Super City mayoralty.

The pair yesterday made a public appearance to co-sign Mr Brown's nomination for the mayoralty of the Auckland Council.

Dame Cath, who is also a former Mayor of Auckland City and Labour Party stalwart, said she had known Mr Brown for a long time.

"He has a vision for the wider community that is necessary. He knows wider Auckland and I think he can do the job," she said.

Dame Cath, who as mayor from 1983 to 1990 had to deal with the right-wing Citizens & Ratepayers in the box seat, said being mayor of the Super City was going to be a hard job, particularly in the first term.

"Not only are we going to have a mayor who has a new territory, but he is going to have to take over an as-yet-untried organisation and I think it is going to be a very difficult job. I think Len is the man for the job," Dame Cath said.

Sir Paul said he had observed all the candidates and "yes, at the end of the day he is likely to get my vote".

"Len has a sense of inclusiveness, he also has a sensitivity to local communities, he has demonstrated a track record in South Auckland," he said.

Sir Paul cited the Manukau Mayor's support for Maori seats on the Auckland Council as the opportunity for Maori to participate fully in the life of the new city.

Mr Brown, who already has Labour Party backing in a tussle with Auckland City Mayor and National Party member John Banks, said he was humbled by the backing.

"This is a message to wider Auckland and all our residents that our most pre-eminent are totally into this process ... and they want to get the uniting of Auckland off to a really strong start," he said.

Mr Brown will be hoping for a political lift from the endorsement as polling from both the Brown and Banks camps indicates there is little separating the two heavyweight contenders two months out from the local body elections.

Mr Brown enjoyed an 11-point lead over Mr Banks in a Herald-DigiPoll survey in May, but saw this advantage almost disappear after a chest-beating, face-slapping response in front of Manukau councillors over his credit card expenses.

Following two weeks of intense political and media scrutiny after it was revealed he used his council credit card for personal purchases and defied warnings from senior staff to stick to the rules, his lead shrank to two points in an online survey of readers of the Herald and associated publications last month.

The merciless attack over his credit card expenditure - led by Manukau councillors and C&R candidates for the Auckland Council Dick Quax and Jami-Lee Ross - was a wake-up for Mr Brown and his campaign team.

It underlined how important it will be for Mr Brown to get his vote out, particularly in his stronghold of South Auckland, where only 38.2 per cent of people voted at the 2007 local body elections.

In Otara, where Mr Brown once served on the local community board, the vote was 32.5 per cent.

Dame Cath sounded a cautionary note about antipathy towards the Super City reforms, saying a lot of people had told her they were peeved and not going to vote.

Last week, Labour leader Phil Goff warned the left it was vital to lift the voter turnout because it was the most affluent and conservative sections of the community who predominated with a low turnout.