Ex-lover calls on Mayor to step down

The woman who revealed a long-running affair with Auckland Mayor Len Brown is an aspiring right-wing politician who is thought to have been at the campaign launch of Mr Brown's main rival.

But she says she voted for Brown and that her motivation to go public was not politically motivated.

The

Herald

yesterday revealed Bevan Chuang is the woman at the centre of the sex scandal who unsuccessfully stood as a candidate in the Auckland local body elections as a member of the Communities and Residents group, aligned with the National Party.

"She believed Brown had only one option left - and that was to resign. He could [no] longer command any respect among those who'd previously issued him with a mandate to lead Auckland. She said as a practising Catholic the hypocrisy of Brown's conduct was extraordinary."

Before Ms Chuang's identity was revealed, Auckland mayoral candidate John Palino said he had no knowledge of the affair or the woman involved. He issued a statement in which he declined to comment and did not return phone calls.

A member of his campaign said he believed Ms Chuang was at the campaign launch.

Ms Chuang told Mr Slater that the allegations against Brown were not politically motivated and that she, and members of her family, voted at this election for Mr Brown.

"If I wanted to bring him down, do you think I'd vote for him? Unlikely. And wouldn't I have gone public with all this when potentially it could have affected the election result?"

Mr Brown, who is married with three children, was yesterday forced to admit the affair after Mr Slater published Ms Chuang's anonymous version of the relationship which included details of sexual liaisons in his office and the Town Hall.

Mr Slater's father, John Slater - a former National Party president and president of the Citizens and Ratepayers' council ticket - acted as Mr Palino's campaign manager in the election. John Slater said last night he had no knowledge of the affair or the identity of the woman and had no involvement with the story on his son's website.

According to the website, on one occasion, Mr Brown and Ms Chuang were caught by a security guard having sex. "Len was distressed, saying 'This is it, this is it, how are we going to get out of this?" Ms Chuang said, according to the affidavit on the blogsite. "We laid low waiting for [the security guard] to come out with all the detail but he never did."

She said the pair first met in May 2011 at a council function and Ms Chuang told the right-wing blogsite that she initially found him "pleasant and courteous". In the following weeks, he would text or call her frequently and compliment her about her appearance, before eventually making physical advances and the relationship turned sexual.

Ms Chuang said she did not find Mr Brown attractive but found his power and influence "intoxicating" and compared herself to Monica Lewinsky, Bill Clinton's mistress.

She later ended the affair after starting a new relationship.

Born in Hong Kong, she is a member of the Ethnic Peoples Advisory Panel to the Auckland Council and was an unsuccessful candidate in the Maungawhau subdivision of the Albert-Eden local board in the recent election, missing out by 211 votes.

She made headlines after telling the Herald she was desperate to have a "dragon baby" in 2012 and was willing to seek artificial insemination to have a baby in the Year of the Dragon.

In November 2011, she commented on a Herald column about platonic relationships: "It only gets more complicated when a man and a woman are sharing friendship and sexual attraction, but not in a romantic relationship! I am still not quite sure how this is working for me, mentally, and just enjoying the ride."

Key allegations

* Bevan Chuang says the pair first met at an Auckland Council function in May 2011 and she found Len Brown to be "pleasant and courteous".
* He started to send her frequent text messages and called her, complimenting her on her appearance.
* She was not attracted to him but was flattered by the attention.
* The relationship first became physical when he kissed her in his office.
* They were once caught having sex in the Ngati Whatua room in the Town Hall by a security guard. The Mayor feared their affair would be made public.
* The pair would also have sex on the couch in his office.
* "At least if I was a hooker I would have got something out of this, but I got nothing. I was starting to feel like Monica Lewinsky," she told the Whale Oil blog site.
* Brown told her he was turned on by the sound of her voice.
* He bought her black lingerie for her 30th birthday.
* She tried to end the relationship at the Esquires coffee house in Lorne St but the affair continued.
* The pair met for sex at the Langham, the Hilton and the Sky City hotels in Auckland.
* She started another relationship in October last year, but when that ended in February 2013, she had sex again with Brown in July.
* He then cut contact and did not reply to her text messages.

Source: Whale Oil