Last word on voting comes in the mail

By BERNARD ORSMAN

If you are bamboozled about next month's local body elections, help is in the mail.

Arriving soon in a letter box near you will be a booklet containing photographs of the candidates and profiles saying why you should trust them with your vote.

The October 13 elections are the first time candidates have been given carte blanche to sell themselves - in 150 words or less - in a booklet accompanying the postal voting papers, which are being sent to all registered voters from today.

The extra information is aimed at improving the dismal turnout at council elections, ranging from about 50 per cent in cities to 60 per cent in rural areas.

Retiring Queenstown Mayor Warren Cooper glumly accepts the low interest in council elections.

"There is not much call for excitement and romance in what we do," he says.

Auckland City mayoral candidate and Alliance president Matt McCarten puts it another way.

"Auckland local politics are dull. The councils dumb down the life of Auckland."

That is why Mr McCarten is clowning around with humorous advertisements replacing the faces of wartime leaders and the Prince and Princess of Wales with mugshots of his rivals.

The elections are different this year. District health boards are back after 12 years, the internet is playing a part and these are probably the last local elections to be run entirely under a first-past-the-post system.

Health Minister Annette King was keen for the health board elections to be run under the single transferable voter (STV) system, but the way we elect 74 territorial councils, 12 regional councils and 21 district health boards was put on hold until 2004.

This has not deterred Green Party co-leader Rod Donald from campaigning against FPP on the grounds vote-splitting leads to a lottery and shambles in some communities.

In Hamilton, David Braithwaite has put out a plea for other candidates to stand down and increase his chance of winning the mayoralty.

Incumbent mayor Russ Rimmington, who benefited in 1998 from a split vote, has called the tactics undemocratic.

Vote-splitting could also play a role in Auckland City where Mayor Christine Fletcher faces strong competition from her former National Party colleague, John Banks.

Mr McCarten and the Greens' Metiria Turei could steal some of the liberal centre-left votes that would otherwise go to Mrs Fletcher, and allow Mr Banks to come through the middle.

For dirty politics, look to Wellington where the battle to replace Mayor Mark Blumsky led to a local newspaper being tipped off that candidate Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, head of Women's Refuge, was convicted in 1993 of 12 tax charges.

For sport, look to the Wild West city of Waitakere, where it has become a tradition for enemies to hold a personal "gunfight" every three years.

Mayor Bob Harvey has three foes in 2001 - Ross Britten, Vanessa Neeson and Chris Seagar, the man before whom Mr Harvey lowered his jogging pants and shouted an obscenity in a quiet Titirangi street in 1999.

That brings us on to another famous character of West Auckland politics, Tim "I don't care where as long as I'm mayor" Shadbolt. Mr Shadbolt is unchallenged as Mayor of Invercargill. He refused requests to stand in Wellington and Queenstown.

Mr Shadbolt has predicted great interest in Queenstown, where he said the present deputy mayor, Simon Hayes, would normally romp in, except for his image as a Warren Cooper clone "that makes Dolly the sheep look like an independent".

The internet has caused also caused sparks to fly in the Queenstown mayoral race. A community group posted a website claiming council debt was soaring. In typical, straight-talking manner, Mr Cooper rebutted the claims as a scandalous deception and unadulterated garbage.

For a quiet life, look to Rodney. Voters will elect representatives to the Auckland Regional Council and Waitemata District Health Board, but not to the Rodney District Council.

Council elections were held in April after a year of being run by a Government appointed-commissioner. The council elected in April will take Rodney through the coming three-year term.

Voting papers are due to reach registered voters in the next few days.

Completed papers must be returned by noon on October 13.

Feature: Local body elections 2001

www.localgovt.co.nz