Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Editorial: Mayoral affair is news

By Kelly Makiha
Rotorua Daily Post·
16 Oct, 2013 08:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Len Brown and Bevan Chuang.

Len Brown and Bevan Chuang.

There's nothing like a political sex scandal to divide public opinion.

Should Len Brown stay, or should he go?

Mr Brown is in a right awkward position after it was revealed this week he had a two-year affair with a council candidate 25 years his junior.

What should happen to his political career now is a hot topic and, in my view, there's no right or wrong answer.

A sensible comment I have read online said the following:

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"The people of Auckland elected Len Brown to the office of mayor, not as his wife's husband. Let him answer to the electorate solely for his performance as mayor."

But then again, becoming the mayor is a popularity contest. If you don't like the guy, you won't vote for him. There'll be plenty of people who, despite what he's done for the city, won't like him anymore.

The shame and hurt he's brought on his wife and three daughters is massive. That will not be repaired overnight, if at all. If this had broke a month ago, would the outcome of the elections have been different? Quite possibly.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It's also somewhat concerning there hasn't been a promise from Mr Brown that this is the end of the allegations. We can only hope so.

But what I do find interesting is us media types are once again getting criticised for reporting on this story.

On my Facebook newsfeed the other night, a friend queried whether people really cared about Len Brown's affair.

Within an hour the comments were flooding in with those strongly suggesting it was a media beat up. John Campbell was said to be hitting rock bottom by leading with the story and the media were accused of running the country by only reporting what they wanted.

Discover more

Editorial: Fingers crossed for Eat Streat

10 Oct 08:00 PM

Editorial: Results clear for change

13 Oct 08:00 PM

Editorial: Perfect pick as deputy

14 Oct 08:00 PM

Editorial: Cut the doom, gloom

15 Oct 08:00 PM

It's funny how all those commenting seemed to know the the details of the story and had obviously read about it or watched the news.

That, I'm sorry to disappoint you, shows it is news.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Premium
Rotorua Daily Post

'It was my calling': Inside the Taupō farm taming wild horses

20 Jun 10:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

'Max capacity': Good news for growing school squeezing classes into library

20 Jun 09:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

'Save a lot more lives': Stage 4 cancer survivor's plea for earlier screening

20 Jun 06:00 PM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Premium
'It was my calling': Inside the Taupō farm taming wild horses

'It was my calling': Inside the Taupō farm taming wild horses

20 Jun 10:00 PM

There are 93 horses still facing an uncertain fate.

'Max capacity': Good news for growing school squeezing classes into library

'Max capacity': Good news for growing school squeezing classes into library

20 Jun 09:00 PM
'Save a lot more lives': Stage 4 cancer survivor's plea for earlier screening

'Save a lot more lives': Stage 4 cancer survivor's plea for earlier screening

20 Jun 06:00 PM
Rotorua Home & Lifestyle Show returns

Rotorua Home & Lifestyle Show returns

20 Jun 04:00 PM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP