Labour on being a Councillor and an MP
Over the last year Labour have made numerous attacks on National MP Pesata Sam Lotu-Iiga as was on the Auckland City Council when he got elected to Parliament, and continued doing both jobs until recently.
Now personally I don’t regard being a Councillor as a full-time job. In fact one of the problems in local government is that it has become a full-time job for too many Councillors. But there can be no doubt at all that being Mayor is a full-time job, especially Mayor of the second largest city in New Zealand.
So what did Labour MPs say about being a Councillor and an MP:
People of the Tamaki Maungakiekie deserve better representation than a sometime City Councillor, says locally based Labour MP Carol Beaumont
“The people of Maungakiekie deserve a fulltime MP to represent their views; likewise the people of the Tamaki Maungakiekie ward of the Auckland City Council deserve a fulltime City Councillor – at the moment they are being short-changed by Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga.
Can’t be clearer than that. Labour said doing Councillor and MP was wrong.
So why are they all so enthusiastically backing Jim Anderton to be a Mayor, an MP and a party leader? Once again they just come across as a hypcritical bunch of snake oil salepersons.
Auckland based Labour MP Carmel Sepuloni said: “ensuring Pacific Island people are well represented in local Government is an important issue. Mr Lotu-Iiga should have stood aside immediately after becoming an MP so as to allow someone better placed to fulfil the responsibilities of the role – he’s doing a disservice to the public by doing the two jobs.
That’s two Labour MPs saying you can’t do both.
Associate Pacific Island Spokesperson Su’a William Sio, who is a former Manukau City Councillor, said when he entered Parliament midway through 2008 he resigned from the council immediately because it was impossible to do justice to both jobs.
And a third Labour MP. So where are their voices now? Why has a journalist not gone to those MPs and asked them if they agree that Jim Anderton can not be a Mayor and an MP?
“Labour is also concerned that National is allowing Maungakiekie MP Pesata Sam Lotu-liga to participate in debate on, and vote on, this issue. He is an Auckland City Councillor and clearly has a conflict of interest. It’s bad enough that he’s double-dipping by drawing a salary for both jobs.
And that is a fourth Labour MP against doing both jobs.
May 12th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
We know it is different when Labour do it. Labour are good, National are bad… You seem to be missing this key point over and over DPF ?
May 12th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
I admire Su’a for standing down from his role with the Manukau City Council, in a bid to offer his full commitment to the Magere electorate (in which he was elected to perform the duty) – proof that this particular MP talked the talk, and walked the walk.
May 12th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Are you sure that Su’a William Sio resigned immediately DPF? I seem to remember that there was a lag period, for which he copped some criticism.
May 12th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Being an MP should be a part time job as well. If Parliament simply met every Saturday, we’d get less busybody laws and we wouldn’t have to pay them so goddamn much.
May 12th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
William Sio’s memory isn’t all that great. He did not resign immediately.
Sio was elected on 29 March 2008. He did not resign from the Manukau City Council until 9 May 2008.
May 12th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
It is very simple:
1. Pacific Peoples must be represented by Labour.
2. Labour List MP’s want to be Auckland councillors because they have fuck all else to do
3. Jim is special
May 12th, 2010 at 12:40 pm
Jim hasn’t been elected Mayor yet – perhaps you are being premature with these almost daily posts about this issue?
I do agree though – an MP should be a full-time job. Although there are plenty on both sides of the House that have multiple business interests.
May 12th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Jum or Bob Each Way??
Bah bah went Ecan.
Moo moo went the pissed off Cantab voter!
May 12th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
However, note that councillors for the new Auckland Council will be paid a full time salary so the job should be treated as such.
[DPF: What is the salary?]
May 12th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
He is well past his use by date for either. He only survives on the ingrained soundbite responses to a media that will not question or challenge him , I presume as they are unwilling to risk his bullying.
Caught a media interview with him and it was devoid of anything remotely representing his vision of our city but listed some of the well known areas that Parker has stumbled with. He has the infallible aura that he has carried all his public life and even a cub reporter could mine the large resource of the people he has fallen out with, the numerous political groups he has been in or formed and then destroyed or walked out on, the opportunistic moves he has made in nearly half a century of supping at the public trough and carpet bagging.
How long before his embarrassing behaviour swamps the old scow “riverboat Jamberton” and the sycophants on the left come to realise the fact.
Auckland could show some public spirit and take him back, we didn’t want him then and we sure don’t want him now, please, we can’t afford him.
Donate one of the incomes to charity “yeah right”, just like WRP and the $158 000 he donated.
May 12th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Its my understanding that being an MP is such an arduous and time consuming job that it requires numerous perks and allowances just for them to be able to operate.
I agree with Labour that you can’t do both, I disagree with Labour that you can do both. Which is why I don’t support labour, I’m not clever enough to maintain two diametrically opposed ideas as both being correct at the same time.
If only I had an electric monk I could be a socialist too. Oh well I’ll just have to stick to doing my own thinking.
May 12th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
thinking around your comment d4j I suspect Jim is really eyeing up a role on Ecan as it comes out of statutory governance, be a nice little earner for him
May 12th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Many behind closed doors deals are going down in Canterbury regarding water rights expat. I have good bully.
May 12th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Resign from parliament Jim ! Do the right thing, do what you would demand others should do.
May 12th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Its funny when it comes to central or local politics it always becomes hypcritical.
May 12th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
I wonder how many Conservative MP’s have a responsiblity to their business obligations?
Wouldn’t that be considered secondary employment as well? Surely they’re paid for their commitment to such business endeavour’s.
May 12th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Sigh.
What’s astounding is that Labour comments more than 0% of the vote. Just what does a political party have to do before people decide not to vote for them? Apparently rorting democracy and tilting free speech rules in your favour isn’t enough. Half of grey power were still voting for Winston at the last election, for goodness sake.
May 12th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
I’m with Burt on this one, you missed the key point National bad, Labour good so of course in this instance they will be backing Jim and of course he will do an outstanding job. When it comes to the vote though i think he will have trouble convincing Christchurch he’s up to it.
May 12th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
“When it comes to the vote though, I think he will have trouble convincing Christchurch he’s up to it.”
And I’m sure he knows it – otherwise he would have announced his resignation from parliament with his announcement to contest the mayoralty. But he’s just a typical Labour-fed, perk-oriented, four-feet-in-the-trough sort of hog who can’t get himself past any offering of a freebie.
May 12th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
None of the usual suspects prepared to but their heads up and defend this? Not a single one? Oh dear.
May 12th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Where are you lefties? Whats the proplem not been told by ther great one what your opinions are yet or something?
Fucking hypocrites.
May 12th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
but kind old caring Grampa Jim is actually saving us all money by not forcing us to have a nasty expensive bye-election in February if he stays on until the next election. His logic went something like this:
Mayoral vote in October, sworn in in November, if he was to resign after winning the mayoralty there would not be enough time to hold a bye-election this year so it would have to be held over until February because of xmas & parliment being on holiday for so frigging long. And with next year being election year & also world cup year the national govt will annouce an election before the world cup to avoid the potential back lash when we dont win said cup meaning a probable election in August, still following me? good this means that Jon Jon will disolve parliment in June to allow all the campaigning that needs to take place. So surely that would be a huge waste of money to have a bye-election just so someone can sit in parliment for a measly 3-4 months. Perfectly logical to Jim anyway. Of course if he had any balls he’d put his money where is mouth is & resign now to enable himself to start campaigning now without the nasty distraction of being an MP
May 12th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Of course the resources provided by the Leader’s budget by PS will be really really useful when it comes to campaigning in ChCh, yuo know – speech writing, travel, secretarial, postage, fax, email and telephony, spin and comms, press releases and access to radio & TV.
Will the MSM cover him as merely a candidate or as leader of a Parliamentary party? Will his press releases get taken more seriously as white space filler while he is Leader of his own party and labour spokesperson on whatever he is?
I think the leverage is pretty obvious and the media need to be extremely careful how they treat his publicity.
May 12th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
But you are rigt DPF. Where are the “doorstop” interviews of the particular subjectsw who need to face the question of their consistency, Phil Gap needs to be pushed into taking a position as well. It would be a nice little diversion if the President of the Labour Party was pushed for an opinion also.
Possibly the Speaker could advise the status of flights when they are associated with local body campaigning and possibly supporting an income generating position. Surely the nexus is direct between the costs of trying to score a job and who should pay to place him in the most advantageous place to campaign. There is still a bad smell about Rusel Norman’s travel and his campaigning in Mt Albert when he claimed pure co-incidence – yeah right.
I understand it is a great big no-no for an MP to claim flights for personal business purposes.
May 12th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Salary hasn’t been announced yet (like a lot of things to do with the Supercity!), but I read about a month or so ago that the remuneration is being set on the basis of the Councillors being full time. (sorry, can’t find link).
Probably naive to suggest that Councillors who wish to maintain existing paid roles should (1) declare this on their candidate information sheets and (2) fill in timesheets so ratepayers can check if we are getting at least 40 hours a week out of them.
May 13th, 2010 at 8:13 am
Not a freaken whimper from the left.