Loosehead Len
June 20th, 2010 at 1:00 pm by David FarrarAfter his display of head slapping, Len Brown should perhaps be known as Loosehead Len – and this is one of the kinder things being said. I’ll start with Kerre Woodham:
Just when I didn’t think things could get any worse for Len Brown, he goes and does it again.
And before his fans leap up and down and say I’m part of some spooky right-wing conspiracy, I’m not.
He had my vote before the events of the last couple of weeks. Not for any particularly compelling reason. I just thought that if we had a centre-right government, it balanced things up a bit to have a centre-left mayor. …
Then came the claims of persecution and the protestations of being victimised. That was unattractive, but what really turned me off was the performance Brown gave to the Manukau City Council on Tuesday night.
When I say performance, I don’t for a minute think he was acting. Far from it. I think he believed every word when he cried out passionately that he’d risen from his hospital bed after a near-fatal heart attack for the love of the people.
That when he walked in the door, looking like a bloody skeleton, it was because he cared, not because he could put a few more cups of coffee on the mayoral credit card. I’m sure that’s true.
But emotional blackmail is hardly a rational response to requests for financial accountability. Nor is beating yourself about the head and face.
That was weird. In his soliloquy, Brown repeatedly hit himself in the face and chest, saying if people had a problem, they should come and see him.
That was enough for me.
You need somebody a little less … overwrought … as mayor of New Zealand’s first super city.
And that is from a Grey Lynn liberal who was planning to vote for Len Brown.
Next Matt McCarten. Matt is as left as you can get:
This brings me to the parallel universe of local government politics in which Labour Party-backed mayoral hopeful Len Brown has credit card problems of his own.
His use was careless at best and, as many Aucklanders don’t know much about him, his misuse will worry them. But it was his response, like Carter’s, which is more revealing.
The cutting up of his credit card on television was a cheap stunt. Was he saying he can’t be trusted with a credit card to do his job?
Well perhaps he was, as he seemed incapable of keeping proper receipts and he outright refuses to comply with his Council’s own policy to identify who was at a dinner.
His explanation on why he used his card to buy personal items was because his wife had their joint card raises more concerns. Everyone knows couples can get a card each on joint accounts.
And as they are signature cards, you can’t borrow each other’s card. That one had porkie all over it.
It’s good he apologised but his emotional presentation to his council was disturbing. His opponents can’t believe their luck and are predictably using it as evidence Brown is unstable and loose with ratepayers’ money.
But Len explained away his actions as being the Maori way to do things. Fortunately the SST has talked to some actual Maori on this claim:
But broadcaster Willie Jackson rejected that. “The spin about it being a Maori gesture is rubbish. I’ve never heard anything like it.”
Jackson said Brown’s team had made a poor decision in claiming a cultural element to the antics.
“I don’t know what the hell they were talking about, having been a Maori every day of my life,” Jackson said. “Len needs to harden up or he’s going to gift this campaign to John Banks.
“This campaign was his to lose and he’s doing a good job of that.”
Willie is also of the left. This is hardly the vast right wing conspiracy. Willie was also backing Brown over the credit card before his display at Council.
Once Were Warriors star Temuera Morrison said what Brown did was “more like caveman stuff”.
He said haka participants slapped their chests and thighs “to get unison with everyone and feel the rhythm”. The gesture to invite people to “come and get me” usually involved poking out the tongue.
“I don’t know what this guy was doing,” Morrison said. “This guy is on another planet.”
Ouch.
Auckland University Maori studies expert Dr Ranginui Walker was also unconvinced. “In the old days widows used to cut their breasts and chests when their husbands died or when warriors were slain.
“But I’ve never heard of men doing any such thing.”
Well we can at least be relieved Loosehead Len didn’t start cutting himself on live television.
June 20th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
a small point on your comment
“….. And as they are signature cards, you can’t borrow each other’s card…….”
That is not correct. My wife and I perpetually operate with each other’s visa and EftPos cards. If you know your partner’s PIN, then the signature and name on the card is irrelevant.
[DPF: I understand that the media asked if they had PINs, and they do not]
Vote:June 20th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
I initially thought this story was just a right wing plan to smear him but it does appear that he has some genuine issues to deal with. It is a pity because as Kerre Woodham said it would have been good to have a left wing mayor to balance a right wing council.
Vote:June 20th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
“I’m [not] part of some spooky right-wing conspiracy,”
That’s right Kerre. Many of us know you took your holidays in Cuba.
Vote:June 20th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
“..And that is from a Grey Lynn liberal..”
woodham..?
you gotta be fucken kidding..!
she’s one of yours….
phil(whoar.co.nz)
Vote:June 20th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Thanks David – I thought I had seen the same comment by a journalist, but I am just not clear how anyone can swallow that answer. It is hard to believe that Len and his wife have only one personal card between them…. and that card is a signature only card. Is this singular card purely a credit card? …. Is there no other card at all? No EftPos card? No Debit Card?
I couldn’t care less how Len Brown arranges his personal finances. However his answers have opened the door to legitimately ask him to prove those comments are correct. Proof is required because the answers he has chosen to give just do not make sense. I am not aware of any couple who between them only have only card for accessing funds. I have multiple cards (Credit/EftPos/Debit) and my wife has separate cards for the same accounts.
It is not the breaking of the rules – it is the stupid lies that offend me most. It is stupid lies that undo most politicians.
Vote:June 20th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Aahaha….gotta love Morrison’s comments!
Vote:Who knew that Len Brown’s head and chest slapping would end up being such a thigh slapper?! LOL
June 20th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Interesting comments from Redbaiter and Philu.
I made the observation as soon as the Maori Party entered the C&S Agreement that we are starting to see a fundamental change in politics in NZ. Therese Arseneau confirmed that on Q+A this morning.
The problem is that ideologues (right and left) like Redbaiter and Philu have not recognised it yet. They are both out of step with the realities that are occurring in the real world. Or it might be that they just don’t know how to function in a changing environment.
Vote:June 20th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
Don’t confuse them Poliwatch, someone will have to clean the drool out of the corner.
Vote:June 20th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Woodham:
Centre-right? What planet is this woman on?
Vote:June 20th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
“she [Woodham]’s one of yours….”
Thus demonstrating how fundamentally flawed your thinking is, yet again, phil.
Woodham is a died in the wool card-carrying-fully-certified lefty-at-large.
And always has been. I mean, duh.
Vote:June 20th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
what new ‘realities’..?
that the maori party have both their eyes on the prize..of foreshore and seabed..
so they can’t see/can ignore that virtually every policy from this govt…
..fucks over the poor/battlers….their people…
is that the new ;reality’ you claim i cannot see…?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
Vote:June 20th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
How stupid is it that even now, some lefties apparently still continue to believe it’s nothing more than a smear. I mean how totally fucked is that thinking.
Vote:June 20th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
“I initially thought this story was just a right wing plan to smear him but it does appear that he has some genuine issues to deal with. It is a pity because as Kerre Woodham said it would have been good to have a left wing mayor to balance a right wing council.”
Makes as much sense as increasing rape to balance up all that consenting sex people are having…
Or tossing a turd in the pool to balance up all that clean water….
Vote:June 20th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
switched to More FM (japanese import car) couple weeks ago where two Maori presenters are shamelessly promoting Len Brown “John Who? Mr Brown .. he is for the people … 100% support (from listeners) … ”
wonder what’s the tone on that channel now…
Vote:June 20th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Philu – what’s your solution – again there is none.
The policies of Labour over the past nine years have kept the poor in exactly that position – the poor. There has to be a better way. I don’t say that what Maori/National are doing is the ultimate answer or one that will provide short term results but it is a step on the right path.
While you are buried in your ideology you will never have any sense of “reality” – so I fully understand that you cannot see.
Vote:June 20th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Haul him off to the funny farm, he’s clearly ready for the rubber gavel squad.
Vote:June 20th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
I’m a bit lost here.
According to Auckland people I’ve talked to the only mistake Brown made while beating himself about the face and chest is that he forgot to hold a baseball bat in his hands while doing so.
Vote:June 20th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
The spooky right-wing does not need a conspiracy .. when it cames to Len Brown… only monkeys repeatedly hit themselves on the face and chest when they feel threatened.
Vote:June 21st, 2010 at 8:07 am
Kerre Woodham:: He had my vote before the events of the last couple of weeks. Not for any particularly compelling reason. I just thought that if we had a centre-right government, it balanced things up a bit to have a centre-left mayor.
I wonder how many people there are who thought like this. A lot I think. And we’re not at the end of the revelations. We still need to know the details on his dinner on Sunday night at the Volare restaurant. Refusing to tell who were there is not going to wash (except with Manukau City Councillors and its staff).
Vote:June 21st, 2010 at 9:04 am
“That’s right Kerre. Many of us know you took your holidays in Cuba.” – conspiracy theorist ? Seeing reds under the bed journalists smuggling communist nuclear missiles into nuclear free Godzone.
Vote:June 21st, 2010 at 9:27 am
AG – LOL.
Handy hint though, you’ll have more luck teaching a brick to skate board than you will encouraging rational discussion with Mr Krabs (Red) and Squidward (Philu)
Vote: