NZ Local Politics

A roundup of current prices for the various Mayoral races.

• Auckland (merged city, no clear incumbent)
  • Len Brown (inc, Manukau City) 70%
  • John Banks (inc, AKL) 28%
• Wellington
  • Kerry Prendergast (inc) 91%
• Christchurch
  • Bob Parker (inc) 8%
  • Jim Anderton 91%
• Dunedin
  • Peter Chin (inc) 73%
• Invercargill
  • Tim Shadbolt (inc) 84%

One of these incumbents is not like the others.

One of these incumbents, on the front page of today's Christchurch Press, when responding to questions about his wife's role in Council business - which seems entirely unproblematic to me - responded with this bit:

WHO IS THE FAIREST MAYORESS IN THE LAND?

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the prettiest mayoress of them all?

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker has made the bold claim that his wife, Jo Nicholls-Parker, is "the most attractive mayoress in the whole land".

Parker made the comments while defending Nicholls-Parker's involvement in his mayoral duties, paying tribute to her dress-sense and her appearance.

"She dresses in a really fashionable way which reflects on the younger spirit in the city ... I think she is the most attractive mayoress in the whole land, if not the whole of the world."

The Mayoress has taken on a more prominent "First Lady" role, without pay; I can't see any possible problem with that. But turning the non-story into "who has the hottest wife" shows a level of skill commensurate with the trading price. You might think he's given up on playing the voters and instead is targeting a more domestic audience. Shadbolt shows a bit more tact:

Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt, whose partner Asha Dutt has worked as a model, was reluctant to be drawn into a battle of the mayoresses.

"It's probably more an indication of his appreciation of the work she does," he said.

"How do you judge? I haven't met all the others."

Shadbolt said he was prepared to give Parker the benefit of the doubt, given his tough re-election battle with Jim Anderton. "He's probably feeling a bit jaundiced at the moment, so I think I'll let him have this one."

Yes, I am just mad that I bought a pile of Parker shares at a rather higher price.

Trading prices on the mayoral race have gotten a bit of local press. But I'm always a bit disappointed that they're not mentioned more often in stories on local elections - it's not like there are frequent polling results that can be used in the alternative.