Spot the flip flops
Yes, we know that, for some reason lost in the mists of history, we in NZ call them jandals. But most of the rest of the world call them flip flops (and some call them thongs, leading to embarrassing and at times unsightly confusion with underwear). But the term "flip flop" has entered common political parlance, particularly after the last US Presidential race when both candidates levelled the charge at the other. So there.
WDC website 22 August: "Time to reduce councillor numbers"
Mayor Michael Laws says that Wanganui has too many local body politicians and that it is time to reduce district councillor numbers. "The best configuration, in my view, would be to reduce Council numbers from 12 to 10, and rural board members from six to four".
WDC website 12 August: "Let the 'h' debate begin"
On representation issues, he said that it made sense to abolish the rural ward (which would be reduced from three to one councillors by 2007) and have one district-wide ward "that allows all residents the chance to vote for their entire Council. I have no desire to see rural ward residents confined to voting for just the mayor and one councillor. That doesn't make sense".
Vision Wanganui Policy Release - 28 May:
3.5 - Immediately request a Local Government Commission review of representation arrangements in Wanganui with the intention of reducing the number of elected councillors to eight instead of the current twelve (estimated saving $100,000 per annum);
3.6 Replace the rural community board with monthly mayoral forums on rural issues (estimated saving $100,000 in a full council term)
3.7 Investigate withdrawing from the Horizons Regional Council and creating a unitary authority for our region (as is the case in Gisborne, Tasman, Marlborough and Nelson).
The referendum will ask, along with the water and "h" questions, whether we agree:
- To create a separate Maori ward for Council
- To abolish the rural ward and create one district-wide ward
- To reduce the numbers of councillors from 12 to 10
Comments on this post are now closed.
47 comments:
You forgot the promise to "support & encourage the arts".
What's with the new word verification system Watchers?
What's with the new word verification system Watchers?
Relax, it's not a sinister plot. Word verification will help to reduce blogspam - all those helpful links for ceiling fans, cheap loans etc. Apparently these are often posted by cunning machines and since machines can't read the word you're asked to type, they can't post their messages. We're trialing it to see if it works, leaving us to concentrate on deleting the inappropriate, personal and sometimes vile comments written by humans (though we use the term loosely).
Come on, what is wrong with a bit of side stepping? Eight, ten back to eight, who cares, so long as ML's got a majority.
"withdrawing from Horizons Regional Council has disappeared right off the agenda. Wonder why?"
Does anyone know how much Horizons pays its seldom-seen Wanganui representative?
"withdrawing from Horizons Regional Council has disappeared right off the agenda. Wonder why?"
Don't know, but it's always useful to have a bit of "insider trading" going on.
"since machines can't read the word you're asked to type, they can't post their messages. We're trialing it to see if it works, leaving us to concentrate on deleting the inappropriate, personal and sometimes vile comments written by humans "
As one of those nearly-human humans, LawsWatch, I protest. How can we possibly stagger home after an evening on the turps and post vile messages if we can't read the hieroglyphics.
I swear my squiggly green letters are arranging themselves before my very eyes to spell out Diva Rules!
good feedback today, heard alot of people are watching this blog.... and loving it
What does MMP stand for again? Mad Muppets in Politics, perhaps.
Apparently one "candidate" had the punters choking on their brekkies at the Chamber of Commerce do this morning when she opened her pitch with the revelation that she doesn't actually want to go to Parliament at all, but could they please give her their list vote, pretty please. Clue: It wasn't our Jill and it wasn't Chester.
It's the last anon who is being naive - it's called MMP and the list vote is everything.
And I'm surprised that you expect the mayor to do EVERYTHING in his first ten months. Be warned: this man does keep his word (Sarjeant, nil rates, referenda) and that should worry you more!
So what are you saying, anonymous? That we're reducing councillor numbers in two steps, two each time? If so, that's not been said anywhere I can see.
The point surely isn't that he hasn't done everything in the first ten months, but that only ten months ago, he was telling us he'd do something different to what he's now offering us in the referendum.
Sorry, I got it wrong. It's different to what he was promising FOUR months ago, not ten.
"It's the last anon who is being naive - it's called MMP and the list vote is everything."
It's the person who wrote this who's talking bollocks. These type of gross generalisations masquerading as wisdom are redolent of Laws: get another mentor, anonymous.
Actually, from our understanding of the situation for a small party such as the one to which the lady who was being referred to obviously belongs, the party vote is everything.
It might get one or two off the top of their list over the line, whereas her chances of winning Whanganui are nil.
Can you explain your assertion that it's not the case? It's of grave concern to us when we start sounding like the Diva ;-)
"We should be worried..."
"The list vote is everything"?
The Diva has not delivered on his "promises".
The list vote is a component of MMP, not "everything". we keep on hearing these glib phrases trotted out in place of analysis. If all you ever want is the list vote you're doomed to minority party status. Labour & National do well because they have clearly defined history and to a lesser extent, policy. The current "wisdom" has it that Labours "tax" package is fiscally more "prudent" than Nationals. Like economics is a science or something. National is bewitched by neo-liberalism, while Labour appear in thrall to politically correct committee-speak.
In the middle we stand, votes in hand, making sense of it or not.
that Winston Peters, he's got nice teeth. Think I'll vote for him.
He didn't break any promises, you dork. Its the Representation Commission that sets numbers, wards and boundaries - what he said is that he would argue for lesser numbers and that's what he's doing.
There are some truly DUMB people in here who just don't get politics - the anon list vote twit
a classic. It's the list vote, moron, that determines the number of MPs a party gets, not the constituency vote.
The extra credibility that winning electorate seats brings is a vital component of any strategy.
Crap! Jim Anderton has credibility? Peter Dunne has credibility? Compare with the Greens with no constituency & 6% in the polls.
Parties SHOULD put up candidates in all constituency seats to boost their party's list recognition, but that's a separate issue. NZ First, United & ACT have hurt themselves by not doing so in Whanganui.
River Queen spin detected:
"Roll out the red carpet – Wanganui will hold the world premiere of the River Queen.
Deputy mayor Dot McKinnon yesterday announced the location and said it was Wanganui’s Embassy 3 Theatre."
21.7.05
"The movie, shot on a budget close to $20 million, in and around Wanganui in 2004, will screen at the prestigious Toronto International Film festival next month."
25.8.05
How long has Dotty known that we won't be hosting the River Queen premiere?
“I’m pleased that, after all the hard work and challenges, the film will premiere at one of the world’s leading film festivals,” Mr Ward said.
But we're still waiting for the date of "The River Queen premiere (sic) in Wanganui."
Spin Dotty spin.
"but that's a separate issue. NZ First, United & ACT have hurt themselves by not doing so in Whanganui."
Thankyou for making my point for me.
The mayor's intention to reduce councillor numbers requires Rep Commission sign-off. They need a demonstration of popular support for such a proposal which is why referenda attend these decisions.
Sounds sensible but then what most of what the mayor does, actually is.
So will the Rep Commission be checking the "information" campaign for "balance?"
Council hasn't even voted on the referendumb questions, yet Mickey tells us what they're going to be.
"How long has Dotty known that we won't be hosting the River Queen premiere?"
I would say she's been caught with her spin down around her ankles by today's news.
As revealed by yesterday's spin, now on the website and no doubt any moment due to drop in letter boxes via River City Press:
I have been working behind the scenes with the River Queen Premiere event. There will be some very exciting announcements soon about the movie. So watch this space.
So, Dotty, just how very excited should we be about the announcement that you, your boss and the gullible consumers of your spin have been been d-i-c-k-e-d and the world premiere is going to Toronto?
Hardly her fault if the film producers lied!
remember they told us ALL (in the Chron - Sue May the publicist) that the WORLD premiere would be here.
"we know there are some real beneficial changes that a National government would make"
Like bulk funding for schools and troops in the gulf.
Oh, and Dot, I don't like you using ratepayer resources for party poliitcal broadcasts - especially with a by-election on the horizon.
Or perhaps the producers' enthusiasm for having a premiere here evaporated when they discovered the frantic Vision back-pedalling on cost and venue. Or perhaps they noted the way the film festival was treated.
The producers announced Toronto without even giving poor Dotty a date. Not even a text message.
Sob.
Who's the jerk who thinks the film festival of Marion Campbell not happening, is the council's fau;lt? It was Marion who pulled the plug because she said that she was exhausted having done it singlehanded for years.
Funny that. Only a few months earlier a clearly NON-exhausted Marion was cosying up to Dotty and the Diva (oh not to mention their loyal sidekick Shackleton) and extracting a commitment of council funding.
There followed the famous Community Committee insurrection and the even more famous last words in the even more famous When the Cat's Away column of February 21 in which the Diva famously said:
Her [Marion's] estimate was that $20,000 would be required – plus the usual sponsorship – and that seemed reasonable. I was looking (still am) at devoting some of my Mayoral salary to that aim and also sourcing other funds.
If you're going to quote history, anon, be a little less selective and we might take you a little more seriously (but don't hold your breath).
Yet another low point for the Chron today. How pathetic to just run the "World premiere gone by lunchtime story" without putting any context around it, without asking Dottie why her dribble about a world premiere had turned out to be so much bullshit, without asking just exactly how much ratepayers' dosh she's planning to dump on a non-world premiere, without asking ....
Well, just without asking, really. Again. Still.
Just as well we have LawsWatch to do the asking. Perhaps there'll be someone sufficiently awake at the Chron to check out the blog and get back on the job with Dottie.
Yeah, I'd get pretty tired if the Diva pledged/promised me $20k that turned out to be mythic.
You would think that being involved in local body politics, I would take a huge interest in the upcoming national elections. I wish I could get excited but I just can't!
Poor Dottie confides in today's release from Spin City that she just can't excited about national politics. Wonder if she's starting to feel the same about local (diVision) style politics?
After all, it's just one boring old cock-up after another, isn't it Dottie?
He didn;t as Marion campbell made plain in her letter to councillors publiucly distributed.
By the way - anyone seen the new F & A comm agenda? They're going to start selling the sarjeant art.
Even if nothing happens with River Queen premiere (presuming someone in this blog actual has a reall fact listed) at least it was something tried.
Nothing Ventured - Nothing Gained.
In most economic ventures they allow for a 1 in 8 success rate. The issue is not if the premiere happens but when people get notified. I am picking that WDC just havent been told anything and would be as surprised as the readers here if they have lost a premiere that had been verbally promised
The Finanace & Admin committee minutes make no reference to the sale of Sarjeant collection pieces. There is, however, a signalled "review" of the de-accession policy to be considered. We all know what a "review" means under Wanganui's First Vandal, sorry, citizen.
We are entering a legal minefield here, Wanganui. "The Council is the legal owner of all artworks accessioned into the Sarjeant Gallery Collection in accordance with the Trustee requirements established in the Henry Sarjeant Deed of Trust...
The mayor has made no secret - pre-election or post - that Sarjeant art should be sold if the gallery is to have any money spent on it.
the most valuable 500 pieces (out of 3,000) in the collection have been valued at $11,921,350.
"The mayor has made no secret - pre-election or post - that Sarjeant art should be sold..."
As WAG members meeting with Czarina Higgie said: how much money do we need? We'll raise it ourselves without the need to sell work. This alternative has been on the table from the beginning: Council response: dumb, stupid slience.
...silence. ;)
the day you arties come up with $400,000 will be the day you get a real job. Sell it all!
Since pretty casual advertising netted close to $20k for the Tsunami art auction, and $10k recently for Maiangi's Red-Eye mural, it seems to me that once again you are demonstrating your ignorance. And your malice is showing.
Sell it all, you say? How has life been treating you since that unfortunate incident at Shiloh?
$400,000 is chicken-feed in art donation terms, but the correct conservation methodolgy is to fix the building first.
"The mayor has made no secret - pre-election or post - that Sarjeant art should be sold if the gallery is to have any money spent on it."
Fairr enough. Let's have a garage sale at the stadium on Saturday morning and flog off all the rowing machines etc to raise money for the extension there.
Council has crippled the Sarjeant's capabilities to raise funds itself, then turns 'round and claims that there's no money available for the Gallery. What are they afraid of? Reinstate the SGTB, continue fundraising. It's a no-brainer, and if Michael didn't have his head firmly up his arse he'd see that.
Sell the Splash Centre. It's an expensive white elephant, a breeding ground for disease, and what's with these lazy pricks who refuse to swim in the sea anyway?
"the day you arties come up with $400,000"
will be another day we demonstrate our economic success (again), and provide another example of our enthusiasm and creativity.
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