Please, not the swimsuit parade!

A succinct and apt comment to the last post:

Election papers out tomorrow ... go people power!!!

People power indeed. Though the distinct inability of visitors to come up with a single pertinent question which other visitors might care to ask of the candidates before casting their ballots suggests an almost issue-less campaign.

The fact that the majority of candidates seem to be relying primarily upon their hoardings to get them across the line would tend to reinforce this perception. That's a dereliction of their duty to inform and engage and, on what we've seen so far, no one deserves to win.

That of course suits diVision, who clearly plan to rely on name recognition to get Phillipa Baker-Hogan across the line without her having to front up to any awkward questions about her team's prior performance. But it doesn't excuse her, and it doesn't excuse the other candidates, who ought to be out there espousing a clear alternative.

The buy-election isn't a beauty contest (and how else one judges a candidate's merits on the basis of a hoarding we don't know). Do we really want to see Rana Waitai in a swimsuit, let alone any of the other candidates?

This blog has spent the past seven months highlighting the most controversial questions facing Wanganui, but there are other signifcant issues which Council faces. They haven't been highlighted here because we have no quarrel with the way they're being handled - such as the $35 million sewerage / stormwater project for starters. But that doesn't lessen their impact on the city's budget.

At the very least, the candidates need to espouse a clear policy on:

• whether they'll support any additional borrowing and, if so, under what circumstances.
• whether they're happy with the present schedule for debt reduction and, if not, whether they have any firm proposals to change it.
• their position on asset sales and in particular which assets they would support selling.
• whether they have any proposals which involve increased spending.
• whether they intend aligning themselves to the dominant Vision bloc (of course we already know the answer to this in the case of Ms Baker-Hogan, but what of others rumoured to have ties to the Diva such as Messrs Simmonds and Waitai?).

And that's leaving aside issues of lesser importance such as whether they support reviewing the Code of Conduct to provide a more effective muzzle for the Diva, or whether they support Council starving community activities - such as the Film Festival - of funds in order to save cents while splashing out (excuse the pun) dollars on other projects.

At the risk of introducing a hand-wringing tone, we can only hope residents find out the answers to those questions (and any others that may particularly concern them) rather than tick the box based solely on a gut reaction or, worse still, name recognition.

If a candidate's answers accord with your own beliefs, they may just be worth your vote, even if they look like Nanny McPhee.

Scroll down, Watchers! The Buy-Election Poll is below. If you haven't already done so, vote now. It's also available at LawsWatch Polls.

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