Leaving so soon, Mickey?

It might be our Calvinist leanings, or it might just be years of mistrusting everything Mickey says, but the corks aren't popping just yet here at the LawsWatch Cave following the announcement that Mickey is to be a one term wonder*.

When we first heard talk around town that Dotty had cleaved a sod with a spade we feared worst, but she'd only been digging the dirt at the Splash Centre (which is more than the Chronicle has ever done). No, Mickey was safe, but had decided to throw in the towel because (as every politician who's had to step aside due to anything from unpopularity to mass murder has said) he wanted to spend more time with the family.

But no corks are popping here. For one thing, if a week is a long time in politics then months are, well... even longer. A lot can happen between now and then, including (as one commenter to the previous post has already prophecyed) distraught citizens begging Mickey to return and he - reluctantly, you understand - acquiescing.

Not that we think it likely. Having used Wanganui to rebuild his previously non-existent profile, Mickey has bigger fish to fry.

"Used"? you ask, incredulously. But of course. A predictably redneck talkback host on a station no one listens to making outrageous, insulting, racist and just plain dumb comments to desperately try to win a few more listeners isn't news. A Mayor making those same comments, is. And for all the disingenuous "I wasn't Mayor when I said those things" nonsense, Mickey knows precisely what he's doing.

But more importantly, the bubbly is remaining in the fridge because there's still a long way to go even if Mickey actually keeps one promise and doesn't foist himself on the town again. There are important expenditure decisions to be made, for one thing.

Without the full-on both-barrels spin emanating from Guyton Street in the lead-up to the next election (unless Mickey carries his support for Phillipa Baker-Hogan as his successor over into becoming her campaign manager) the opportunity will be there to have a proper "opening of the books" to get a true picture of Wanganui's burgeoning debt. It might even be a chance to demand that those who'd seek to have your trust vested in them again give a true and accurate accounting of the cost of the various monuments to Mickey that are planned or under way.

Then, and only then, can ratepayers be expected to make rational decisions as to whether they, and their offspring and migrants for generations to come, ought to be committing themselves to even greater debt.

Update (14 November): "Where has the poll gone?" asks a commenter. The blog is programmed to have only the six most recent posts appear on the main page so as to minimise download time. Older posts can be accessed using the menu to the right - dating back to our very first offering, in fact. The poll can still be found here and we'll analyse the results shortly.

* As in, we wonder what the hell you were thinking when you voted, Wanganui.

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