Labour is in big trouble in Auckland. Every single one of their many brands and personalities is damaged and the recent AECT election have proved that. The left wing is so fractured and splintered they haven’t got a hope of defeating a united Centre-right under the banner of Citizens and Ratepayers.
In the recent AECT election not one of the Powerlynk ticket got elected. For those who don’t know the Powelynk ticket is the Labour/Green “brand”. Their incumbent trustee Shale Chambers came sixth in the final voting and Kate Sutton came 8th. Their full ticket of Shale Chambers, Trustee for the past two terms, Simon Mitchell, Jenny Agnew, David Hay and Kate Sutton all got slayed.
Now would be a good time to call into question whether Labour activist Shale Chambers is qualified to sit on the NZ Post Board any longer. In fact the whole board could do with a clean out from the traitor at the top to the union flunky Ken Douglas. But I digress.
PowerLynk had some powerful endorsements. Mayoral contenders Len Brown and Mike Lee both endorsed PowerLynk in their brochures but that still didn’t help their prospects. Despite trying to hide their strong Labour links PowerLynk was annihilated in the AECT election and the endorsement of Mayoral hopefuls Brown and Lee haven’t helped them.
That then moves us to CityVision, another of the Labour/Green party brands that is tarnished if not destroyed completely. CityVision was strongly behind one of the worst mayors in Auckland’s history, Dick Hubbard. Beset with internal struggles and infighting CityVision is a brand not worth having. It stands for nothing. It isn’t Labour and it isn’t Green.
Labour’s own brand was destroyed at the last election in the trouncing of labour candidates city wide except in South Auckland and three seats that are essentially West Auckland. Since the election the support for Labour in seats like Mt Roskill and new Lynn would have been eroded even further. Labour’s tide is clearly still going out and with less than a year to go before the loval body elections their strategy anf planning and branding is in disarray.
Even the mayoral hopefuls are beset with double-dealing, fighting and poor branding. Len Brown and Mike lee have spiked their chances by backing the losing AECT ticket PowerLynk and Len Brown in particular may have shot his bolt early.
Labour and all their hangers on face an uphill battle to gain any traction or credibility in the new Super City and that goes for Len Vrowns powerbase in South Auckland. The AECT election cover a great deal of South Auckland and yet not one of Labour’s PowerLynk brand flunkies got elected.
The swing is still very much to the centre right and there C&R have been very smart in making peace and amalgamating and uniting the centre right brands under one banner. Citizens and Ratepayers have a cohesive strategy, a formidable team and most importantly they are united and focused on one goal. It is a goal they will achieve mostly because their opponents have systematically destroyed their own credibility and branding.
