Word is coming through the tipline that long time party stalwart and long time friend of my old man and the Whale, has managed to create for himself a sense of inevitability around his winning the selection for the safe seat of Rodney.
According to sources within the party Brent Robinson seems to have lost every delegate that was not stacked in his favour, and some of them are cracking, and Scott has picked most of them up. National often rewards tenure without justification but in this case Scott deserves his long awaited chance of running for office.
For those that do not know Scott he is a former Northern Regional Regional Chair, and former National Board member. He has done is time for the party, including being let go from senior position in the commercial world for continuing to serve National which shows a huge degree of dedication to the party.
Obviously if you have tenure as long as Scott does in the National Party you have a few enemies but that is normal for experienced political operatives. Unfortunately this has always been the case in Auckland where many people fight silly battles over stuff that does not matter, and as a ranking member of the party Scott has had to get involved.
Scott does have a few negatives that have also come through the tipline. Most appear to be from people in the McCully/Boag camp who think this blogger is too dumb to work out the game they are playing. In in the interests of fairness the weaknesses are [With my comments in brackets]:
- Scott is too old. [WO: True, he is is older than Maggie Barry so he will never make it into cabinet especially with the cycle the way it is - he would likely be 64 before National is next in government.]
- Scott is not particularly likable. [WO: Sure Scott is not as user friendly as someone like John Key, Paula Bennett or John Carter, but he is a lot more likable than Tim Groser or Chris Finlayson. And he wont rabbit on in latin.]
- Scott has a blood feud with the President who is shacked up with Scotts ex-wife. [WO: So what! Both men are big enough to deal with this and for those morons in the party who think the President will break a habit of a lifetime and actually do anything let alone try to kneecap Scott, it is not going to happen. Ever. Not even Scott can enrage Peter enough so he will get off his arse and do anything.]
This blog is not endorsing Scott, as it stays neutral, but it is saying do not vote for Brent Robinson, who’s unethical behaviour means he is not fit for political office let alone the local bowling club committee in Orewa.
