Albany

Len Brown used council emails to solicit support and funds and now Andrew Williams is using his council resources as a bully pulpit to assail political opponents.

He has just sent out an email and press release that breaks almost every rule as set out by the Auditor-General.He has tried to be clever by disguising his attack as a press release but make no mistake it is electioneering and worse it is electioneering using resources not available to his opponents.

Andrew Williams will be in no position to hold anyone to account after I dispatch him in Albany Ward come election day.

His angry, bully pulpit tactics have no place in the super city. Vote Slater to rid yourselves of the idiot Williams.

I’ll give you 12 million reasons why voting for Slater in Albany Ward is a better option than giving your vote to Andrew Williams or Julia Parfitt.

Northern Aquatic Centre debacle – Andrew Williams and Julia Parfitt fought tooth and nail to have the pool located 200 metres from where it will eventually be built. The cost of that fight in consultants fees alone was over $1 million and the pool still isn’t built after 3 years. The consultants three times rejected Andrew Williams contention that it was better for Albany 200 metres away. there is a million reasons right there.

Mairangi Beachfront – Williams has spent more than $10 million in buying three old houses and bulldozing them to make a park. That is some park, 10 million more reasons to Vote Slater in Albany Ward.

North Shore City Council Website – With less than 15 months left to run of the North Shore City Council, Andrew Williams and his A-Team authorise the spending of more than $500,000 on a new website. Another 500,000 reasons to Vote Slater in Albany Ward.

If you needed just one reason, there are over 12 million reasons right there. I won’t be wasting ratepayers hard earned cash on consultants, old houses or silly websites.

Vote Slater in Albany Ward, Keeping the Buggers Honest.

Vote Slater - Albany - Auckland - Keeping the Buggers Honest

Whaleoil Policy on Motorway Bus Lanes

Empty Buses on Empty Roads whilst RUC payers wait

Motorway bus lanes are currently under-utilised, and the cost of this is congestion. The problem is buses in Auckland are such a terrible way of getting around that they are always something other people should use.

I have been driving up and down the Northern Motorway for the past week or so and seen nothing but empty bus lanes and empty buses careening up the empty lanes, while cars and heavy transport mix it up right beside each other. The very people who pay the RUC that pay for the roads are having to wait. This is wrong.

The bus lanes to and from Albany and the city are busy for a very short and limited period around rush hour in the morning and the evenings, and the rest of the time we have massive amounts of capital investment tied up in empty bus lanes.

To get rate payers and tax payers a proper return on investment, and to ease congestion, the Whaleoil transport policy is to allow all trucks onto motorway bus lanes except during peak hours of 7am and 9.30am south bound, and 3.30am and 6.30pm north bound.

This pragmatic policy frees up space on our motorways for cars, cars that people have chosen to drive because public transport is never going to work in Auckland.

I’ll go further and say that vans and cars who are willing to pay an exclusive toll fee and after a suitable driver safety course will also be allowed to use the lanes.

Allowing heavy transport to use roads actually built for them would remove an enormous amount of congestion from the motorway proper and reduce the damage cause to roading surfaces that slow, turning heavy transport causes. I estimate millions will be saved in road repair alone.

Vote Slater – Keeping the Buggers Honest – Albany Ward, Auckland

Vote Slater - Albany - Auckland - Keeping the Buggers Honest

Policy on Public Transport

Public Transport hasn’t worked in Auckland for the very simple reason that it is a large, spread out city with a small population on a global scale. There are not enough people close enough to public transport stations to mean they can commute solely using public transport. They likely will have to drive first, then get on to public transport. This defeats the purpose of taking a bus or a train, if you are in your car you might as well go the whole way by car.

Aucklanders and Albany voters have voted with their cars, and last year only 32000 people used public transport to get into the central city. The demographics of Albany are such that just 5% of voters take public transport. The voters of Albany have voted with their cars.

That means I will support more roads, more parking and if this means toll roads that ease congestion, I am all for them. Lets just end the hypocrisy about public transport being good for everyone, because if it was people would have stopped driving before now.

The big problem with public transport is it is always something “other people” should use. So the Whaleoil policy on public transport is to identify the “other people” and make it mandatory for them to use public transport:

“Other people” include

-       Green Party Members

-       Public transport advocates

-       Cyclists who whinge about roads not being rider friendly

-      Anyone who votes for Andrew Williams

If we could get this group of whingers off the road we would ease congestion and make it a lot easier for the rest of us to get around.

Vote Slater - Albany - Auckland - Keeping the Buggers Honest

The Herald has an article on Albany and the candidates. Since it is in today’s Herald I will outline succinctly why I am standing.

I am a small ‘c’ conservative that wants to see local government stick to local government issues, and not get involved in other issues like social welfare, social engineering and promoting ethnic diversity. Plenty of different nationals live in Auckland and most of them don’t require hand outs. Lets keep it this way.

The campaign in Albany is a practice run for the general election, where telling the truth about a candidate is really important, especially when the candidate is liberal with the truth, wrong or has terrible personal ethics. A case in point is Andrew Williams who has put in a nomination in Albany purely for insurance sake as he will never in a month of Sunday’s get elected as mayor.

Far from being a side-show, I am deadly serious in making sure that Andrew Williams is not elected in Albany.

Public meetings were a pleasure for Mr Williams at the last elections. He used them as a platform to attack wasteful spending and, in particular, the proposal of Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey and the Infratil company to start commercial flights out of Whenuapai Air Base.

He triumphed, and many of Mr Harvey’s critics on the shores of the upper harbour are now lumped in with East Coast Bays folk who also would have been in the flight path.

Andrew Williams flip-flopped over Whenuapai, and then when elected embarked on perhaps the most wasteful spending ever seen in North Shore, including the spending of extra millions deciding on whether a pool should be sited in one place or another just 200 meters away. Now that the airport is a dead issue so should Andrew Willaims. Don’t forget the ratepayers money he literally widdled away against the trees of Hurstmere Road. Public meetings are not going to be fun for Andrew Williams this year. I am going to hold him to account plus any other candidate that either supported and enabled his drunken rampage through the ratepayers pockets or any new candidate that makes grandiose promises of spending of ratepayers cash.

I will explain my policies in depth over the coming days, but rest assured they will not be like any others, the old ways are dead and it is time for some new thinking. You won’t hear from me any support for “modest rates increases”, I will be campaigning for rates reductions and I will explain how that can be achieved.

Vote Slater - Albany - Auckland - Keeping the Buggers Honest

It is bad enough that Andrew Williams even got elected last time around, he has been nothing short of a disaster for the North Shore making any news more about his incontinence and drinking and mad rantings whilst under the influence in the middle of the night. It has cost ratepayers dearly, literally millions,  having mayor drunk in charge of a city.

Now he wants another turn at the trough. He won’t get there in the mayoralty stakes so he has stood in Albany Ward in an attempt to have a safety net.

This is one of the reasons I have stood in Albany Ward, to make sure that the Clown of Campbells Bay will have someone to hold him to account at every candidates meeting, someone who isn’t afraid to call him on his bluster a, bullying and bullshit.

And it is bullshit that we now turn to. In registering for the elections he has filed on his candidate return that his “ticket” or affiliation is “Independent Progressive Leadership“. Under section 57 of the Local Electoral Act 2001;

Affiliation of candidate
(1) If an electoral officer is in any doubt about a candidate’s eligibility to claim an affiliation, the electoral officer may require the candidate to produce evidence sufficient to satisfy the electoral officer of the candidate’s eligibility to claim that affiliation.
(2) If an electoral officer considers that the candidate is not eligible to claim an affiliation or that the affiliation claimed might cause offence to a reasonable person or is likely to cause confusion to or mislead electors,—

(a) the electoral officer must, after consultation with the candidate, allow the affiliation that the electoral officer and the candidate agree on to appear on voting documents in place of the affiliation specified in the notice of nomination; or (b) if the consultation referred to in paragraph (a) does not result in agreement or is not reasonably practicable to undertake, the electoral officer must not allow any affiliation in respect of that candidate to appear on voting documents.

(3) In this section, an affiliation is an endorsement by any organisation or group (whether incorporated or unincorporated).

Now I tried to have my affiliation as Whale oil Beef Hooked and this was rejected, I might add after a pleasant discussion with Dale Ofsoske the Returning Officer. His explanations to me was entirely reasonable and consistent with the law. Section 55 also covers affiliation:

Nomination of candidates
(1) Any 2 electors who are qualified to nominate a candidate may nominate a person who is qualified to be a candidate as a candidate at an election—

(a) in the prescribed manner; and

(b) before 12 noon on nomination day (the close of nominations).

(2) An electoral officer must not accept the nomination of a candidate unless—

(a) the person nominated, by notice in writing, consents to nomination and certifies that he or she is qualified to be a candidate under section 25 and is not disqualified under section 58; and

(b) the person nominated is qualified to be a candidate; and

(ba) each of the persons who nominated the candidate are persons other than the candidate; and

(c) the persons who nominated the candidate are qualified to nominate the candidate; and

(d) the nomination complies with subsections (1) and (4); and

(e) the electoral officer—

(i) receives the deposit prescribed for the applicable class of elections; and

(ii) receives that deposit before 12 noon on nomination day.

(3) The consent and certification required by subsection (2)(a)—

(a) need not be given at the time when the nomination paper is lodged but, if given separately from the nomination paper, must be given before the close of nominations; and

(b) may be given in a manner other than in writing that is approved by the electoral officer, if the person concerned is outside New Zealand.

(4) A nomination under subsection (1) must state—

(a) the name under which the candidate is seeking election:

(b) any organisation or group with which the candidate claims to be affiliated for the purposes of identifying that affiliation in the voting documents at the election:

(c) whether or not a candidate who does not claim any affiliation referred to in paragraph (b) wishes to be identified in the voting documents at the election as an independent candidate.

(5) Any person may inspect any nomination or consent without payment of any fee at any time during ordinary office hours at the office of the electoral officer.

As you can see from the legislation, an affiliation is defined as an endorsement by any organization or group (whether incorporated or unincorporated). Also, if a candidate does not wish to claim an affiliation he/she can be identified as an independent candidate (subsection 4).

Dale Ofsoske has responded to an elector via email complaining about the affiliation of a number of candidates, including that of Andrew Williams. His emails said:

Where a submitted affiliation did not meet the above legal requirements, the candidate was contacted and either asked to reconsider their affiliation or asked to provide evidence that the claimed affiliation represents a group or organisation. I have rejected quite a number of non-complying affiliations and sought a number of letters of authority to use an affiliation.

Turning now to your concerns. I will respond to the named examples:

1. Independent Progressive Leadership (Andrew Williams). When this nomination was lodged (Friday morning) I spoke to the candidate about this affiliation and was advised that this represented a team. I took this on face value and did not seek a letter of authority.
2. Christians Against Abortion (Phil O’Connor). This has been used for at least the last 3 triennial elections and my understanding this does represent a group.
3. The Voice of our Community (Mike Padfield) has been accepted, but is borderline and probably should not have been.
4. Proudly Independent (Julia Parfitt) is a group of two, but if this had been one individual, this would have been accepted as section 55(4)(c) does not require the word ‘Independent’ must be used, but the candidate can be identified as an independent – so I have allowed an adjective before the word ‘Independent’..
5. Putting People First (Wayne Walker) is a group (letter has been provided)
6. East Coast Bays Independent (Heather Brown). As for 4 above.

Now this is interesting. You can see that the Returning Officer has been very studious in his deliberations but also that he has phoned Williams and been given an explanation that Independent Progressive Leadership represents a team. This is quite simply a lie. There are no other candidates in the whole of new Auckland boundaries standing anywhere, including within the former North Shore city boundaries with this affiliation. Not a one.

Auckland Council Mayoral Candidates (PDF 36k)

Auckland Council Local Board Candidates (PDF 35k)

Auckland Council Ward Councillor Candidates (PDF 17k)

District Health Board Candidates (PDF 14k)

Licensing Trust Candidates (PDF 16k)

If you look at The Clown’s website you will see that “Independent Progressive Leadership” is his slogan.  There is no society, registered or unregistered organization with that name, nor any other candidates. For him to say that this moniker represents a team when it is nothing more than a slogan shows the baseness that exists within Andrew Williams and his propensity to lie when confronted with cold hard reality. With over over 700 nominations for the Auckland Council, district health boards and licensing trusts Andrew Williams “team” is just him, unless of course he is including Messrs. Daniels, Beam and Walker.

I challenge Andrew Williams to show us this team, to show us his members and to show us the endorsement as required by law, or simply retire from the election being a proven liar.

He has simply lied to Dale Ofsoske about his affiliation. The man knows no shame, he needs to be tossed from office. This is why I am standing in Albany, to remove liars from office.

Vote Slater – Albany – Keeping the Buggers Honest

Andrew Williams, the Clown of Campbells Bay and the Mad Mayor of North Shore shows yet again why he is unfit for public office.

MAYOR Andrew Williams’ so-called A-team has suffered a setback after North Harbour Stadium was again chosen over Massey University as the site for a pool in Albany.

A document leaked to the North Shore Times at the weekend shows that three independent experts came down strongly for the stadium.

A council committee will today consider the report in a confidential meeting and the full council will make a decision on the site tomorrow.

It was the third investigation into the best site for the pool, and one which the Audit Office refused to be involved with. The government agency said it had doubts about the probity, or honesty, of the process.

But Mr Williams’ council went ahead with the review, even though council officers warned that doing so could affect the council’s commercial credibility.

The saga began back in 2006 when the stadium was chosen over Massey as the best site for the proposed Northern Aquatic Centre.

During his mayoral campaign in 2007 Mr Williams attacked the process, saying the selection of the stadium would not stack up if audited properly.

But in 2008 a review initiated by his new council reaffirmed the stadium as the best site.

The council even sought legal advice on earlier legal advice, asking if it had to abide by it. It was told that it did.

Critics say the process has cost more than $1 million and if the first decision had been accepted, Albany people would be using a pool by now.

During one heated exchange Mr Williams called councillor Chris Darby a “smart arse” for questioning the process.

The latest review, undertaken by Paul Tredinnick of Alpha Leisure, Rachel de Lambert of Boffa Miskell and David Allen of Strategic Leisure, gave the stadium a 23 percent margin over Massey in a set of three criteria.

The panel says it considers this to be a “significant difference”.

Andrew Williams blind (drunk) insistence that he and the A-Team are right and independent auditors are wrong have cost ratepayers more than $1 million. Don’t let this fool anywhere near council again.

Vote Slater in Albany – Keeping the Buggers Honest.

WOBH Billboard

Send Angry Andrew a message. Wear a limited edition Whaleoil Election Shirt around Albany.

Even better wear one to court on Wednesday.

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