Bernard Orsman

Bernard Orsman normally acts as the Albert Street branch of the Mayor’s office. However it appears that his patience has worn thin. It appears that there is now a deliberate and orchestrated attempt by Len Brown to cover things up, and the policy is now affecting the Herald as well.

Just as they have done with requests from Rodney Hide and others they are playing fast and loose with the LGOIMA regulations.

The Auckland Council is sitting on secret documents used to draw up a new planning rulebook for the city and instructed its top lawyer to keep them hidden from the public.

Mayor Len Brown and chief executive Doug McKay have rejected requests from the Herald to release background papers used by a political working party to develop the most important planning document in the history of Auckland.

The new rulebook – or Unitary Plan – sets out a new way of life for Auckland’s 1.5 million residents that includes high-rise apartments and infill housing to cope with squeezing another 1 million people into the city.  Read more »

Len Brown’s Albert Street communications specialist who is also the NZ Herald’s lead political reporter for the Auckland Council, Bernard Orsman, scores big this morning with the announcement that three pelicans were spotted off Waterview yesterday morning.

Speculation is mounting that they may have come from Dargaville.  Read more »

Commenters are pretty emphatic…and I have taken the liberty of adding Bernard Orsman.

The nominees are:

Barry Soper – Teletubby explains:

Barry Soper for continually being more important than the story. Cock

Brian Rudman – Brian Rudman constantly bangs on about liberal elite past-times that he’d like to fund with other people’s money. A big fan of buses and trains…again funded by other people. His biggest bug bear though is that Auckland doesn’t have a suitable theatre that meets his fussy audiophile standards and he expects the ratepayers to have one damn it all! Troy explains:

Brian Rudman. Recipient of the Charles Southwell Award (for equitable and informed journalism) … yeah right, most of his articles are simple trash, so much so that I hardly make the effort to read them any more.

John Campbell – Cows4me writes:

Yeah he’s a lefty suckhole, most of the media in NZ are bent to the left. If we had a true right wing channel that held some of these dribbling lefty’s up to the light people like Campbell would struggle for air. It’s so easy to be a greasy, politically correct lefty when there’s no opposing voice.

Simon Collins – Collins pimps the poor, he came to my attention with his shocking half story about Tania Wysocki. I note to date he hasn’t had the stones to re-visit that story…he wouldn’t want to have to write about success by a battler. Hagues said:

Simon Collins for his series of wow and misery blamed either on the govt or “someone else.”

Bernard Orsman – Orsman is Len Brown’s direct line into the Herald. He has written so glowingly in favour of Len Brown I thought perhaps he had moved from the Herald Albert Street offices into the Town Hall to shorten the communication lines.

David Fisher  - Fisher has compromised himself so badly this year. He has written little else other than PR articles on behalf of Kim Dotcom or Ian Wishart. He has become fixated, so much so he is now allegedly writing a book about Dotcom with the assistance of Paul Little…I hope they don’t get too friendly…we know what happens when wine, late nights and friends mix with Paul Little.

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The right wing stoolie in Len Brown’s office, James Bews-Hair, at it again. This time chief of staff Phil Wilson has seen fit to demote Glyn Jones, making way for a new media man for the Night-Mayor.

Dan Lambert has appeared. Not so well known around town as he is a recent import from the UK where he has been doing nifty and clever work for Bank of Scotland and trying cosy up to the Tories.

Looks like Len’s office takes another lurch to the right. Interesting too is how Dan came to the role. Could it be that he is a long time mate of Bews Hair? Did they plot together when Bews Hair was Goff’s SPS and Dan was Maharey’s spin doctor?

What will poor wee Glynn, the Mayor’s handbag holder, think of all this?

When will the patch war within Len’s office end and will Phil ever realise that, like Robertson to Shearer, some are much better at playing the long game than he is.

Phil and Glynn have belittled and victimised Bews Hair for too long; white anting always gets found out especially since Phil and Glynn aren’t very clever at it.

It is also understood that Bernard Orsman is especially bitter, wrongly believing that all his hard work down at the Herald on behalf of the mayor would richly rewarded. It looks like he will have to continue to attend local community board meetings for some time yet.

Another slow clap for Leonard Brown…more waste from his council, more bills foisted on the ratepayers. Bernard Orsman must have failed in his attempt to shorten communications lines between Albert Street and the Mayors office because he gets up Lyin’ Len this morning in the Herald.

Still with only $14 million pissed away this is on of Len Brown’s better investments.

A carparking building in Manukau that cost ratepayers $14 million to build is sitting virtually empty and slashing prices to attract vehicles.

The building has been called a “dog” by councillor Dick Quax and lauded by Mayor Len Brown as a transformational project for the Manukau community – few of whom are using it.

When the Herald visited yesterday, the top two levels of the seven-storey Ronwood Ave carpark were empty and there were just 10 vehicles on the top five levels, including five Auckland Council cars.

The first and second floors had 62 and 18 vehicles respectively, but overall the 680-space carpark hadan occupancy rate of just 13 per cent.

ᔥ the tipline

Friday’s NZ Herald (20 July) had an item about the Greys Ave Council building and stated that it may have to be demolished because of asbestos contamination.

Well, although there may several reasons to tear it down, asbestos is not one of them.  I spoke to a building surveyor recently and mentioned the allegation that there was asbestos in it.  He said “Yes. there was asbestos when it was built, but there is none there now.  It was all taken out including replacement of all the ceiling panels in 1987.  There was a photo in the Herald of Cath Tizard  with the last bag being taken out.”

Perhaps you could suggest the Herald’s “reporters” check in the files of their paper before printing erroneous articles.

I seem to remember news articles at the time about the overhaul and removal of asbestos. I am very surprised that Bernard Orsman can’t remember that far back.

It seems that the council is making shit up to justify blowing $104 million on an ivory tower for council staff.

I received this email yesterday while out shooting, I am posting it today with the permission of the writer. I think it speaks volumes about the smear campaign being run by mainly the Herald but also John Campbell, Tv3 and the Labour party.

Hi Cam

What is this country coming to when a man who put his hand up to serve this country as an MP and Mayor is now being hounded – all because of an alleged criminal (who changed his name – Why? Is it a trendy name?) felt wronged by the person he gave a donation to.

1. Does that mean no matter what an alleged criminal does, he can expect MP’s to rush to support him?

I think not – especially given John Bank’s life story of his criminal parents.

2. Did Dotcom donate to Len Brown’s campaign as well?

Some people like a ‘bob each way’ and donate to both candidates. They want their donation to be anonymous so that it is not leaked to the other candidate, thereby ensuring they back a winner. They break their donations into smaller lot and this is quite common.

Surely they don’t go running to the other party and the media later when they are hacked off.

I would be willing to bet that Dotcom donated to Len Brown also.   The Labourites, Mallard etc are running a smear campaign and doesn’t it make them look tawdry?

I am just a passionate ordinary NZer.  I object to being treated as a moron who can’t think for myself and day after day having to read in the Herald a character assassination campaign. It’s happened too often now with many people and it is extremely tedious.

Bernard Orsman’s Councillor report cards also were a disgrace.  With no right of reply he also has assassinated hard working councillors and elevated people of his persuasion.  I am perfectly capable of thinking for myself and I know other NZers can too.  I wonder how many times Mr Orsman turned up to the Council meetings – a report card on his activities would be interesting.

We are cancelling our Herald forthwith and I hope heaps of other people do the same!  They just have to decide if they are prepared to put up any longer with Herald’s daily dribble and cancel their subscription also.

We don’t have to put up with it anymore – I have a sense of freedom now!!

Sorry to go on about it but the ordinary person has no way of responding. No one deserves that level of attack especially when nothing can be proved and especially when the rules around donations enabled people to break up their donations into smaller lots.  That photo the TV keep showing of Dotcom in the dock, I am sure I can see a tear glistening under his eye – so I wonder if he’s just a big cry-baby used to getting his own way.  He might be loveable as some people think but he’s sure vindictive underneath it all.

ᔥ NZ Herald

In todays Herald they rate the council. They rate Len Brown a C.

Len Brown – C
Main responsibility – Mayor
The first 12 months of Brown’s mayoralty were a commendable success. The past six months have been a shocker. Brown set out as the first Mayor of the Super City with panache and drive; setting out a vision to make Auckland the “world’s most liveable city”.

The rot began to set in when Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully announced the Government was taking control of the waterfront after the cup’s opening night debacle

Since then, Brown has struggled to impose a sense of leadership and authority during the most bitter industrial dispute on the (council-owned) wharves since 1951 and finds himself supporting a pokies for convention centre deal. He keeps saying intervention would undermine due process, but that did not stop him ignoring the normal processes and unilaterally announcing a $27 million cruise ship terminal. Brown has infuriated his traditional supporters on the left, who accuse him of “sitting on the fence” and being “weak”. For undoing much of the good work in his first 12 months, Brown gets a C for his mid-term report mark.

Maybe they don’t remember the 100 day balls up where washing the council windows was one of his achievements. Or maybe they don’t remember Len taking a train to work only to be picked up by his mayoral limo that arrived at Britomart about the same time. Or that even Brian Rudman and Bernard Orsman were having a go at him for being hopeless.

As if Len Brown hasn’t got enough on his plate with the POAL dispute and Matt McCarten’s vile hatred, he also has major problems with his Auckland Plan.  The tipline has run so hot over the weekend with information about the mayor’s “visions” for Auckland that I’ve literally run out of paper to print it on.

So much information has come across my desk that it is difficult to find the time to read all of it and it is also hard not to fall off my chair laughing at some of it.

The main issue is the retention of the urban limit. Greenie planners despise removing the urban limit.  They also masturbate over heritage as Len Brown’s chief media mouthpiece, Bernard Orsman, wailed in Saturday’s Herald.

This gnashing of teeth and argy bargy between greenie environmentalist planners has come about because a leaked report on the Auckland Plan by third party consultant developers hired by Len’s council has pretty much said that Len’s intensification model for Auckland is not going to work unless some major changes occur in land zoning and demolition of heritage housing.  Yep, massive re-zoning and demolition of heritage housing.  Remember the outcry from greenie environmentalists when Len stood by and watched those outdated, decrepit old houses torn down in St Heliers?  And what about the reaction from greenie environmentalists in Saturday’s Herald when that old rust bucket in Freemans Bay was going to be demolished?  City Vision’s Shale Chambers (a Labour Party hack) called it a “sick joke”.

Well get your bucket ready Shale because here’s another sick joke for you, and for your party’s leader.  The consultant report said this about Mt Albert:

Substantial intensification opportunities exist. The Unitec site could be substantially master-planned to a high density Campus, similar to the British Columbia University in Vancouver.

This area is capable of supporting substantial market-led intensification, with bold up-zoning.

Mt Albert will be a litmus test for political resilience.

Prepare an intensification master-plan for Mt Albert. Communicate the Plan clearly with the Community.

Council should not believe intensification will occur without major upzoning. Without boldness, intensification will be ad-hoc and low in number.

Mt Albert is a litmus test for political resilience. Without major up-zoning intensification will be sporadic and low quality. Quality upzoning could make Mt Albert a vibrant intensified precinct.

I can’t wait to see David Shearer standing in front of the bulldozers when the developers start demolishing those 80yr old houses in Mt Albert for semi-detached townhouses and units.

As the tipline has been running so hot this weekend on this stuff, I will reproduce more material in coming days that will show Len’s compact city model is, to quote Shale Chambers, a sick joke.

Check out the tagline of this columnist, Dan Hodges,  at the Daily Telegraph:

I wonder what Brian Rudman’s would read like, or Bernard Orsman, hell imagine Vernon Small’s and John Hartevelt’s?

Such refreshing honesty…from a journalist.