Council insiders say that Penny Hulse is getting demoted based on her appalling treatment of a number fellow councillors, who absolutely loathe her.
Perhaps she needs to reflect on her treatment of her perceived inferiors and work out if it has caught up with her.
New Auckland mayor Phil Goff has dumped Penny Hulse as his deputy.
An official announcement is expected later this week, but sources close to the mayor’s office said Hulse would not be getting the nod.
The sources said Hulse, who was former mayor Len Brown’s deputy, had only got as far as being on Goff’s short list.
Hulse said on Tuesday she “hadn’t had that conversation with Phil yet” about whether or not she’d been chosen as his deputy.
When asked if she was disappointed about not being selected as Goff’s deputy, Hulse replied, “let’s just say I’ve led the Auckland Plan, led the Unitary Plan, I held the council together through a sex scandal and then topped the poll for the entire region”.
Hulse attended Goff’s October 8 election victory party.
Phil Goff likes lickspittles and sycophants, not strong people.
Whoever he chooses will be weak as ditch water.
– Fairfax

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.
They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.
He is fearless in his pursuit of a story.
Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore him.
To read Cam’s previous articles click on his name in blue.