(Apologies for the soft paywall link.) Gist of it is that Ray Chung has now officially announced he’ll be running against Tory Whanau for Mayor at the next local elections.
Obviously this isn’t the first time he’s run for mayor, but last time it was more about building his profile for the councillor position he really wanted instead. This time around he seems to be a bit more serious in wanting to win it. I don’t really know how he’s likely to go, and maybe that depends on whether he becomes the focal point of the anti-Tory-Whanau campaign.
Last time I watched him in a local candidate meeting. He repeatedly stated straw man facts that were outright wrong, attacked them, then had to be corrected by other candidates, even by Diane Calvert! Afterwards I checked with one of the other candidates who confirmed that every single debate (and there are lots because it’s Wellington) he’d been bringing out exactly the same wrong statements to make his points in front of the new crowds, and then being corrected in the same way.
I didn’t think he’d do well then, but with him being very strongly elected before the other two councillors, other voters in my local western ward sure showed me. I really do wish the advocates on that side could find some candidates who were a bit more likeable and positive instead of just angry about everything, though. It seems like a long time since we’ve seen a Mark Blumsky in the mayoralty race.
Additional coverage from today (also soft paywall):
Wellington mayoral candidate Ray Chung will look to vacate top chair if he gets a dud council:
But, he was keen to avoid a repeat of Wellington’s former mayor, Andy Foster, who struggled through his term with a council majority often at odds with him.
Chung said that, if he ended up in a similar position, he would look at ways to step back from the mayoral role and stay on as a councillor. He was yet to look into the technicalities of it.
And How Wellington’s left council may be the right’s hidden weapon which is an opinion piece from Tom Hunt:
… There is a perception, partly founded, that in a city awash with leaking pipes the council is focused on the wrong things.
Former mayors Dame Kerry Prendergast and Mark Blumsky, or Wellington Central’s first MP under the MMP voting system, Richard Prebble, show this famously-liberal city can swing right.
There is every chance it will do it again if the left don’t right the ship.
Councillors – and the council – need to show they are actually listening. They need to leave their party affiliations at the door when they walk into the council chamber. They need to vote for their communities, not political parties.
They need to stop saying their are listening to people when they only hear the people they agree with.
And they need to find some drastic ways to cut back on rates increases (at the current projected rates increases, a ratepayer charged $4000 in rates last year will face a $11,035 bill within a decade).
Because, if they don’t, a Chung-led council will find some drastic cuts – and they won’t be where the left like.
Chung said that, if he ended up in a similar position, he would look at ways to step back from the mayoral role and stay on as a councillor. He was yet to look into the technicalities of it.
And on this, it could be quite difficult for him.
Under the Local Government Act if he resigns after being declared Mayor then there’s an extraordinary vacancy which triggers a by-election for a new mayor. He doesn’t revert to being a councillor and push out another councillor who’s already been declared elected.
Under the Local Electoral Act he can cancel his mayoral nomination before the close of voting, and then everyone’s votes will just transfer to their next preference, but he’d not have the information he wants about other councillors if he cancelled it at that time.
He’d probably need to figure out a way to step back after seeing the preliminary election results but before the final result was declared, and hope the outcome was obvious enough from that, but doing so doesn’t seem clear cut.
Under the Local Electoral Act if he died or became incapable after voting closes but before declaration of the final result, then it gets adjusted as if he’d not run at all. There doesn’t seem to be a comparable clause for if he simply decided he didn’t want to be Mayor, unless it hinges on the definition of the word “incapable”… but it’d be odd for him to be incapable of being Mayor but capable of being a councillor. He’s committed to the possibility of having to be Mayor from the time of the close of voting, and if he’s elected but doesn’t want it then he can’t stay on the council even if a ward had elected him.
Can anyone else see a technical way around this for him?
More from The Spinoff today: https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/27-05-2024/could-ray-chung-really-be-the-mayor-of-wellington