My Wellington votes

Well I have the ballot paper, so time to vote.

Wellington City Mayoralty

The Mayoral election is pretty easy for me as I have known Kerry (and Rex) for a long time.  Not that I agree with Kerry on everything the Council has done – I do think spending has been too high, and the opposition to Transmission Gully annoyed me. And don’t even mention the Stock Exchange sign.

But none of the other candidates come close.  John McGrath looked good for a while but when your own brother disassociates himself from you, that’s not a good sign. And I’ve been surprised by the large number of people who have a negative impression of him. But would probably still be No 2 as I don’t believe in voting for candidates who are standing for both Mayor and Council.

Helene Ritchie will be ranked bottom.  People shouldn’t have to ask why. Probable order is:

1. Kerry Predergast
2. John McGrath
3. Ray Ahipene-Mercer – the best of the Councillors standing for Mayor
4. Rob Goulden – too many conflicts with others
5. Bryan Pepperell – not a team player
6. Jack Ruben – provides criticisms not solutions
7. Nick Wang – single issue candidate
8. Paul Bailey – unknown
9. Carl Gifford – unknown
10. Nick Kelly – communist
11. Helene Ritchie – her 47th attempt at Mayor

Lambton Ward

I’m going to be a bit boring here and vote for the three incumbents – in order Ian McKinnon, Alick Shaw and Stephanie Cook.  They’re a balanced team with Ian non aligned but from a conservative background, Alick standing for Labour (but sensible) and Stephanie being Alliance/Green background.  All three make a good contribution, even if I obviously disagree with Alick and Stephanie on some issues.

The second Green candidate, Iona Pannett, is campaigning hard.  And I give her kudos that she actually knocked on my door.  But having two out of three Ward Councillors from the Green Party would be unbalanced.   I want a Council that doesn’t go crazy with huge rates increases.

1. Ian McKinnon
2. Alick Shaw
3. Stephanie Cook
4.  Michael Durrant – for low rates
5. Iona Pannett – would make the Council unbalanced but prospect for the future
6. Ed Van Son – little known but focused on core services
7. Callum Strong – little known, potentially anti all development
8. Frank Lawton – unknown

Capital & Coast District Health Board

Generally I avoid voting for those actually employed or funded by the DHB, such as Doctors.  They generate terrible conflicts of interest and we have seen elsewhere how badly they get managed.   The seven I would put top are:

1. Judith Aitken has a good reputation as a sensible administrator
2. David Chamberlain has useful professional experience also
3. John Cook – has significant NGO governance experience in the health field
4. Gordon Strachan – has wide ranging governance experience
5. Virginia Hope – has a medical background but employed by ESR not CCDHB and has experience on another DHB
6. Felicity McLennan – looks ok on paper.
7. Ruth Gotlieb – reliable
8. Margaret Faulkner – has some useful experience but too ideological
9. Donald Urquhart-Hay – highly respected doctor, but again some conflict
10. Hayley Wain – has been a good City Councillor but prefer people serve on just one public board
11. Kent Clark – made little impact as a Councillor
12. Trisha Inglis – there just to get more money for Kapiti
13. Michael Appleby – DHB not the place for Legalise Cannabis politics
14. Sandra Patton – too ideological
15. Karen Coutts – too party aligned
16. Petra Van Den Munckoff – too party aligned and huge numbers of conflicts
17. Peter Roberts – totally conflicted as employed by DHB, and former head of doctors union
18. Coltyn Shaw – unqualified
19. Adrian Webster – a retired and presumably bored “social justice advocate”
20. Jim Delahunty – beware anyone describing themself as a “health activist”
21. Helene Ritchie

Wellington Regional Council

We need five Councillors for the Wellington City ward.

1. Fran Wilde – an superb Mayor, and a real doer.
2. Judith Aitken – very solid
3. Mike Gibson – keeps things lively, and is indpendent
4. Hugh Barr – good conservation focus
5. Bernard Darnton – would be a good voice for less regulation
6. Sally Baber – incumbent, not heard anything bad
7. Tony Coard – his technical background may be of use
8. John Gilberthorpe – experienced
9. Michael Fleming – looks to have solid background
10. Chris Laidlaw – was not a successful MP
11. Daran Ponter – talks about fast broadband access but this is a TLA not a RC issue
12. Yvonne Legarth – seems a bit inexperienced
13. Michael Appleby – perennial election candidate
14. Paul Bruce – prefer parliamentary politics left out of Regional Council
15. Matt Barclay – unknown
16. Ian Hamlin -unknown
17. Thomas Morgan – Thomas specialises in coming last

Feel free to post your own orders in the comments.