May 13, 2011 10:00am by David Farrar

The Sutton love-fest

With no dis-respect to Martyn Dunne, but his decision to turn down the CERA job may have been the best thing to happen for Christchurch, as the praise for Roger Sutton’s appointment has been phenonomal.

On Twitter there have been hundreds of comments of praise. You can see a cloud of the most common terms here.

The Greens and Labour praised the appointment.

And William Mace at The Press has local reactions:

Former Christchurch mayor Garry Moore, who had called for Sutton to head the recovery effort, said the announcement was good news for the city.

“Roger Sutton is a guy who walks in ordinary people’s shoes. He understands the city, understands the people,” he said. “He’s got a good family and good networks. These are all the attributes we need to rebuild the city.”

Wigram MP and former mayoral candidate Jim Anderton said the appointment was “the best news I’ve had since the earthquake”.

“He is an incredibly good communicator. He tells it as it is. When he said the Orion cables were buggered, everyone understood it.”

Anderton praised Sutton’s management skills at “one of the best-managed corporations in the country”.

He said Sutton was a “quintessential Cantabrian”.

“We deserve someone who understands the ethos of the city – the anguish, the aspirations, the whole works,” Anderton said.

Christchurch Central Labour MP Brendon Burns said Sutton was an “excellent appointment”.

“He brings together shown leadership skills, a command of structural issues, a real capacity to engage with community leaders – I couldn’t think of a better choice,” he said.

Port Hills Labour MP Ruth Dyson gave Sutton “a 12 out of 10”, saying he had a “good strategic brain”.

“In his job as CEO of Orion he’s shown an amazing ability to keep people informed … Given what we need to do to recover strongly, he’s just perfectly positioned,” she said.