The Hamilton Mayoralty
The Waikato Times reports:
Dave Macpherson has announced his withdrawal from the Hamilton mayoral race, conceding he cannot
win.Macpherson has asked his supporters to instead vote for Ewan Wilson.
Mr Macpherson, speaking at Frankton Markets this morning, told crowds that after seeing the latest poll results he believed Wilson had the best chance to unseat incumbent mayor Julie Hardaker and urged his supporters to give Wilson their votes.
That’s pretty outrageous to get all the advantage of being a candidate to take parts in forums, but to then effectively withdraw at the last moment. Of course ballot papers have already gone out.
Macpherson is a former Alliance candidate. Him and Wilson were both part of the old Council that saddled Hamilton ratepayers with huge debt over the failed V*s venture.
With one exception I think Julie Hardaker has been a very good Mayor for Hamilton. She isn’t overly political, but has brought good commercial and legal skills to the Mayoralty and has seen the Council become much more effective. She’s also been very approachable doing public forums and the like over her whole term. I think she deserves another term, and a return to the past would be a mistake for Hamilton.
My one reservation with Julie is her stance on fluoride – but now that has gone to a referendum, it is less of an issue.
Ewan Wilson looks like he is close behind her in the polls. He has two big black marks against him.
- He was on the Council which it had the V8 disaster, saddling ratepayers with huge debt
- He is a convicted criminal.
If Hamilton elect Wilson as Mayor, I can’t imagine they’re going to have a great relationship with the Government (National or Labour). No Minister is going to want to be meeting with someone who wasn’t just convicted of fraud, but also was banned by the Securities Commission from being a director for five years.
UPDATE: I am told Wilson was not a councillor when they voted to proceed with the V8s but he was a councillor when the proposal first came through in a workshop.