Goff no confidenced by half of Auckland Council

Bernard Orsman reports:

Nearly half of Auckland councillors have penned a letter of no confidence in Mayor Phil Goff.

The Herald understands the letter relates to Goff’s handling of the recent controversy for a new downtown stadium for Auckland and his refusal to give councillors full and open access to a $923,000 report by PwC on the matter.

It is believed the councillors plan to release the letter publicly at midday tomorrow.

Goff said tonight he had not received any letter from councillors, did not know anything about it and could not comment on something he had not seen.

He doesn’t know that half his Council has lost confidence in him. My God.

A source said the nine out of 19 councillors who signed the letter are John Watson, Wayne Walker, Greg Sayers, Mike Lee, Cathy Casey, Efeso Collins, Chris Fletcher, Daniel Newman and Sharon Stewart.

I suspect if Dick Quax hadn’t died, it would be 10 out of 20.

The lack of confidence crosses political lines. Five out of the nine signatures are from left leaning Councilors.

Goff played down any possible vote of no confidence in him, saying he had just received unanimous support in glowing terms for his 10-year budget, unlike former Mayor Len Brown’s last 10-year budget, which was passed with a bare majority.

They’re not complaining about your Budget. They’re complaining about you acting as the Emperor.

Goff denied there was any tension between him and a group of councillors, saying generally he had a very amicable relationship with councillors as a whole and operated an open door policy.

He’s either lying or delusional.