The latest Listener has devoted five pages to the forthcoming Nelson mayoral election.
Four and a half are devoted to former Green Party candidate Matt Lawry, a two term Councillor. They include a full page photo, another half page photo of him with his family and a further half page photo with Green Party MPs.
His principal opponent, Nick Smith is given a mere half a page.
Lawry it seemed, has had a rather speckled background as a journo for diverse radio and print outlets, none seemingly lasting long. It appears from the article his last employment was a decade back since when he has presumably existed from his Councillor’s fees.
In bold boxed type is his quote:
“When it comes to the mayoralty I think it’s really important that whoever has that job isn’t a member of a political party.”
I searched in vain for any explanation from him in the article as to why this is really important.
Smith, unsurprisingly given his engineering doctorate, played a key role as a senior Cabinet Minister in the rebuilds following the Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes.
In the year since his retirement he’s been involved in creating a windfarm. It will be interesting to watch the outcome of this election between a talker and a doer.
11 Comments
Talkers win hands down all the time. Until the excrement really hits the fan such as floods and earthquakes, Then the doer’s come out and fix things. Unfortunately society forgets rather quickly who the real doers are.
Ah, so one creates wind and the other uses it?
So true Bob. We’ve had a very small association with that Hawkes Bay wind farm and my chaps said how impressed they were with Nick and his brothers, getting on with it despite hurdles. As a constituency MP I heard he was one of the hardest working in the country.
As you say – a genuine doer. How typical of the Listener to back a lame duck idealist.
We can’t have people like Nick Smith in charge. He’s achieved too much and knows what he’s doing.
The position must be reserved for a complete drop kick in order to achieve the anarchy Nelson’s rate paye”r” does not want.
Long live asylum Aorretarded
Oh, Lawry has been published in papers- his cartoon ‘small things’ or something like that (I think he does the writing not the pics). Not quite the quality of Garrick Tremain’s cartoons… Hoping so very much he doesn’t get voted in as our Mayor.
Where’s Nelson (just kidding)
– isn’t it somewhere north of Wellington?
why is there no Maori or female
..or goat
.. I’m loosing it Buzz Wanger
What a legend
As a long time Listener subscriber, it is sad to see the downhill slide (to the left) of this once excellent publication since their new editor took over. Another one bites the dust.
It’s well known in Nelson that Lawrey has been the most disruptive element on council for the last two terms – and I’m absolutely certain that the out-going mayor and councillors, not of his clique, would agree with me. That he could claim to run a “united council” shows what an unrealistic and absurd pretender he really is.
Lawrey has shown himself to be an opportunist and a manipulator and his efforts have realised little, if anything, of substance for Nelson. He’s been a strident force opposed to the completion of the Southern Link – the joining of Wakatu Drive with St. Vincent Street which had been planned since 1972 when adjacent land was compulsorily purchased under the Works Act. Lawrey’s unrealistic plan was to keep the former Nelson railway track for cyclists and walkers, even though finalisation of the Link is desperately needed for clogged-up peak-time traffic from Stoke and Richmond. With the recent closure of Rocks Road from slips, traffic to and from south Nelson became a nightmare.
Lawrey’s determined efforts to make Nelson unfriendly to cars has cost our retail centre enormously – to the benefit of car-welcoming, Richmond Mall and businesses.
He’d be the LAST person Nelson would ever want as mayor.
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