Wheat, chaff, sheep, goats (resources, votes)
From Porcupine FarmHere’s how I’m voting this time, and – more likely to be useful for you – the resources I used to make my decisions.
Resources
- It’s Our City’s suggestions about who to root for and who to root out. If you read nothing else, read this.
- Generation Zero ratings on 5 environmental issues
- Gap Filler’s candidate questionnaire (To be honest I didn’t read much of this. Too long!)
- Other bloggers’ thoughts (James Dann, Puddleglum, Steven Cowan, Sam Johnson)
- Answers to questions on vote.co.nz
- Who voted for Marryatt’s pay-rise (see my previous blog)
- Party/group affiliation (see my previous blog)
- Their spiels in the voting book
- Individual research into the individual candidates (this takes the most time. My previous blog comments on a few I’ve taken interest in)
My votes
Mayor (pick one or none)
Lianne Dalziel
Councillors – Fendalton-Waimari ward (pick up to 2)
Raf Manji
Faimeh Burke
Community Board members – Fendalton-Waimari ward (pick up to 5)
Faimeh Burke
Sally Buck
Ahi Allen
Canterbury District Health Board members (rank as many/few as you like, up to 26) (Updated 9/10/2013)
7 are elected but your votes are almost guaranteed to be transferred further down your list, so it’s worth ranking at least 12 if you can bring yourself to do so. I’ve ranked 25 to give my votes the maximum chance of contributing to anyone but Keown (see below).
- Paul McMahon (preventive health, mentions health inequalities, highlights wider causes of (un)health, community development/youth health experience, supports living wage for all, supports free public dental care in theory, part of the Anabaptist network, People’s Choice)
- Heather Symes (health practitioner, focus on vulnerable people, sympathetic to public dental care, supports living wage for all health workers and lower CEO salaries, signed Nurses Organisation pledge, People’s Choice)
- Oscar Alpers (focus on vulnerable people, public health not health insurance, People’s Choice)
- Adrian Te Patu (health practitioner, community/public health experience)
- George Abraham (health scientist, campaigning on free public dental care, wants to look after ‘less privileged’)
- Jo Kane
- David Morrell
- Anna Crighton
- Chris Mene
- Sally Buck
- Steve Wakefield
- Alison Franklin
- Drucilla Kingi-Patterson
- Andrew McCombie
- Wendy Gilchrist
- Tim Howe
- John Noordanus
- Margaret McGowan
- Andrew Dickerson
- Beth Kempen
- Murray Clarke
- Keith Nelson
- David Rowland
- Robin Kilworth
- Tubby Hansen
Unranked: Aaron Keown (Only attended one two full Health Board meetings in 2012 but still picked up a cool $26,000 for his troubles. Tries to go where the populist wind blows, but occasionally reveals his true colours as an ACT member and Marryattophile who called quake victims whiners.)
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Disclaimer: Fine, I admit it. I linked to the Bryce Edwards post 78% for ego reasons. He mentions me!
Cut Your Hair 
I put Bridget Williams in with the Community Board. She’s 20 so I thought it would be good to get some young representation there. On the CDHB, you should definitely have Alison Franklin higher up as she’s got cerebal palsy and her experience with people with disabilities. Not cool to see someone like Tubby Hansen who denies Schizophrenia running for CDHB! Good work on the Bryce Edwards mention too!
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I jotted down that Franklin had experience with a disability herself, which does matter. Her work with disabled people (which I didn’t jot down) matters too. She probably deserves a promotion.
Jamie Gough shows that young isn’t always good. But perhaps young people are more likely to be open to listening/changing their minds. Who knows. I’m hoping Matt’s twin sister is elected in Shirley-Papanui.
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I considered voting for Bridget Williams as the least worst I-Citz option. I really did. If she was more independent I might, but they’re definitely a ‘team,’ and I couldn’t bring myself to vote for any of them… they just look so Fendalton.
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Hahaha ok. Did you have a least worst? Or leave it up to chance?
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I just voted for the three non-I-Citz.
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Well done. It’s very similar to who I voted for.
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Not voting. When we have a candidate for Mayor who runs on a platform of abolishing all elected councils and boards, privatizing all council functions, and then resigning, I’ll vote. Until then, there is no point in trying to decide which elected thief to put in power.
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Going by the same argument as with Aaron Keown, Chris Mene probably needs to come off or go down the list too who has only has been present for 8 full meetings out of 19 (not absent or arriving late/leaving early). Keown was present for 4 full meetings. Morrell 13, Gilchrist 14. Dickerson was most dedicated, attending all 19 if I counted right.
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OK, I’ve looked into it, and it seems Keown’s attendance wasn’t quite as bad as my original source blog said. I think that blog got its numbers from this article which was published in November 2012. Since then, Keown attended the December meeting and has made an appearance at all the 2013 meetings (though only once stayed the whole time).
But I’m not sure if your numbers for Keown vs. Mene are quite right either, unless you’re getting them from somewhere else than me. I tallied up the numbers here and this is what I’ve got. I may have made some mistakes in noting and/or adding up.
(Note that partial attendance can mean being there for a couple of hours or almost all of the day – note the difference between Keown and Crighton on 16 May 2013. If we really wanted to be accurate we’d get the exact number of hours. Also, I’m not counting being slightly late – eg. arriving at 9:11 – as partial attendance.)
2012:
16 Feb 2012 – Dickerson, Gilchrist, Mene, Morrell (arrived 11:30)
15 Mar 2012 – Crighton, D, G, Me, Mo
19 Apr 2012 – D, G (arrived 11:00), Keown (arrived 11:30), Me (left 1:30), Mo
17 May 2012 – C (arrived 11:00), D, G (left 1:00), Me
20 Jun 2012 – C, D, G, K, Me (left 12:30)
10 Jul 2012 (Special) – C, D, Mo
19 Jul 2012 – C, D, G, Me, Mo (arrived 10:40)
16 Aug 2012 – C, D, Me (left 11:15), Mo
20 Sep 2012 – C, D, G, Me, Mo
17 Oct 2012 – C, D, G, K (arrived 11:50), Me, Mo (arrived 10:50)
15 Nov 2012 – C, D, G, K (arrived 11:10), Me, Mo
20 Dec 2012 – C, D, K
Total 2012 (11 general, 1 special):
Dickerson – 12 full, 0 partial
Crighton – 8 full, 2 partial
Mene – 7 full, 3 partial
Morrell – 7 full, 2 partial
Gilchrist – 7 full, 2 partial
Keown – 2 full, 3 partial
2013 so far:
11 Feb 2013 (Special) – C, D, G, K (arrived 11:30), Mo
14 Feb 2013 – C, D, G, K (arrived 1:30), Me (11:20), Mo
14 Mar 2013 – C, D, G, K (arrived 11:05), Me (absent 11:00-1:15), Mo
18 Apr 2013 – C, D, G, K, Me, Mo
16 May 2013 – C (left 3:30), D, G, K (left 11:10), Me (arrived 10:05), Mo
20 Jun 2013 – D, G, Me, Mo
18 Jul 2013 – C, D, G (arrived 10:10, left 12:20), K (arrived 12:40), Me, Mo
15 Aug 2013 – C, D, G, K (11:15), Mo
19 Sep 2013 – Minutes not available yet
Total Feb-Aug 2013 (7 general, 1 special):
Dickerson – 8 full, 0 partial
Morrell – 8 full, 0 partial
Gilchrist – 7 full, 1 partial
Crighton – 6 full, 1 partial
Mene – 3 full, 3 partial
Keown – 1 full, 6 partial
So… interpreting all this … yes, Mene is the second-worst offender this year and should perhaps be demoted down my list because of it. But Keown’s attendance is significantly worse than Mene’s, especially before the newspaper article exposed him.
In Keown’s defence he probably had other commitments, rather than just off on bike rides. But, I don’t know if that really should be counted in his defence. If anything, it’s a reason why we shouldn’t allow someone to be on both the council and the DHB – as 90%+ poll respondents here seem to think.
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I find it curious Caleb that someone with supposedly anarchist sympathies will be voting for, by far and away, the most pro-state, authoritarian candidate for Mayor possible, a women for whom the label Stalinist is not entirely inaccurate.
Does driving in the opposite direction to your destination ever get you where you want to go?
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You have a one-dimensional view of state versus capitalism… I think the situation is much more complex than you acknowledge. I see neo-liberal capitalism and the wealthy/business interests represented by the National government as a much bigger threat to freedom and democracy than the mild centre-left social-democracy/’third-way’-capitalism represented by Dalziel.
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That’s sounds like a one dimensional excuse for advocating and voting for tyranny. Capitalism, real capitalism, is no threat to anyone. The State is, and those Statists hiding behind dishonest labels like “Third Way” are the major and primary threat to my freedom.
McDonalds is not oppressing me and stealing from me and others. The State is, and Dlaziel is an advocate of more State tyranny, oppression and theft.
Justice cannot be had through the armed State, real justice cannot be established by pointing the guns of the State at people and forcing them to hand over their property. That is just tyranny pretending to be justice.
Justice is not an excuse.
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What is true, just, and beautiful is not determined by popular vote. The masses everywhere are ignorant, short-sighted, motivated by envy, and easy to fool. Democratic politicians must appeal to these masses in order to be elected. Whoever is the best demagogue will win. Almost by necessity, then, democracy will lead to the perversion of truth, justice and beauty. – – Hans-Hermann Hoppe.
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