There have been quite a few stories from the election campaign of candidates not showing up to election meetings, but it seems to have been a particular problem in Tauranga. I will hand over to Labour candidate Deborah Mahuta-Coyle to tell the story from up there.
We had heard on the grapevine that Simon Bridges wasn’t planning to front any candidates meetings during the election campaign. We shifted meeting dates, community groups offered to work within his availability- but after 6 cancelled candidates meetings in a row, people were angry their MP wasn’t fronting. They wrote into papers, some calling him arrogant, and many asked him to front up.
So me, Ian McLean from the Greens, Brendon Horan from NZFirst and Jayson Gardiner from Mana decided if Simon didn’t have time to come to us- we would go to him.
At 2pm today we as Tauranga Candidates arrived at one of Simons scheduled street corner meetings.
The look on Simons face when he saw us coming. He promptly turned his speaker phone on, and just yelled over us. Refused to even consider a short candidates meeting and only took questions from his supporters!
We clearly shook him up a bit as he yelled that Nationals tax system was fairer because drug dealers paid tax and when he claimed he had door knocked in a poorer area of Tauranga- a woman had him up about it and said in the last 3 years she hadn’t seen him once!
Our street corner meeting/ impromptu candidates meeting started with 5 national party supporters and ended up hosting over 30 people!
Simon scurried off as soon as he could- but I bet you he was worried at every street corner meeting after that one that we would turn up again.
Good on the other candidates for getting together on this one. Candidate meetings are time consuming, and we have a lot of them here in Wellington Central, but they are part of the democratic process. Even John Key managed to get to a couple of them, so surely Simon could have too?
Bridges isn’t building any bridges.
Simon, like many other Nat MPs, makes an excellent cardboard politician.
Another travesty is John Keys “bus tour”. The bus is only for his travelling ‘rent a mob’ as Key travels in a BMW limo ( behind ?) the bus. This was shown on Cambell Live last week
What a load of nonsense, in the US where this idea is copied from, the presidential candidate travels IN the bus , with staff and often journalists. Of course they may “fly in flyout” to a particular city but do the local tour on the bus. So it cant all be about “security”.
The man of the people is just another slick branding exercise
The man of the people sees himself as better than the people and that is why he travels in his BMW limo behind the bus.
The man of the people has hoodwinked the people into believing he cares about them when he doesn’t really give a damm – unless they are rich and/or useful to him.
Simon Bridges? He follows in the man of the people’s footsteps. “Where he goes I go”.
Election meetings are a basic part of the democratic process when the candidates have to front and explain why they deserve your vote. But it seems the National Party has told their candidates not to attend joint candidate meetings and there are reports from electorates all over the country (including in Wellington) where they had pulled out or just don’t attend. I just don’t understand this strategy as it will just annoy people who have made the effort to attend. The only explanation is that the National Party polices are not worth defending or the candidates are so terrible at defending them, that it is worth taking the risk of not fronting.
This is also slippery slope stuff which might not have an effect immediately but builds an impression of arrogance and disregard for the people that becomes corrosive.
It does seem incredible that in a Democracy and during an Election that not only does Key not front up but nor do his Ministers or his MPs. Not on Radio National, or TV or print! It must be the most arrogant and anti-democratic campaign ever. The people should be made aware and should protest.
Just been looking at the web site of the Bay of Plenty Times, which covers Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, Coromandel, Rotorua and East Coast electorates. All with current National MPs .
NOT ONE of the national MPs or candidates are listed as ‘answering your questions’ or seem to have a story about what they want to talk about.
Even Sue Bradford gets a story. Judith Collins joins the reporters for chat !!!
http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/election-2011/
A quick check of ‘Hawkes Bay Today’ finds much the same. Local national Mps are invisible
http://www.hawkesbaytoday.co.nz/local/news/
Not even a puff piece
Do I detect a cunning plan here, orchestrated from party HQ
National is a one trick donkey, the rest are mules, even that Donkey needs one of the biggest PR teams and budgets in NZ political history to keep him on song. Put some unscripted pressure on and all of a sudden the Donkey can gallop quickly back into the BMW.
Those of us who live in the poorer parts of Tauranga are used to this kind of treatment from Simon. Being ignored by our MP, no help from our MP, our MP is ignorant of what really happens in places like Merivale, and then our MP gives us a tax increase.
Vote Deborah and get someone who isn’t afraid to meet with poor people. Who isn’t afraid to step outside her ring of supporters.
It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.
-Abraham Lincoln
This seems like National’s game plan. Everybody keep your collective mouths shut and let John Key’s “likeability” do the work for us.
Pity John Key wasn’t aware of this re Banks stunt.
Banks’ comment that ACT is a “centre-right” party was possibly the funniest thing I’ve heard so far. ACT is centre-right if Genghis Khan sits in the centre of the political spectrum.
Yes, not an impressive MP Simon Bridges.
Very right wing on MMP too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfrvH67T36Y
Being confronted by Deb Mahuta…I’d run too.
Simon’s just doing what John says, John’s God, John walks on water, John says…avoid Deb, she could trip you over.
No.8 wire fence..John referred too on tv, but he didn’t talk about spines like dental floss…or courage so slippery you could put a tail on it and call it an eel.
Quite frankly, Simon’s a cardboard cut-out..he should be the Nat Party’s ken doll to their barbie…Melissa Lee.
Hilarious, good on you for taking the debate to Bridges. Thanks this made me smile and laugh.
Fairs fair guys, this makes perfect sense, after all the Allblacks closed down the final to wind down the clock, all they had to do was not make any mistakes, isnt this exactly what National is doing.
Smart politics, i dont like it but you have to give them credit where credits due.
This is your final warning for trolling. Trevor
Good on Deb & other candidates. Gutless national Party candidate behaviour. Down in the South we remember an election when Bill English sent a photo of himself & the latest baby rather than appear. Not a new trick, but an anti-democratic one. Hope the media have picked up this insult to the electorate of Tauranga??
Thought Simon was supposed to be a gun debater.
Is he worried about getting a pasting in the candidates meetings after his appearances on Breakfast with Jacinda?
or that the positions he’d have to defend are simply too indefensible to even try?
Yee haa!
Now that’s what I call an intervention! 
!
Simon Bridges is a GOD BOY, & all who fall below his expectations are not worth an ounce of Compassion, simply because he thinks they made the Wrong Choices……I know his Whanau & everyone of them has not a Empathetic bone in their bodies……..arrogance on their sleeves.
riddle, that’s harsh, what on earth do his family have to do with it and who are you to determine their calibre? By all means opine on candidates…
Riddle knows the Bridges family and is in a better position to recognise their qualities or the lack of them Tracey. He has a right to comment if he considers them to be a contributing factor – and he clearly does – towards Simon Bridges’ own attitude and behaviour.
Riddle and Anne, you expose yourselves as ignorant of the old adage that ‘if you have nothing nice to say about someone, say nothing’. Your comments are therefore worthless.
Vote change from MMP so that we can have the debate because we haven’t had one (seems he missed the one we had in the 1980s).
Having a review will only bring up more questions and so we don’t want to do that (so much for wanting to have a debate).
Pure duplicity. He wants to change the system because he wants to change the system which I think is probably due to the fact that, so far, MMP is showing that the people don’t actually want National and so National want to go back to the system that put National in power even when they didn’t get voted for.
Well, considering that sociologists are starting to think the social environment you grow up in has more to do with your character than pretty much anything else, probably quite a lot.
Ehoa, you are right but JK needs cardboard cut-out candidates and yesmen/women because he can’t handle anyone else. He should look over old Rob Muldoon tapes, that man (love him or loathe him) loved it when people gave him stick because he could always return a double dose.
Why is my comment from 9.21am still in moderation at 5.53pm???
You are warned Richard 1. Clare