Celia's revenge

We blogged on Wednesday about John Morrison's leadership of Wellington's bid to host the FIFA World Cup qualifier in November. It seems that Celia Wade-Brown is upset at John Morrison hogging the headlines; Stuff reports:

Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown has been accused of "blatant electioneering" by her mayoral opponent, John Morrison, after she left him out of last-minute efforts to secure a football World Cup qualifying match for the capital.
Ms Wade-Brown was in Auckland yesterday, wooing New Zealand Football officials who will decide where the All Whites will play their final home qualification game in November ahead of next year's World Cup in Brazil.
The choice is between Wellington's Westpac Stadium or Auckland's Eden Park.
Mr Morrison, who is the city council's sports portfolio leader, said he had been working with Wellington's bid team for months.
But he found out late on Thursday night that the mayor had "pulled rank" and would be leading the delegation instead of him, he said.
"She's attempted to basically sneak around me and slip up there [to Auckland] in the hopes that she can come away with some glory, presumably," Mr Morrison said.
"It's totally out of order in terms of etiquette," Mr Morrison said.
"I just hope she doesn't unstitch the deal since she hasn't really been involved at all.
"I hope she doesn't stuff it up for Wellington." 

We hope likewise. We will be going to the match, regardless of where it is played. But we would far rather go to a match at Westpac Stadium where the atmosphere will be electric than to Eden Park where it might be.

And in the time-honoured tradition of Green politics, Ms Wade-Brown has defended her intervention:

Ms Wade-Brown, who was yesterday quoted in The Dominion Post as favouring a "consultative and inclusive leadership style", defended her decision to go.
"I signed off the proposal, so it was appropriate that I attend and lead the presentation with other city partners," she said.
"It was a very positive and successful visit."
As sports portfolio leader, Mr Morrison said he was better equipped to seal the deal for the capital, which famously hosted the 2009 victory over Bahrain that meant New Zealand qualified for the last world cup.
He would have been happy for both he and the mayor to lead the delegation to Auckland but that conversation never happened, he said.
Ms Wade-Brown pointed out that she had stood by while Mr Morrison visited Melbourne to lead discussions on bringing the AFL match to the capital earlier this year. 

Celia Wade-Brown has clearly got her knickers in a knot over her mayoral rival's use of his sporting contacts and experience. It sounds too as though she may be a little bitter at not having got a trip to Melbourne to firm up the AFL match played in Wellington on Anzac Day that was such a success. But we reckon that she has over-reacted here by pulling rank.

We have made no secret of the fact that we reckon that John Morrison would be a breath of fresh air for Wellington. He gets things done, in stark contrast to Ms Wade-Brown who has been bogged down during her term as mayor. Her so-called "consultative and inclusive leadership style" has led to paralysis in local government decision-making.

Ms Wade-Brown's blatant politicking here will do her no favours. We will now openly and unashamedly cheer-lead for John Morrison in his quest to become mayor of Wellington in 2013.