'I would love to': John Palino weighing up another tilt at Auckland mayoralty

Monday, 6 August 2018

John Palino says he 'would like to' run for the Auckland mayorality again if he can get support behind him.

Former candidate John Palino is considering another tilt at the Auckland mayoralty, saying he could leave the city if it continues on its current path.

Palino's best election result came in 2013 when he secured over 100,000 votes, but still finished a distant second to Len Brown.

The American-born Aucklander is a restauranteur and real estate agent, and is expecting his first child in September, but says he still wants to run for Auckland's top job.

'That passion is still there. I still feel that I want to run and get involved and actually sort it [Auckland] out,' Palino told Stuff.

* Auckland Mayor Phil Goff cashed up and giving 'serious thought' to re-election

* Palino: why it's time to forget about Len Brown's sex scandal

Goff is giving 'serious thought' to seeking re-election next year.

* Mayoral candidate John Palino advocates tax incentives to create satellite cities**

'The only thing that changes that is of course the cost of running and you definitely need to have a party's support unfortunately, because you can see that voting in Auckland is basically either left or right.

030413 LAWRENCE SMITH/FAIRFAX MEDIAEntrepreneur John Palino photographed for the Sunday Star Times business profile.

'I'm talking to people now and I'm working at seeing if I can get the support so that I could run again, and if that's the case then I would like to.

'It's not 100 per cent yet. I would love to.'

Luigi Wewege, Bevan Chuang and John Palino during Palino's first mayoral tilt - and before the Len Brown affair was made public.

Palino said he might look at leaving Auckland 'if we don't start doing things differently'.

'I'd probably have to go somewhere else that's going to be a lot easier to live, because it's becoming difficult here,' he said.

'From living in Los Angeles, and seeing why we shouldn't be modelling off Los Angeles, and living in New York and Connecticut and New Jersey, and understanding how cities are built there, I just get so passionate about the possibilities we have in Auckland and that doesn't disappear.'

After finishing second to Brown in 2013, Palino took a second shot at the mayoralty in 2016.

He finished fourth behind current mayor Phil Goff, Vic Crone, now Callaghan Innovation chief executive, and current Green Party MP Chloe Swarbrick.

Last election, Palino said he wanted to create 30,000 jobs on Auckland's North Shore by offering tax incentives to businesses moving to Albany.

He also wanted to create a new satellite city to the south outside Auckland's metropolitan boundary.

Under Palino, Auckland Council would have bought the land for the city. It would build infrastructure and sell the land to developers, he said.

The mayoral hopeful also became caught up in accusations he was being behind a plot to bring down Brown by revealing his two-year extra-marital affair with council adviser Bevan Chuang just after the 2013 election.

Palino insisted he played no part in breaking the story about the affair. Chuang claimed to have been romantically involved with Palino's campaign worker, Luigi Wewege, at the same time as Brown.

NOT SOLD ON GOFF

Palino believed Goff was 'fortunate' to have central Government 'on his side'.

'That allows him to get across things that he wants to get across,' he said.

However, Palino believed Goff was unable to 'control the team' and 'have a vision' that resolved Auckland's issues.

'I heard him speak the other day and somebody asked him about light rail from Manukau to the airport, instead of light rail to the city, and his response was that the experts looked at different areas and came up with the plan they came up with,' Palino said.

'I find that our politicians hire all these experts to tell them what to do, well they're only there to give you the advice so that you can make the decision.'