Is Len Brown morphing into Andrew Williams?

Now why would we be asking that question? Well, back in April (on Easter Sunday in fact) Andrew Williams sent out an e-mail. We blogged on it at the time, but it won't hurt to reproduce it again:

From: Mayor Andrew Williams [mailto:mayor@northshorecity.govt.nz]
Sent: Sunday, 4 April 2010 8:31 AM
To: Grant Gillon; Callum Blair; Jan O'Connor; Joy Brett JP; Julia Parfitt - EXT; Ken McKay QSM J.P.; Tony
Holman QSO; Vivienne Keohane
Cc: SteveArmitage
Subject: RE: Sunday Star Times articles today
Yes two blokes got crucified this week...and both will most certainly rise from the dead to come back to haunt a few people!!
Must go....off fishing to catch some big ones.
Andrew
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Andrew Williams, JP | Mayor of North Shore
Email mayor@northshorecity.govt.nz
Tel 09-4868687
Fax 09-4868445
Web www.northshorecity.govt.nz
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Where are we going with this? Check this out, from today's Herald on Sunday:

Super City mayoral candidate Len Brown has considered pulling out of the race because of the impact on his family, he has revealed in an emotional interview.

He said only Jesus Christ had withstood such a high level of scrutiny as him, and come out clean. If ratepayers demand that he identifies who he meets with, then he will quit as Manukau mayor.

Brown spoke with the Herald on Sunday after the Auditor-General chastened him for "mistakes" but decided not to further investigate personal spending on his city council credit card.

The mayor insisted he had no obligation to disclose who he had taken to dinner on public money, and that criticism of his spending was a Citizens and Ratepayers "smear campaign".

Now we realise that Len Brown is under a lot of pressure since the revelations were made about his credit card spending. But this is just bizarre, for two reasons.

Firstly, Brown may feel he's playing to his constituency with his self-comparison to Jesus. However, we believe that many people will be deeply offended by the Mayor of Manukau comparing himself to the Son of Man. We believe that Len Brown is treading on very dangerous ground. And the comparison isn't even a valid one; after all, Winston Peters endured all manner of inquiries prior to the last election, whereas the Auditor-General doesn't regard Len Brown's spending as worthy of the time and effort of her office.

Secondly, why is Len Brown being so coy over who dined with him at Volare? What does he have to hide? If the dinner was an acceptable use of ratepayer funds, as Brown insists it was, then why will he not reveal who shared his table AT THE EXPENSE OF MANUKAU RATEPAYERS? And does he not realise that the more he plays silly beggars over this, the more questions people will ask, and the more speculation such as this will occur. It's Len Brown himself who continues to give this story legs, and it seems to have reached the stage where the only way it will go away will be for Brown to front up. But we don't expect that to happen any time soon.