Fran O'Sullivan : Brown's victory a mix of style and substance - Politics

Len Brown took a note out of John Key's book by using Antoine's as a campaign venue. Photo / Dean Purcell One of the great untold stories of Len Brown's mayoralty campaign is the series of private lunches he held at Tony Astle's superb Antoine's restaurant to woo some of Auckland's most influential business people.Antoines is also John Key's favourite Parnell haunt. With wife Bronagh, he is a frequent Sunday night diner.Aucklanders won't know for a couple of months yet just how successful Brown was in converting those hardcore business people into financial supporters. But good taste counts.And anecdotal evidence suggests he defused worries in some of the nation's most powerful boardrooms that Auckland was on the verge of electing an emotional cot-case. Brown, at least, had a plan. John Banks had platitudes.Brown comprehensively out-campaigned Banks. His first-class team outgunned Banks' tired old campaigners. They bearded the enemy in his own den. Banks stuck to the CBD. They got the vote out.When it came time for the Herald's Great Mayoral Debate, Brown's team sent me a well-articulated economic development strategy. Banks' paper was clearly "on the fly".So, we can feel some confidence that our new mayor has thought deeply about Auckland's future.But if Brown wants to retain that hard-won confidence (who can forget his embarrassing meltdown on national television?) he should not insult us by continuing to give fatuous responses to two vital questions: Where did the money come from for his campaign, and just who will ultimately fund the three big rail projects he has vowed to make his priority.Brown's default position is to obfuscate when challenged on these issues. But there is a 55-day gap between the date the Auckland Council election results were confirmed (yesterday) and the date when the first Mayor of Auckland will have to disclose where he got his funding from and where he spent it.It is obvious that Brown's election campaign was very expensive. His television advertisements successfully proclaimed the simple message: he would be the "mayor for all Auckland".But even if he got the creative at a knock-down rate, the prime-time television spots would have come with a very juicy price tag.Unfortunately, our new mayor was less than candid when asked where his election funds came from on last Sunday's The Nation programme.See more in http://consider.onsugar.com/