Recently re-elected Mayor of Auckland, Len Brown was recently outed over and admitted to a two year long affair with attractive political rookie Bevan Chuang. The story has now gone global.
CNN does superb coverage of all the unfolding scandal:
Len Brown leads on CNN
Where have we heard all this before?
New York: Former congressman and recidivist sexter Anthony Weiner’s hopes of becoming Mayor of New York were dashed during the primaries in a sexting scandal:
By “those meddling kids”
 Anthony Weiner Blames Mayoral Loss on the Existence of the Internet:
“That’s right. If it weren’t for those meddling kids and that internet, maybe Weiner would be mayor right now. Or even President. It’s hard to tell, since history would probably be a lot different without the advent of high-speed communication, but anything is possible when we use our imaginations.”
The breathtaking arrogance of the man. He resigned from Congress in 2011 for tweeting sexually suggestive photos of himself.
Do men like this learn from their mistakes?
It would seem not. In July 2013 he had to withdraw from the Mayoral race after sexting via an alias.
So his behaviour as a role model is appalling. His actions and judgement show a lack of foresight and judgment and he blames his downfall on the Internet.
Unfortunately the revelations around Len Brown’s behavior have come too late for the voters of Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city to have the discussion during the Mayoral race.
New Zealand’s Len brown was elected before his sexual misdemeanors came to light last week via the Whaleoil blog.
Straight away the battle line were drawn. It was declared a plot by left wing commentators who ran with stories linking Brown’s rival John Palino to the disclosures over Brown’s personal life. Chuang was pressured to reveal all, it was alleged. Chuang obliged by turning into a sook; wishing that nice Mr Brown all the best and turning on the tears. Probably an ill advised attempt to control her public image.
She should have gone to ground. She made her bed, etc, et al. However, the pressure must have been immense with middle aged men of all political creeds going: “Phoarrr”, “it was all the fault of the Asian Hussy”.
Men! More fantasy than reality. How many of these commentators have ever been seduced in this manner when the reality is that women are more vulnerable to being picked off by powerful males, AKA Bill Clinton.
It’s now a play in the great game of political roshambo between the oil and agricultural/ industries and left wing city planners who hold the moral higher ground in the eyes of liberal city voters.
In this arena, corn and rail inevitably trump oil so it’s a mere shame that those nasty right wing bloggers have outed that nice Mr Brown.
I personally have my concerns about that nice Mr Brown.
I suggest he has a level of breathtaking arrogance that is of a concern to voters.
Brown immediately pled for understanding from voters and privacy to work through the issues with his family. He had told his wife about the affair, he said.
We’re very understanding, we voters. Affairs happen.
And the media should stay out of politicians private lives. And so they should unless it is exposing an unprecedented level of duplicity and hypocrisy.
Duplicity: The timing of the confession to his wife roughly coincided with a threatening text by an as yet unidentified party to Bevan Chuang. We are left
with the conclusion that Brown only confessed the affair to his wife only when he knew the story was breaking nationwide.
Hypocrisy: Brown asks for privacy then issues a press statement allegedly from his daughters underling their full support for their dad. “Written on behalf of Sam, Olivia and Victoria”.Â
Len Brown’s daughters: Would they stand by their husbands if they behaved in a similar fashion?
The number of females under the unrelenting glare of the media spotlight has now trebled. Chuang, Brown’s wife and daughters are all being held hostage due to the actions of one man. A man who didn’t separate his public and personal life but now asks the voters to.
The level of duplicity and hypocrisy that Len Brown has displayed is of a concern for voters. He should step down; a by-election would allow voters to ask themselves if they can accept these traits in a mayor. He may well be re-elected but will have done so in an arena of full disclosure.
A Big Swinging Dick like Brown or second runner up; politically unpalatable Palino, is the last thing that Auckland needs. Where is a women to run the city when you need one? Or someone like that nice gay-friendly Maurice Williamson who may be the only person who could bridge the left/right divide:
It would take a real Space Cowboy to quell the partisan clamor ignited by the outing of Lothario Len by the roguish Cameron Slater (Chaotic Neutral) and freelancer Stephen Cook; Hmmm. Jury’s out on this one but if recent reports of his porn movie plans are true; Character alignment: chaotic evil.)
What we can conclude, is that given the incredible interest over social media of both Weiner and Brown; we are in a new age of media and publishing.
