Jeremy Greenbrook-Held pictured in 2019. Photo: @JGreenbrookHeld / Twitter
In Auckland, the campaign manager for a left-leaning local body election candidate for City Vision, has endorsed incumbent Mayor Wayne Brown rather than Labour-aligned challenger Kerrin Leoni.
Jeremy Greenbrook-Held and Leoni are both former Labour candidates, but the party did not endorse Leoni for mayor in this year's local elections.
Greenbrook-Held was Labour's electorate candidate for Helensville in 2011, and Leoni stood on the Labour ticket in the 2020 general elections and in previous local body elections.
In a lengthy Facebook post this week, Greenbrook-Held announced that despite being critical of Brown in the past, he would vote for him and not Leoni for mayor.
Greenbrook-Held told RNZ his post was his personal view and he was not speaking for any group he was aligned with.
Brown done 'really good job'
He believed Brown had shown he deserved a second term.
"Wayne's done a really good job as the incumbent. He's shown that he's willing to get things done around that council table. He's shown an ability to surround himself with really good, progressive candidates. I love his pool down on the waterfront."
He said Leoni had approached him when she decided to run, and that he "gave his opinion".
He said his post was not an endorsement, but that he always shared how he planned to vote, as it had been helpful to his "non-political friends".
In the post, he also expressed his support for several council and local board candidates running on "Green and Labour coalition tickets".
The public support comes as local body election voting papers have been sent out to Aucklanders this week.
Mayoral candidate Kerrin Leoni Photo: RNZ / Jessica Hopkins
Aware of position for months - Leoni
Leoni told RNZ she had been aware of Greenbrook-Held's opinion for some time.
"I actually had this conversation with Jeremy months ago.
"There are some people in the Labour Party who have relationships with Wayne Brown. I know many years ago he had a very close relationship with Helen Clark and other people within the party and some of those relationships still exist.
"That is down to him [Greenbrook-Held] and his own choice if he feels he wants to vote for Wayne.
"But we [her and Brown] are both actually independents and not endorsed by Labour or City Vision."
She said she had support from Labour, Greens, and National MPs on a "local level", despite not being officially endorsed by any political party.
"I understand there's a process big political parties have to go through in terms of formal endorsement. But Wayne Brown's not endorsed by either of the parties either and National I've heard never endorse an actual candidate."
She said Labour's Willie Jackson, former Labour MP Judith Tizard, and the late Takutai Tarsh Kemp, had attended her events.
"There are other MPs who have reached out and said they are supporting me. When I hold other events over the next four weeks, I will be inviting them along, and it will be their choice if they want to attend."
She did not want to mention specific names.
When approached about Greenbrook-Held's post, a spokesperson for the Brown campaign told RNZ he was "one of many Aucklanders who is placing their trust in Wayne to fix Auckland".
