2011 Youth Candidate Review - ACT and National
(pictures will be inserted when blogger behaves itself)
David Seymour
If David makes it to Parliament on Saturday night he will become the first new entrant who has come through ACT on Campus (now termed "the Killer Bees") right through the ranks of the Party. Generally perceived as an extreme self-promoter (sending Board members atrociously large amounts of material all about himself before the list selection) David ranked his achievements and future at the tender age of around 28 as somewhere up there with a combination of a Nobel winning economist, Pulitzer Prize Winning author and coach of the All Blacks. Problem with David is that he doesn't need to go to these extremes because he had a track record in the Party that was going to eventually mean he was always going to make it.
David was educated in New Zealand as he will tell you at Auckland Grammar then went to Auckland University to complete a BE in Electrical Engineering and a BA in Philosophy. Light on work experience and opportunity in New Zealand he commendably shot off to Canada to work for a "think tank" for a few years doing god knows what, and is currently hedging his bets as one would being an ACT candidate, and is officially on sabbatical. Can 28 year olds even have one of those?
David built his own car. Not many candidates standing for Parliament in 2011 can claim they would have the first clue how to do that. That makes him slightly cooler than the other kids.
My original impression of David is that was is need of a good trip to Vegas, whereby he would ideally meet some hookers Hangover style in a hot tub and spend three days in a coke-induced stuper before returning to real life whereby he would take himself a little less seriously. I still have that impression. He is a young face, but more representative of the uptight sort of youth you would find still living at home with their parents. You could imagine David in a bar talking the varnish off the bar stool at 2am about Hayek and Von Mises than actually enjoying his free time chasing tail.
All this aside in Auckland Central against Nikki Kaye and Jacinda "Kim Kardashian" Ardern, two slightly older candidates and sitting MP's, Seymour looks like and is a star. His performance in the Auckland Central Back Benches debate in front of a hostile crowd and next to three often screaming estrogen-filled comparatively empty vessels, was superb. He isn't afraid to heckle and stick it to the opposition getting the best hit of the night landing square on Ardern about her links to Morrinsville. One observation I will make from the clips I have seen is that Seymour needs to dumb down his messages especially about Economics, so the 99% have a hope in hell of what he is talking about. Especially at his age where he just looks like a smart arse. Once he manages this and gets more experience and confidence in being less serious about himself, he may develop the charisma and personality required to lead the Party. Which is where I see him heading.
Should he be an MP? No not yet, too young, stiff and inexperienced. Ideally send him back off overseas to come back in ten years. I have no idea what Seymour earned in Canada but I hazard a guess in his career right now he would be getting a substantial payrise to enter politics. Meaning by my radar he's not ready for it.
Could he be an MP? Definitely yes. He ranks as far better than anyone his own age or the younger candidates from the 2008 intake. Wouldn't let anyone down in ACT who has supported him.
Will he be an MP? Maybe. If ACT are stuck on four MP's on election night, Don would do the Party and New Zealand a favour for the future by pissing off to Washington or Singapore and letting Seymour through from the List at number 5.
Stephen Whittington
Stephen has the dubious honour of working as basically Sir Roger Douglas' PA but only well after Roger was cool and able to do cool stuff. In that time no doubt he would have been ordered to draft all sorts of daft arse policy, the culmination of not stopping Roger in his tracks being around 17 pages of nonsense too close to the election that never made it past the cutting floor as Roger went back to the future and wanted an asset tax.
Whittington went to Victoria University and completed an LLB (Hons) and a BA in Latin and headed to Russell McFactory to work in the tax law team whereby he is destined for a life as a bitch killing himself in the vagaries of New Zealand tax law before turning into a zombie and becoming Manager then either escaping Alcatraz by moving overseas or becoming Partner and wedded to "the Firm". Whittington has instead in a politically charged process of internal law firm politics, potentially poked that career by declaring publicly his political stripes and standing for a Party at one stage that has been on .7%.
Whittington is obviously, like all these kiddie candidates, academically extremely bright but at age 25 I cannot find being debated to about employment law, welfare, foreign policy actually all that credible. His main achievement outside of being at the embryonic stage of this tax law path to doom, is as a debating champion. Fine. But it is wearing thin top advertise yourself as in 2009 "the 15th best speaker in the world". Not one journalist has asked if this includes or excludes Obama least of all worked out how the claim is measured. His performances on television have been good but listening to him he needs to remember he is speaking to people and not constantly in a debating contest. It is all too intense. Debating is one thing but in a Party of a few MP's your time in the debating chamber on your feet is limited. Whittington appeals to his loud debating University mates who can't shut up about anything, let alone how good their boy is. He may very well be in the future.
That's about all I can write about Whittington because there isn't anything else. It is not indictment on his intellect or achievements to date. It is just that he is 25 years old, preppy and like Seymour, has absolutely no edges or mongrel yet to him to cling to that make him stand out as interesting.
Should he be an MP? Far too young, no. Especially as in his career right now he would be getting a substantial payrise to enter politics. Meaning he's not ready for it.
Could he be an MP? Yes. Again he compares favourably to other 25 year olds and the 2008 intake.
Will he be an MP? No. Not with ACT's likely election night score. Took a big one for the team as he's put himself out as a candidate, scored the black mark in his political neutrality profession test and had stuff all chance of making it to Parliament. Either blind faith or very poor judgment listening to Roger and Don that they would manage 15% vote.
Simon O'Connor
Simon O'Connor is the ultimate accidental candidate. His candidate profile on the National Party website is here. Pulled in a bizarre fashion from a standing list of prospects after the tragic early demise of Allan Peachey, I ask has there ever been a luckier potential politician than O'Connor? In the seat of Tamaki he could last longer than Muldoon's 31 years without any of the passion, experience, gifted skill or bastardly charm that Sir Rob possessed.
Whaleoil pointed O'Connor out to me crossing the street outside the National Party campaign opening. The men he was with looked more the candidate than he did. A mild, non-descript, bland skinny man indeed. I have a rule in life never to trust skinny, runty men. It usually means they are vegetarian and all vegetarians are shifty in nature. And they are usually long-distance runners to stay that thin. Which means they wear split shorts. A pet hate of mine up there with Bob Jones and his aversion to sunglasses on heads.
O'Connor was a list candidate for National in 2008. How did we all miss that? He lost to a far superior candidate well-rounded Sam Lotu-liga in Maungakiekie where he is alleged to have run dirty tricks in his attempt to be selected. Whaleoil profiled O'Connor during the Tamaki selection.
Apparently O'Connor is a "long time National loyalist" and a "stalwart". He's my age for heaven's sake. How can you be a stalwart? I tried to trace O'Connor's working career and started with his current job as a "Contracts Manager for Southern Cross Health Society" and then his previous very vague "several roles within the Ministry of Social Development".
O'Connor looks like the sort of person who has trained his whole life and never actually practised anything. He is alleged to have four degrees which in itself shows the lack of confidence and over-compensation to actually achieve anything outside the safe confines of the University moss for fear of being under-qualified when dealing with adults. I mean who on earth needs four degrees when their aim always has been to be an MP or otherwise snot grovel their way through the National Party and its connections? O'Connor even trained as a Priest and then never went through with that either.
Should he be an MP? No, non-descript, trained in everything achieved in nothing. A stereotypical middle-manager.
Could he be an MP? Of course. And he will be as dull and grating as a church service on a Sunday with a hangover.
Will he be an MP? Unfortunately definitely. Landed with his bottie on one of the safest National seats in the country.
I promised Scott Simpson but Whaleoil told me I would be kicked out of the VRWC for even mentioning his old bones so instead I have:
Paul Foster-Bell
Foster-Bell has gained somewhat of a cult following in Wellington Central with his doppleganger Grant Robertson. A difficult looking, esoteric man who cannot decide which parent he wishes to represent in his surname, he holds a Degree in Archaeology and a Diploma of Business. Such a background will really only make him perfect for removing the Labour Party front bench from the rubble on Sunday and studying their dinosaur-like bones before selling them to offshore museums to the highest bidders through his diplomatic connections.
The funniest thing about Paul is that he claims to be of "English, Scots and Maori descent". I don't quite know where the Maori comes in. Perhaps his mother talked to one in 1972 while bringing the washing in? The least funny thing is he spent seven years working for MFAT. And he is a "Blue Green" which means he believes in the lunatic carbon trading scheme and hugs Nick Smith at random.
Foster-Bell comes across as a member of the "cultural elite" but then there is a weird gap from his A Bursary in 1994 from Whangarei Boys High to his graduation in 2004 with a BA. Didn't Marc Ellis finish his degree quicker than that? Somehow he's then jumped in 2008-09 to being bright enough to attend Oxford. But not so bright that he's poked his diplomatic record by standing for National without a decent list spot.
Should he be an MP? Not for National no.
Could he be an MP? Wellington Central already have a pet MP who is used to sucking off the taxpayers tit in Robertson, they don't need another almost identical but for the blue rosette.
Will he be an MP? At number 57 he is one below Paul Quinn which says what the Party hierarchy think of him. However if there is a giant mudslide all over Labour, he will get in. I don't know the precise numbers required but according to Pollster Farrar if National get 65 seats Foster-Bell will get there. Good luck to him because if they poll that high, none of us in the VRWC will actually mind.
Tomorrow - Labour and the Greens.
If David makes it to Parliament on Saturday night he will become the first new entrant who has come through ACT on Campus (now termed "the Killer Bees") right through the ranks of the Party. Generally perceived as an extreme self-promoter (sending Board members atrociously large amounts of material all about himself before the list selection) David ranked his achievements and future at the tender age of around 28 as somewhere up there with a combination of a Nobel winning economist, Pulitzer Prize Winning author and coach of the All Blacks. Problem with David is that he doesn't need to go to these extremes because he had a track record in the Party that was going to eventually mean he was always going to make it.
David was educated in New Zealand as he will tell you at Auckland Grammar then went to Auckland University to complete a BE in Electrical Engineering and a BA in Philosophy. Light on work experience and opportunity in New Zealand he commendably shot off to Canada to work for a "think tank" for a few years doing god knows what, and is currently hedging his bets as one would being an ACT candidate, and is officially on sabbatical. Can 28 year olds even have one of those?
David built his own car. Not many candidates standing for Parliament in 2011 can claim they would have the first clue how to do that. That makes him slightly cooler than the other kids.
My original impression of David is that was is need of a good trip to Vegas, whereby he would ideally meet some hookers Hangover style in a hot tub and spend three days in a coke-induced stuper before returning to real life whereby he would take himself a little less seriously. I still have that impression. He is a young face, but more representative of the uptight sort of youth you would find still living at home with their parents. You could imagine David in a bar talking the varnish off the bar stool at 2am about Hayek and Von Mises than actually enjoying his free time chasing tail.
All this aside in Auckland Central against Nikki Kaye and Jacinda "Kim Kardashian" Ardern, two slightly older candidates and sitting MP's, Seymour looks like and is a star. His performance in the Auckland Central Back Benches debate in front of a hostile crowd and next to three often screaming estrogen-filled comparatively empty vessels, was superb. He isn't afraid to heckle and stick it to the opposition getting the best hit of the night landing square on Ardern about her links to Morrinsville. One observation I will make from the clips I have seen is that Seymour needs to dumb down his messages especially about Economics, so the 99% have a hope in hell of what he is talking about. Especially at his age where he just looks like a smart arse. Once he manages this and gets more experience and confidence in being less serious about himself, he may develop the charisma and personality required to lead the Party. Which is where I see him heading.
Should he be an MP? No not yet, too young, stiff and inexperienced. Ideally send him back off overseas to come back in ten years. I have no idea what Seymour earned in Canada but I hazard a guess in his career right now he would be getting a substantial payrise to enter politics. Meaning by my radar he's not ready for it.
Could he be an MP? Definitely yes. He ranks as far better than anyone his own age or the younger candidates from the 2008 intake. Wouldn't let anyone down in ACT who has supported him.
Will he be an MP? Maybe. If ACT are stuck on four MP's on election night, Don would do the Party and New Zealand a favour for the future by pissing off to Washington or Singapore and letting Seymour through from the List at number 5.
Stephen Whittington
Stephen has the dubious honour of working as basically Sir Roger Douglas' PA but only well after Roger was cool and able to do cool stuff. In that time no doubt he would have been ordered to draft all sorts of daft arse policy, the culmination of not stopping Roger in his tracks being around 17 pages of nonsense too close to the election that never made it past the cutting floor as Roger went back to the future and wanted an asset tax.
Whittington went to Victoria University and completed an LLB (Hons) and a BA in Latin and headed to Russell McFactory to work in the tax law team whereby he is destined for a life as a bitch killing himself in the vagaries of New Zealand tax law before turning into a zombie and becoming Manager then either escaping Alcatraz by moving overseas or becoming Partner and wedded to "the Firm". Whittington has instead in a politically charged process of internal law firm politics, potentially poked that career by declaring publicly his political stripes and standing for a Party at one stage that has been on .7%.
Whittington is obviously, like all these kiddie candidates, academically extremely bright but at age 25 I cannot find being debated to about employment law, welfare, foreign policy actually all that credible. His main achievement outside of being at the embryonic stage of this tax law path to doom, is as a debating champion. Fine. But it is wearing thin top advertise yourself as in 2009 "the 15th best speaker in the world". Not one journalist has asked if this includes or excludes Obama least of all worked out how the claim is measured. His performances on television have been good but listening to him he needs to remember he is speaking to people and not constantly in a debating contest. It is all too intense. Debating is one thing but in a Party of a few MP's your time in the debating chamber on your feet is limited. Whittington appeals to his loud debating University mates who can't shut up about anything, let alone how good their boy is. He may very well be in the future.
That's about all I can write about Whittington because there isn't anything else. It is not indictment on his intellect or achievements to date. It is just that he is 25 years old, preppy and like Seymour, has absolutely no edges or mongrel yet to him to cling to that make him stand out as interesting.
Should he be an MP? Far too young, no. Especially as in his career right now he would be getting a substantial payrise to enter politics. Meaning he's not ready for it.
Could he be an MP? Yes. Again he compares favourably to other 25 year olds and the 2008 intake.
Will he be an MP? No. Not with ACT's likely election night score. Took a big one for the team as he's put himself out as a candidate, scored the black mark in his political neutrality profession test and had stuff all chance of making it to Parliament. Either blind faith or very poor judgment listening to Roger and Don that they would manage 15% vote.
Simon O'Connor
Simon O'Connor is the ultimate accidental candidate. His candidate profile on the National Party website is here. Pulled in a bizarre fashion from a standing list of prospects after the tragic early demise of Allan Peachey, I ask has there ever been a luckier potential politician than O'Connor? In the seat of Tamaki he could last longer than Muldoon's 31 years without any of the passion, experience, gifted skill or bastardly charm that Sir Rob possessed.
Whaleoil pointed O'Connor out to me crossing the street outside the National Party campaign opening. The men he was with looked more the candidate than he did. A mild, non-descript, bland skinny man indeed. I have a rule in life never to trust skinny, runty men. It usually means they are vegetarian and all vegetarians are shifty in nature. And they are usually long-distance runners to stay that thin. Which means they wear split shorts. A pet hate of mine up there with Bob Jones and his aversion to sunglasses on heads.
O'Connor was a list candidate for National in 2008. How did we all miss that? He lost to a far superior candidate well-rounded Sam Lotu-liga in Maungakiekie where he is alleged to have run dirty tricks in his attempt to be selected. Whaleoil profiled O'Connor during the Tamaki selection.
Apparently O'Connor is a "long time National loyalist" and a "stalwart". He's my age for heaven's sake. How can you be a stalwart? I tried to trace O'Connor's working career and started with his current job as a "Contracts Manager for Southern Cross Health Society" and then his previous very vague "several roles within the Ministry of Social Development".
O'Connor looks like the sort of person who has trained his whole life and never actually practised anything. He is alleged to have four degrees which in itself shows the lack of confidence and over-compensation to actually achieve anything outside the safe confines of the University moss for fear of being under-qualified when dealing with adults. I mean who on earth needs four degrees when their aim always has been to be an MP or otherwise snot grovel their way through the National Party and its connections? O'Connor even trained as a Priest and then never went through with that either.
Should he be an MP? No, non-descript, trained in everything achieved in nothing. A stereotypical middle-manager.
Could he be an MP? Of course. And he will be as dull and grating as a church service on a Sunday with a hangover.
Will he be an MP? Unfortunately definitely. Landed with his bottie on one of the safest National seats in the country.
I promised Scott Simpson but Whaleoil told me I would be kicked out of the VRWC for even mentioning his old bones so instead I have:
Paul Foster-Bell
Foster-Bell has gained somewhat of a cult following in Wellington Central with his doppleganger Grant Robertson. A difficult looking, esoteric man who cannot decide which parent he wishes to represent in his surname, he holds a Degree in Archaeology and a Diploma of Business. Such a background will really only make him perfect for removing the Labour Party front bench from the rubble on Sunday and studying their dinosaur-like bones before selling them to offshore museums to the highest bidders through his diplomatic connections.
The funniest thing about Paul is that he claims to be of "English, Scots and Maori descent". I don't quite know where the Maori comes in. Perhaps his mother talked to one in 1972 while bringing the washing in? The least funny thing is he spent seven years working for MFAT. And he is a "Blue Green" which means he believes in the lunatic carbon trading scheme and hugs Nick Smith at random.
Foster-Bell comes across as a member of the "cultural elite" but then there is a weird gap from his A Bursary in 1994 from Whangarei Boys High to his graduation in 2004 with a BA. Didn't Marc Ellis finish his degree quicker than that? Somehow he's then jumped in 2008-09 to being bright enough to attend Oxford. But not so bright that he's poked his diplomatic record by standing for National without a decent list spot.
Should he be an MP? Not for National no.
Could he be an MP? Wellington Central already have a pet MP who is used to sucking off the taxpayers tit in Robertson, they don't need another almost identical but for the blue rosette.
Will he be an MP? At number 57 he is one below Paul Quinn which says what the Party hierarchy think of him. However if there is a giant mudslide all over Labour, he will get in. I don't know the precise numbers required but according to Pollster Farrar if National get 65 seats Foster-Bell will get there. Good luck to him because if they poll that high, none of us in the VRWC will actually mind.
Tomorrow - Labour and the Greens.
posted by Cactus Kate at 1:38 AM
10 Comments:
These are so cutting they are superb. I can't wait til you Fisk the lefties. I take it you do HR and throw more CVs out than you keep?
So your number one complaint really is that they're young? Young people have a tendency to get older and I don't think a few young faces in parliament would kill New Zealand's future prospects.
Are you going to do an entry on the minor parties?
The 15th in the world was measured out of those participating at the World Universities Debating Championship.
David Seymour is the smartest of all the youth candidates for the upcoming election at the weekends. Electrical/Electronic engineering is a hell of a tough course.
One needs a very large brain to be able to cope with the difficulty of the Electrical/Electronic engineering courses because of the high level mathematics being taught as part of the courses (calculus, statistics, algebra) such as their application in the design of power system transmission lines.
So, David Seymor's intellect has no match in comparison with other candidates, even Jacinda Ardern herself who's got a qualification in gender studies and orgasmology.
A great intro to these candidates. Looking forward to seeing a few epithets flying when the Labour ones are done.
Btw, great stuff with the Q+A session with WO last night! Looking forward to the next one.
7.38am - not that they are young, but they put CV's out there purporting to be better than they really are.
11.45am - so it was the 15th best speaker at that particular event?
FF - I think Kim got her degree in "communications" from Waikato University
Anybody under 40 claiming to be worldly and highly experienced enough to be able to represent the broad spectrum of their electorate are either bullshitting or were in business from their early teens and have travelled the world.
Ross - are there any youth in your conservative party?
Looking forward to what you have to say about Holley Walker. Her comment about Russel and Metiria being two headed monsters is nasty.
You could imagine David in a bar talking the varnish off the bar stool at 2am about Hayek and Von Mises than actually enjoying his free time chasing tail.
I don't need to imagine it - I've been there when it's happened! Dave is the world's worst wingman ever.
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