Dis­claimer: that’s a Peanuts ref­er­ence, rather than a com­ment on the qual­i­ty of can­di­dates. Ahem.

Nom­i­na­tions for local body elec­tions closed last week, and the can­di­dates are all list­ed on the WCC web­site (res­i­dents of oth­er Welling­ton Ter­ri­to­r­i­al Author­i­ties should find them on their respec­tive coun­cil sites). While it can be argued that the choice of May­or is less impor­tant than the com­po­si­tion of the coun­cil as a whole, it’s cer­tain­ly the role that gen­er­ates the most heat. So, here’s a full list of the may­oral can­di­dates, fol­lowed by a call to action:

  • Ray Ahipene-Mer­cer
  • Paul Bai­ley
  • Carl Gif­ford
  • Rob Goulden
  • Nick Kel­ly
  • John McGrath
  • Bryan Pep­perell
  • Ker­ry Pren­der­gast
  • Helene Ritchie
  • Jack Ruben
  • Nick Wang

Oth­er than sit­ting coun­cil­lors and John McGrath, I don’t know much about the can­di­dates. I’m sure you’ll find plen­ty of com­ments about Ker­ry P on the Welling­ton­ista, and I’ve men­tioned McGrath in pass­ing on WellUr­ban, with the odd ref­er­ence to Jack Ruben as well. But here’s your chance to com­ment sage­ly, spec­u­late wild­ly or just gen­er­al­ly vent spleen. Here’s a starter for ten: if you don’t like the incum­bent may­or, who can and should get the num­bers to unseat her?