'Profoundly wrong': Wellington's new mayor denies being Peter Jackson 'puppet'

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/17/profoundly-wrong-wellingtons-new-mayor-denies-being-peter-jackson-puppet

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Wellington’s new mayor, Andy Foster, has hit back at suggestions he is a “puppet” of Sir Peter Jackson, whilst still refusing to reveal how much the Lord of the Rings director and wife Fran Walsh donated to his campaign.

Andy Foster won local elections in New Zealand’s capital city over the weekend, ousting one-term incumbent Justin Lester.

In an interview with the Guardian, Foster expressed frustration at the cynicism of New Zealanders who believed he had been “bought” by Jackson and Walsh.

The new mayor – who has served as a Wellington city councillor since 1992, and twice run for the mayoralty unsuccessfully – said he had known Jackson for years after bumping into him at various events, mostly related to military anniversaries and memorabilia, of which they are both fans.

It has been suggested that Jackson’s backing for Foster was linked to the director’s strong opposition to a planned special housing development in the Wellington suburb of Shelly Bay, where Jackson andhis wife own property.

“They got in touch with my talking about Shelly Bay six months ago probably, obviously they are concerned about it, and I have been quite vociferous about my concerns over about four-and-a-half years. And they obviously liked what I was saying.”

“I met both Peter and Fran and took it from there.”

Foster said the issue of a financial donation to his campaign from the couple did not arise until a few weeks before the election campaign started. “The conversation we had about Shelly Bay was a substantial time before anything came up supporting a mayoral campaign.”

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Foster has since been accused of being little more than a “puppet” for Jackson, whose donations are entirely legal. Foster said Shelly Bay was the only issue he and the couple discussed and overlapped on. “In terms of financial support, that only happened the week before putting my hand up for mayor,” he said.

The exact figure the couple donated is unknown, but Foster said it would appear in his election return. He said the number could not be revealed because the couple had not given permission. Total donations from donors who had requested not to be named total NZ$36,000 (£17,500). Foster’s total election spend was NZ$56,000.

“It’s not a reticence, it’s simply that it’s their information until it has to be public and I am respecting that ... All I can say is it’s obviously a material contribution to my campaign. Whether it’s $10,000 or $12,000 or $15,000 or whatever, it’s kind of like, from a story point of view it’s material.”

A number of political commentators say Foster’s successful mayoral bid was due to the high-profile support and financial backing of the couple, but Foster denies this, saying “success has many parents”.

However he did say that in his previous bids for mayor, donations had totalled as little as NZ$150.

Foster said critics describing him as a “puppet” of Peter Jackson didn’t know who he was or what he stood for, and were actually “judging themselves”.

“I am an independent person with an independent mind,” he said. “I know what kind of world some people live in, it’s a world based on a huge degree of cynicism. I’m sad that that’s the case. So they can think what they like, but they are profoundly wrong.”

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In emails released by Jackson in April on his personal Facebook page, the director objected to the style and location of the new housing development in Shelly Bay, and the disruption to daily life in the neighbouring suburb of Miramar by trucks, building suppliers and construction pollution. Jackson’s Weta Workshop, Weta Digital and Park Road Studios have their global headquarters, offices and studios in Miramar.

“The WCC [Wellington city council] are doing anything they can to assist a private developer which plans to dump a lot of Soviet-style apartment blocks on a beautiful part of Wellington’s coastline,” Jackson wrote to the council in April.

Foster wants to scrap the Shelly Bay special housing development and instead create a protected heritage area.