1 Feb 2019

Phil Goff's wife on mayoralty race: 'Don't you ever want to have a life?'

5:22 pm on 1 February 2019

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says his wife, Mary, is asking if he "ever wants to have a life" as he considers running for mayor again.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff. Photo: RNZ / Rowan Quinn

The veteran politician and one-term mayor was still weighing up the pros and cons but would make an announcement before the end of the month, he said.

"The con list is mainly my wife saying 'don't you ever want to have a life?' And, the pro list is a whole lot of fairly average Aucklanders who say to me, 'look you've started the job you shouldn't walk away from it until you've given it a second term,'" Mr Goff said.

Former MP, radio host and Māori leader, John Tamihere, has confirmed he will run for mayor with Mr Goff's council colleague, Christine Fletcher, as a running mate.

Mr Goff came under heavy fire from the pair at their announcement last weekend, with Ms Fletcher describing him as a failure and Mr Tamihere alleging he was turning a blind eye to "corruption" in council owned companies.

They should "put up the evidence or shut up" when it came to the corruption allegations, Mr Goff said.

"I'm not going to campaign on negatives, I'm going to campaign on my vision for the city - should I decide to run," he said.

Nine of the city's 19 councillors sent an open letter of no-confidence in Mr Goff last year, with Ms Fletcher one of the signatories.

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