Mayor cover trumps Don’s
OBSERVERS of world politics may notice something familiar about the cover artwork of this year’s Gold Coast Bulletin Power 100 – and with good reason.
The cover pays homage to a striking Time magazine cover this year featuring US President Donald Trump who was, at the time, peppering Twitter with criticisms of an investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
While we didn’t have access to Time’s Brooklynbased artist Tim O’Brien, we did have Bulletin photographer Jerad Williams and head of design Laura McMillan, who were able to create a tongue-in-cheek nod to the artwork featuring our city’s elected leader, Mayor Tom Tate.
While there is no suggestion Cr Tate would condone foreign interference in an election, he too found himself in strife with the authorities over a 2016 election. The Mayor was called before a public examination by the Crime and Corruption Commission, which did not take further action against him. The CCC still has Cr Tate and his council on its radar in 2018 and is looking into a number of allegations about the Gold Coast council, including an accusation the Mayor engineered council decisions to secure personal gain.
Cr Tate, who has rejected the allegations, hit out at the commission for taking too long in resolving the complaints, which were published in February and remained open yesterday.
Like President Trump, whose preferred social stoushing platform is Twitter, Cr Tate also enjoys a hearty online presence – where he expressed his own affinity with Trump during a fiery exchange with residents in April.
During one commentssection debate, the Mayor’s Facebook account said he “couldn’t care less if I win or don’t win the next election like the last election where I got 74 per cent … I came before Trump so maybe he’s been following my lead’’.
In person, Cr Tate has said he expected to win the 2020 election “by a landslide” if he contested it, which he stressed would only happen with the blessing and health of his wife Ruth. The Mayor has previously topped the Power 100 in 2012 and 2015.