Palino joins race — from Florida
Two-time mayoral candidate John Palino is making a third bid for the Auckland mayoralty — this time from his home in the United States.
The restaurant and cafe owner has put in his nomination from his home in Orlando, Florida, but it’s unclear when he will return to campaign.
After coming second behind Len Brown in 2013, Palino became a central figure in the sex scandal between Brown and Bevan Chuang, a council advisory board member who had a two-year affair with the mayor.
Palino met Brown’s former mistress for a late-night discussion in a Mission Bay car park the night after the mayoral election and two days before the affair was made public.
Palino admitted meeting Chuang but denied any knowledge of her affair until it appeared in media two days later.
Chuang also claimed to have been romantically linked to one of Palino’s campaign team, Luigi Wewege.
Palino stood again in 2016, coming fourth behind Phil Goff, Vic Crone and Chlo¨e Swarbrick.
In 2020, he returned to his native US with his partner and young son.
Palino is standing on his previous campaign theme of creating new urban centres on unproductive land to manage population growth and social issues.
“This is a chance to develop Auckland into a world-recognised city for providing jobs, education, entertainment, sports, recreation and housing. A city that we can all live, work, play and learn in,” Palino said.
“My vision for Auckland in developing additional CBDs is also a responsible strategy to global warming.
“The removal of green areas [in the city] . . . has moved us further away from our agenda,” he said.