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A far north mayoral candidate says he’s running on passion – and he hopes that can translate to votes.
Reuben Taipari Porter has attracted a lot of attention with his run, especially his confrontations with incumbent Wayne Brown over mining.
The race is widely seen to be between Mr Brown and former MP John Carter.
Mr Porter says a lot of the candidates know more than he does about roading and rates, but they aren’t connecting with people’s emotions.
"To them it’s like a negative because you can’t make a good decision when you are emotional, whereas for me, I love emotion, I love people getting in there and talking about how they are feeling, if they are sad or happy, because in there, are the solutions that are going to drive a better future for our people and especially for our young children. We’ve got to lift that passion. We’ve got to lift that taha Maori, those things that make us who we are. We are a huge proportion of the population up here and we need that Maori character to be brought into the council," he says.
Mr Porter says the record number of Maori candidates in races in the Tai Tokerau should help increase turn-out among Maori.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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