gonzo
10-12-2007, 08:12 AM
Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Steve Crow made his name as New Zealand's pornography king by organizing an annual ``Boobs on Bikes'' parade of topless women down the main street of Auckland. Now he wants to be mayor.
Crow, 50, managing director of adult entertainment empire CVC Group Ltd., is among 15 candidates trying to wrest leadership of New Zealand's biggest city from a millionaire muesli maker who has vowed to ban the parade. Results of the postal ballot will be announced as soon as Sunday.
``I run a porn company, so what?'' said Crow, who ranks fourth in the latest opinion poll. ``I genuinely believe Auckland is broken and someone needs to get in there and fix it.''
New Zealand has a history of breaking new ground in politics. It was the first country to give women the vote and the first to elect a transsexual to the national parliament. Still, Crow's candidacy is helping fuel a backlash from Christian and pro-family groups that are smarting from the legalization of gay unions and prostitution nationwide.
``What has happened to New Zealand that people think a candidate like this is acceptable?'' asked Bob McCroskie, national director of Family First New Zealand, which helped lead protests in 2003 and 2004 that failed to halt the prostitution and same-sex union laws.
Crow trails more mainstream candidates in opinion polls.
John Banks, a former mayor and police minister, leads with 44 percent support, according to a New Zealand Herald-DigiPoll survey of 400 people from Sept. 5 to Sept. 25. Incumbent Dick Hubbard has 35 percent backing. Alex Swney, head of the city's central retailers' association, is at 7 percent, followed by Crow at 3 percent. The margin of error was 5 percentage points.
Tattooed Music Promoter
The other hopefuls include a lesbian café owner, a tattooed music promoter and artist, and an anti-abortion campaigner.
Crow -- who sells X-rated movies, toys, clothing and magazines in 60 countries, and co-owns Auckland's Mermaids strip club and Moon Bar escort lounge -- makes no apologies. He said he aims to place third and may run again.
``The whole culture of the current council is to make things as difficult or expensive as possible,'' he said. ``They need to step back and stop telling people what to do.''
The economy of Auckland, home to a third of New Zealand's 4.1 million people, contracted 0.2 percent last fiscal year, even as the nation's gross domestic product grew 1.7 percent, according to the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research.
`Coherent Strategy' Needed
The next mayor needs to make more land available for development, build roads and unite the city's eight local government authorities to improve water and power supplies, said Shamubeel Eaqub, an economist at Goldman Sachs JBWere Ltd.
``I don't think anyone has made the effort to develop a coherent strategy,'' said Eaqub, who lives in Auckland. ``As a voter, it makes it very hard.''
Banks, 60, rates Crow a ``serious'' candidate. As for the Boobs on Bikes parade, he said: ``If 100,000 people get pleasure looking at women going down Queen Street without their clothes on, and it's legal, well that's the state of affairs.''
Hubbard, 60, owner of closely held Hubbard Foods Ltd., isn't as sanguine. If re-elected, he plans to change the local parade ordinance to ban nudity. Hubbard said he hasn't blocked the event because he risked outlawing ``legitimate parades.''
Crow's mayoral run is a publicity stunt for his annual Erotica Lifestyles Expo, Hubbard said. More than 30,000 people attended the adults-only trade fair in Auckland in August, which began with the parade of starlets on motorbikes and army tanks.
``Porn king for mayor? You've got to be joking,'' Hubbard said. ``He hasn't got the foggiest about how Auckland runs.''
The 2006 census showed just over half of New Zealanders call themselves Christians -- down 5 percentage points from 2001. Members of evangelical and so-called fundamentalist strains surged 26 percent in the same period.
Still, Christians may be a minority by 2011. The number of people who indicated no religious affiliation rose 26 percent to more than a third of the population from 2001 to 2006.
Noel Hayes, a pensioner in Auckland, said he backs Crow.
``It'd be a colorful mayoral reign,'' said Hayes, 59. ``Auckland needs these sorts of people.''
Crow, 50, managing director of adult entertainment empire CVC Group Ltd., is among 15 candidates trying to wrest leadership of New Zealand's biggest city from a millionaire muesli maker who has vowed to ban the parade. Results of the postal ballot will be announced as soon as Sunday.
``I run a porn company, so what?'' said Crow, who ranks fourth in the latest opinion poll. ``I genuinely believe Auckland is broken and someone needs to get in there and fix it.''
New Zealand has a history of breaking new ground in politics. It was the first country to give women the vote and the first to elect a transsexual to the national parliament. Still, Crow's candidacy is helping fuel a backlash from Christian and pro-family groups that are smarting from the legalization of gay unions and prostitution nationwide.
``What has happened to New Zealand that people think a candidate like this is acceptable?'' asked Bob McCroskie, national director of Family First New Zealand, which helped lead protests in 2003 and 2004 that failed to halt the prostitution and same-sex union laws.
Crow trails more mainstream candidates in opinion polls.
John Banks, a former mayor and police minister, leads with 44 percent support, according to a New Zealand Herald-DigiPoll survey of 400 people from Sept. 5 to Sept. 25. Incumbent Dick Hubbard has 35 percent backing. Alex Swney, head of the city's central retailers' association, is at 7 percent, followed by Crow at 3 percent. The margin of error was 5 percentage points.
Tattooed Music Promoter
The other hopefuls include a lesbian café owner, a tattooed music promoter and artist, and an anti-abortion campaigner.
Crow -- who sells X-rated movies, toys, clothing and magazines in 60 countries, and co-owns Auckland's Mermaids strip club and Moon Bar escort lounge -- makes no apologies. He said he aims to place third and may run again.
``The whole culture of the current council is to make things as difficult or expensive as possible,'' he said. ``They need to step back and stop telling people what to do.''
The economy of Auckland, home to a third of New Zealand's 4.1 million people, contracted 0.2 percent last fiscal year, even as the nation's gross domestic product grew 1.7 percent, according to the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research.
`Coherent Strategy' Needed
The next mayor needs to make more land available for development, build roads and unite the city's eight local government authorities to improve water and power supplies, said Shamubeel Eaqub, an economist at Goldman Sachs JBWere Ltd.
``I don't think anyone has made the effort to develop a coherent strategy,'' said Eaqub, who lives in Auckland. ``As a voter, it makes it very hard.''
Banks, 60, rates Crow a ``serious'' candidate. As for the Boobs on Bikes parade, he said: ``If 100,000 people get pleasure looking at women going down Queen Street without their clothes on, and it's legal, well that's the state of affairs.''
Hubbard, 60, owner of closely held Hubbard Foods Ltd., isn't as sanguine. If re-elected, he plans to change the local parade ordinance to ban nudity. Hubbard said he hasn't blocked the event because he risked outlawing ``legitimate parades.''
Crow's mayoral run is a publicity stunt for his annual Erotica Lifestyles Expo, Hubbard said. More than 30,000 people attended the adults-only trade fair in Auckland in August, which began with the parade of starlets on motorbikes and army tanks.
``Porn king for mayor? You've got to be joking,'' Hubbard said. ``He hasn't got the foggiest about how Auckland runs.''
The 2006 census showed just over half of New Zealanders call themselves Christians -- down 5 percentage points from 2001. Members of evangelical and so-called fundamentalist strains surged 26 percent in the same period.
Still, Christians may be a minority by 2011. The number of people who indicated no religious affiliation rose 26 percent to more than a third of the population from 2001 to 2006.
Noel Hayes, a pensioner in Auckland, said he backs Crow.
``It'd be a colorful mayoral reign,'' said Hayes, 59. ``Auckland needs these sorts of people.''