I was skimming over the Whakatane Beacon on Wednesday and came across this:
A building and construction scheme providing job training and education for Kawerau youth will reopen this year. The scheme was originally run by Kawerau College but closed at the end of 2010. Kawerau mayor Malcolm Campbell, Kawerau Enterprise Agency head Helen Stewart and Rotorua MP Todd McClay campaigned to the Tertiary Education Commission to bring it back.
“This is an excellent result for Kawerau and I am grateful to all those who have put time and effort into making sure that the programme can continue” Mr McClay said.
“Through the continuation of this scheme many more young people in Kawerau will be given the chance to gain a qualification and get a foot on the job ladder.”
The point I want to make is that Todd McClay is a decent electorate MP. I like Steve Chadwick and she was, by all accounts anyway, an excellent MP for the Rotorua electorate. However, and I am surprised to be thinking this, Todd McClay is just as good and possibly better. McClay has a Kawerau electorate office (Chadwick did not) and he makes a genuine effort to get out in the community. I am not aware of many other tangible gains McClay has made on behalf of the Kawerau community, but the perception that he cares about the community may be enough to pull him through this election. Kawerau is a solid Labour town, probably one of the most Labour friendly towns in New Zealand, so I didn’t expect McClay to give the town any attention at all. However, it appears that McClay actually understands what it means to be an electorate MP. Of course this isn’t enough to make me vote for him, but I appreciate his efforts.
Isn't the ability to vote for a good MP regardless of their party one of the advantages of MMP? Whilst still giving your more important party vote to the (presumably) left wing party of your choice.
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