Silly Season is here. 

I was going to refrain from commenting on the coming political three month decorating of corners and hedges and buildings with kiwibuilt structures championing a new round of  faces that hope to change the world.

Been through it all before and have to say it's quite frightening seeing your own moosh smiling at you as you commute around the village.

There's not much in the way of messages now , promises here and there but mainly a mug shot, some small some large, promoting the best angle that may induce a tick in your box.

There is scant material available to enable a  critique of the candidates but from what I have seen there is a thread that is unfortunate but goes with the times where it is hard to get smart people with a political nose to stand for office .

Listening to a candidate interviewed on local radio was indeed a concern as they were a current elected councillor and spoke with confidence but the substance was infused with all the common politician speak that  bureaucrats have managed to craftily vaccinate unsuspecting nodders with when sitting in carefully constructed meetings.

Once you pass through the chamber doors you are captured and like Hotel California you can go home whenever you like but the agendas will never leave.

It takes a special person to bridge the expanse between the guy paying and the monster gorging itself on easily extracted largesse.You have to keep your head and subject yourself to the pub test and the wife test to enable a rational  seat at the table.

That is only half the story.

I note a number of candidates known to me flashing their credentials like a roll of honour thinking that a doctorate or list of  outrageous achievements is the solution to successful political decision making. 

It's not.

Local Body politics has transformed in to a party influenced machine and the independent thinking that is required to achieve a logical approach to rate expenditure , has been expunged and replaced with social and race based approaches to the detriment of hard working ratepayers.

That is why the well meaning standing to make a difference wont.

Bridging the expanse calls for both life experience and a canny ability to sniff out the political wind that is guiding the call . It has become a very tricky track to walk , to weigh up who is fooling who and who is in the game for what.

That brings me to the key part of the jigsaw puzzle that  is possibly intentionally hidden so that the council machine can continue to grow , expand and spend.

Legislation.

Local Government is a creature of legislation. Many Acts to refer to to enable Houdini escapes from any situation .

Councillors need to have an understanding of the law so they can decipher the complicated papers crafted and presented to them meeting after meeting to convince them to vote for items that have been deliberated on in office huddles away from pesky politicians.

So budding politicians and even befuddled incumbents should show some acumen when it comes to law and political agendas.

It is not easy.