26 LISTENER NOVEMBER 5 2016
O
n the night the Auckland
mayoral election results
came in, David Lewis, Phil
Goff’s campaign manager,
was at the Sweat Shop
Brew Kitchen with the
rest of the lefties. The bar
is, he says, “aptly named
for a Labour politician”. There was a party.
There may have been a bit of drinking.
Of course, there was. Their man had
won. There was never really any doubt
that he would, but Lewis is not a man who
counts his chickens before they’re hatched.Once they’re successfully hatched, though,
he is not averse to “a few beers. I wasn’t
driving home. Put it that way.”
When I phoned to ask for an inter-
view, I offered congratulations. He said
of the result that it “wasn’t bad”. Having
met him before, I know that is the Lewisequivalent of a whoop, followed by a high
five. I can’t think what it would take to
cause him to do a somersault. Stating the
obvious, I say he doesn’t really do ecstatic,
does he? “Ah, I tend not to.” What he’s
best at is “keeping calm and not panick-
ing”. This is because he doesn’t have a
heart or blood pressure. “Yeah. None of
that malarkey.”
It took a fair bit of arm-twisting to get
him to agree to an interview. His natural
habitat, I suggest, is the shadows, lurking.
He prefers this to the limelight. “I do.”
I hadn’t exactly meant it as a compli-ment. He grins and says, “I’m an observer
by nature.” He is almost impossible to
offend, because he doesn’t take things
personally; it is his job not to. Still, he
must have some emotional investment in
the outcome of his work. “I want to win,
desperately. I’m pretty competitive.” Isthat an emotional investment or just his
competitiveness? Or are they the same
thing in him? “Ha, ha. I haven’t really
navel-gazed.”
No, you don’t get to be the Mayor
Maker, the supremo spin doctor, by
contemplating your navel. Although I’m
certain he’s a pretty good judge of the
psychology of others. He is also, depend-
ing on whom you speak to, the Malcolm
Tucker of New Zealand politics, who has
a sinister charm. He rejects, with dry
delight, the accusation of charm. And:
“There’ll be people on the other side of
the fence who think I’m a bastard.” Or he
is just a good guy who truly believes in
the Labour cause, so wants the good guys
to be running the country or, in this case,
Auckland.H
e was Helen Clark’s guy, then Len
Brown’s guy and now he is Phil’s guy.
He doesn’t back losers. He jumps,
although you wouldn’t get him to admit
this so bluntly, before his winners become
losers. He has his own PR consultancy
these days – with Gordon Jon Thompson,
who was also Helen’s guy – which dealsThe
M AYOR
MAKER
Preferring to stay out of the limelight, David Lewis is
the brains behind successful mayoral bids by Phil Gof
and Len Brown. by MICHELE HEWITSON ● photograph by SIMON YOUNG
SPIN DOCTORING
“There’ll be people on the other side
of the fence who think I’m a bastard.”