When I first heard about Len Brown using his credit card for personal spending I was disappointed, but when I heard his emotional tirade in a council meeting attempting to divert the blame for his actions I was disgusted.
When I was growing up one of my sisters began shoplifting from a local department store. Our family had moved to another town and she had left many friends behind and was struggling to fit in to the new community. But when our dad discovered the stolen trinkets in her room, he immediately marched her down to the shop with the goods and money to cover the cost of the stolen items

My father spoke to me about it afterward; his sadness and sense of failure and betrayal of the values he had taught us. Then he told me of his pride and admiration for her maturity and dignity as she faced up to what she had done. After she admitted her part in the theft, the store manager told her off blaming “people like her” for closing businesses in the town and the subsequent loss of income and finally when he calmed down a bit he asked why she took the goods. My dad recounted that she never blamed or mentioned the other girls involved, nor did she cry or winge about how difficult her life had been lately, she stated simply and quietly that she knew that what she had done was wrong and that at the time she never gave a thought to the effect it might have on the store owners or the people working in them. She apologized and told the store manager that she was prepared to accept the consequences. With that she handed back the stolen goods and the money.

My sister was 9 years old. Boy she won my respect!!

We are all broken, we all make mistakes, and we all sin. Len Brown’s shameful response when called to account for his actions was not the action of a leader. It was wrong to use tax payers money for personal use, there is no getting around that but an open honest admission may well have resulted in forgiveness and perhaps even some respect. My dad taught us you can have my pity or you can have my respect and frankly my 9 year old sister showed more leadership in her actions that did a Mayor who draws a huge salary to be a leader. I don’t favor John Banks at all but I certainly wouldn’t want a wimp who deserves nothing more than my pity to lead a super city

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