It's time to get the pork barrel out again and roll it down the road, because it's by-election time in Mount Roskill and a general election is only a year away.

Phil Goff is the new Mayor of Auckland and so his Mount Roskill seat is up for grabs in a by-election on December 3rd. The first shots have been fired by Labour. Standing in the middle of ominion Road in the heart of the electorate yesteday, Andrew Little announced he would fast track a 13 kilometre long light rail down Dominion Road. A 1.4 billion dollar idea to replace the buses.

He reckons the government should stump up with 680 million and the good ratepayers of Auckland should whack in the same.

Here Mount Roskill. Have a shiny new toy.

Immediately Steven Joyce called it a desperate idea for votes on Twitter. Meanwhile the twitterverse waded in on Joyce. They reminded him of the bridges he promised Northland at their last by-election. Bridges no-one's seen hide nor hair of since Winston snuck in and stole the seat by promising to be a real local representative. National really blew that one because the promise of infrastructure spend all of the sudden reminded everyone how neglected they were in the North.

The same could happen to Labour with their latest bribe in Mt Roskill. While a light rail up the road is actually a good idea this is absolutely the wrong time to suggest it. Auckland ratepayers are already struggling to digest their share of paying for their fancy new rail tunnels through the middle of town and for a nationwide politician to suggest fast tracking a rise in rates again is the wrong thing to do. Not just for the Labour vote in Greater Auckland next November, but it's also a dead rat to hand to the newly elected Mayor.

Labour's promise reminds everyone in Auckland stuck in a traffic jam every morning how little national politicians understand the problem. Including Steven Joyce.

Don't get me wrong. The light rail is actually a great idea. Eventually. Once Dominion Road is intensified properly. Once other bottlenecks are solved. Meanwhile anyone who follows this stuff knows that AT have done very bad work investigating the concept. There are other great ideas including Harbour crossings and light rail on the North Shore. To jump on this one though, shows a lack of long term vision. Things like this should be prioritised. By Auckland. Not some big swinging dick from Wellington

People outside of Auckland won't know what's involved in this billion dollar light rail bribe but they know what it means.

It's election season and our politicians still think we're dumb enough to be swayed by promises of toys even if those toys aren't in the best interest.

Ditch the pork barrel and earn your votes through proving you know the issues and have a coherent way of addressing them. This vote is not for sale.