Tory Whanau eh? I know whose story I believe and it’s not hers.
She says she didn’t ask the waiter: “do you know who I am?”. But the bar reckons she did - and they even put that in writing. And another diner called NewstalkZB today to say she also heard the mayor say that.
Two beats one. Especially when the one is the mayor who didn’t remember to pay the bill on the night, which hardly gives you much confidence in her memory that evening.
So if we go by what the others say happened, then Tory went to The Old Quarter on Dixon Street on Friday night and she was already tipsy enough for the staff to feel like they shouldn’t serve her.
But they did, because she was going to eat. Which she did, but she also drank more wine. A staff member walked up to her to give her water and she apparently said: “Do you know who I am?”
And then she and her friend left without paying. Tory says that was because each of them thought the other had paid and the friend went back and settled the bill the next day.
Now look, it’s a bit embarrassing for Tory that this is all over the media. But actually, I don’t think this is going to hurt her reputation.
Who hasn’t been young and single and got on the razz on a Friday night?
It’s well known Tory gets on the razz. She's admitted it, she gave an interview just last month defending her partying, saying she likes going out and hitting bars with her friends every couple of weeks.
And so many of the senior people she would deal with in her day job will already have seen her ‘tipsy’ or heard about tipsy Tory, so I don’t think this will undermine her existing reputation because this is her reputation.
Also, it’s not going to affect how the council works. She’s ideologically on the same side as most of the council members, so they’ll just keep removing cars from Wellington streets and doing other Green-like things.
The biggest risk Tory runs right now is that ratepayers start blaming her drinking and her partying for her sub-par work.
Because she isn’t the most diligent mayor Wellington’s ever had, because it is documented that she isn’t attending all the meetings the mayor should be attending. And if the ratepayers start linking the two, that becomes a problem for her electability.
But then again, maybe there’s an upside in Wellington’s mayor being a fan of the city’s hospitality scene.
Because there are worse crimes than a single woman having a few glasses too many on a Friday night.
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