Former Labour MP John Tamihere has confirmed he's running for the Auckland mayoralty, uploading a 'Vote JT for Mayor' image to his Facebook page.
Mr Tamihere made his formal announcement later on Saturday morning, with running mate Christine Fletcher - a former National Party MP and Auckland City Mayor.
Mr Tamihere said their opposite political backgrounds don't matter.
"Auckland's issues have fallen through the gaps because of those two tribes. So we are Auckland proud and focused - you will see that," he told reporters at the launch.
His election promises include opening the books and improving the partnership with central Government.
"We can no longer be used as [Mayor Phil] Goff's ATM machine every blinking day, with all of these different silos running and adding costs."
Mr Tamihere currently heads the Waipareira Trust. He hinted at a run for Auckland's top job last year.
"I consider a lot of things, and that's one of them," he said in September.
Mr Tamihere left Parliament in 2005 after losing his seat to Pita Sharples, but not before calling his colleagues "queers" and "front-bums". Last year he complained of the "sisterhood" currently in Parliament.
Mr Tamihere ran to be Mayor of Waitakere in 2007, losing to Sir Bob Harvey.
He was for a time a host on former MediaWorks talk radio station RadioLIVE, but left in 2013 following a controversial interview with one of the alleged Roast Busters victims. Mr Tamihere later apologised for comments he and co-host Willie Jackson made during the interview, after several companies pulled their adverts.
Newshub.
