He earns $200,000 a year from two public jobs. But is he...MISSING IN ACTION? | Auckland News | Local News in Auckland

Residents have begun to express frustration over the dual roles of Auckland City Councillor and Maungakiekie MP Sam Lotu-Iiga.

Mr Lotu-Iiga won the central Auckland seat for National at November's general election. He was already a city councillor for the area.

At the time, concerns were raised that he wouldn't be able to handle the workload of two fulltime positions.

However, he refused to give up either - insisting he could juggle the roles.

Paul Clapshaw, one of his constituents and presenter at Mountain Side FM radio station in Mt Wellington, wondered about the decision at the time and is now convinced it isn't working.

``Considering that all the main work and meetings take place between Tuesday through to Thursday for both [council and Parliament], how can one justifiably say that proper attention is being paid to either position?'

Mr Clapshaw's point is supported by a drop in Mr Lotu-Iiga's attendance at council meetings since his campaign began to become an MP.

Since the parliamentary campaign opened Mr Lotu-Iiga has attended 12 of the 22 meetings he was supposed to attend. These include full council, the finance strategy committee and com munity board meetings.

Before the national elections he had an almost perfect attendance record.

The Aucklander put the question to Mr Lotu-Iiga: is he missing in action?

He says he is working hard for his community, adding that he is also on a local school board of trustees.

``People don't want a politician who's only going to meetings. It's only one part of our job.

``It's about going out meeting with people from the community.

``I feel like I'm doing fine. I'm busy but I'm on top of everything.

``There are other meetings not listed on the council website that I go to and I'm happy to show my diary to see how busy I am.

``To the people that challenge me, I'm prepared to front up and show what I have been doing.'

Mr Lotu-Iiga's salary from Parliament is $135,300 plus $14,800 expenses. An Auckland City Councillor's salary is $48,855.

That's a grand total of $198,955.

Mr Lotu-Iiga says he donates the majority of his council salary to charities including the Mangere Cadets and an early childhood trust.

One of Mr Lotu-Iiga's political opponents, City Vision councillor Cathy Casey, says Mr Lotu-Iiga should have resigned when he decided to run for Parliament.

``It's the honourable thing to do. ``He is doing a disservice to ratepayers. Public meetings are the face of council. He should be there and seen publicly making decisions. The least he could do is attend.

``Council has to be separate from Government because we have to push them to get concessions for the city.

``He is denying someone else the opportunity to do a better job than he is.'