'Trump of the North' will not seek re-election as Kaipara mayor

A controversial "Trump of the North" mayor will not be standing for a second mayoral term.

In a shock move, Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson today confirmed he would not be standing for the $138,441-a-year position in the October local election.

Mangawhai’s Jepson, 67, was instead backing Kaipara District Council Deputy Mayor Jonathan Larsen, 54. Jepson appointed Larsen to the deputy role in October 2022.

And Jepson – who has referred to himself as the Trump of the North – will be standing as a councillor in his Kaiwaka-Mangawhai ward. The position pays $68,719 annually.

Jepson’s about turn comes after consistently indicating he would be standing for a second tilt at the Kaipara mayoralty.

He would not be drawn on the reason for the tack change, other than to say he wanted to step down from the top job and spend more time on issues close to his heart as a councillor.

Jepson’s political move comes as first-term KDC councillor Ash Nayyaar today said for the first time that he would be taking a tilt at the top job.

Dargaville’s Nayyaar believed too many KDC decisions were being made behind closed doors, and unnecessary pet projects were being adopted by the council.

He said he was unhappy KDC, in his opinion, had generally ignored the voice of the people during public consultation.

Nayyaar claimed Kaipara’s west had been neglected and, as Mayor, he would do all parts of the district justice.

He has a Master of Business administration, Bachelors of Commerce and Law, and 40 years’ banking experience.

Topuni’s Larsen was first elected onto KDC in 2010. He resigned in protest in August 2012, just under two years into a three-year term.

He said he left over his dissatisfaction with the council making closed-door decisions on the future of the controversial Mangawhai wastewater scheme, including $30 million in extra spending on the project.

Larsen said he had brought this matter to the attention of the Auditor-General. Government ministers and Ombudsman.

The Government appointed commissioners to run KDC in September 2012.

Larsen was re-elected in 2016 and has been a KDC politician since. If successful in October, it would see him elected for a fifth term.

He has a Bachelor Science, and an Executive Master of Business Administration with first class honours.

In his first controversial move, Jepson canned karakia from council meetings in November 2022, just two months into the job.

KDC later became the only council to can its Māori ward in August 2024 after Government law changes – one of Jepson’s proudest achievements, and one which was also backed by Larsen.

Jepson said he was proud of his council’s “small” 8.2% rates rise for 2025/2026.

He said another positive move was his council withdrawing from national councils’ representative body Local Government New Zealand.

The Mayor said there were a range of issues he wanted to work on as a councillor.

Getting rid of mangroves would be one of the major issues he wanted to invest in as a councillor.

“I want to get rid of mangroves from our harbours, not just Mangawhai Harbour, but Kaipara Harbour and the whole of Northland,” Jepson said.

Jepson said he also wanted to boost the fight against Auckland’s Dome Valley landfill – which is just across the local political border in Auckland Council – and educate people about the merits of waste to energy technology.

He has strongly campaigned for such a plant in Kaipara.

Larsen and Jepson jointly conducted information visits to constituents around Kaipara on the plants.

Meanwhile, Jepson has long-challenged current science backing climate change. KDC axed its Ruawai-based Northland climate change pilot midstream.

KDC also got rid of its key climate change policy in 2023 in a move brought to the council table by Larsen.

Larsen said that even if climate change was a reality, the actions of Kaipara’s 18,000 ratepayers would not make a jot of difference in a world with eight billion people.

Jepson was elected with a big majority in 2022. He said that many had encouraged him to stand again, to do a “lap of victory”, but being a local politician was not about ego – it was about what was best for the district.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ on Air