Waitemata mayoralty Shadbolt claimed he stood for
Mayor of
Waitemata City in 1983 because he did not want to see the incumbent
Tony Covic re-elected unopposed. He won the election, receiving 1,200 more votes than Covic.) behind the mayoral Daimler in the 1983 Henderson Christmas parade. Shadbolt's election represented the deep cynicism that many voters had felt about the Waitemata City Council, which was known for in-fighting. He stood in the electorate of
West Auckland (which incorporated Waitemata) at the
1990 New Zealand general election as an independent. He placed fifth with 3.06 per cent of the vote. Later that year, he unsuccessfully stood in
a by-election for
Mayor of Auckland City, polling a distant eighth place. Two years later he stood again
for Mayor of Auckland City and also
for Mayor of Dunedin, where he finished third place in both elections but performed marginally better in Dunedin. Later that year, he stood in the
Wellington Central by-election as an independent candidate, polling less than half a
percentage point.
Invercargill mayoralties In
1993, Shadbolt ran successfully for the position of Mayor of
Invercargill. In 1994, he contested the
Selwyn by-election as a candidate for
New Zealand First, but was placed fourth, and remained Mayor of Invercargill. In October 2002, Shadbolt told a conference of New Zealand's Disabled Persons Assembly that Invercargill had "an innovative approach to
public transport, currently centred on 'Freebie the Bus' travelling the 'Purple Circle'". He said he hoped that in future all buses in Invercargill would be free and
accessible. (
The Freebie and
Purple Circle are zero-fare
bus routes in Invercargill.) In
2004 and
2007, Shadbolt won his fourth and fifth mayoral terms by huge margins. In
2010, he won his sixth Invercargill mayoral election. Shadbolt received 16,466 votes over mayoral candidates
Suzanne Prentice (5,361 votes) and Carl Heenan (682 votes). On
8 October 2016 he again won re-election as Invercargill's mayor. He said this was his toughest campaign yet. "I've had two candidates both going flat-out and it was a tough election", he said. "In the past I've had either no contenders, but this time I had a television producer and a sitting councillor who had also been an investigative journalist, so it was pretty tough opposition." Shadbolt was returned for another term in
2019. In November 2020, however, an independent review of the Invercargill City Council commissioned by the
Department of Internal Affairs raised concerns about the council's performance, and in particular said Shadbolt was "struggling to fulfil significant aspects of his job", and as a result there is a leadership void at the council. Shadbolt rubbished the report, saying it is flawed and he has been singled out as a scapegoat. In mid-August 2021, Deputy Mayor of Invercargill
Nobby Clark pushed for a vote of no confidence in Shadbolt's leadership. Shadbolt had drawn criticism from fellow councillors for using
Invercargill City Council (ICC) properties to store his personal belongings. In response, Shadbolt alleged that he was the victim of
workplace bullying and criticised the leaking of a mayoral email to the media. On 17 August, it was reported that Invercargill City Council CEO Clare Hadley had illegally accessed an email written by Shadbolt and used it against him during a closed council meeting. Following her apology, Shadbolt and councillors also welcomed an external investigation into the email leak. An informal survey conducted by the
Otago Daily Times found that 82% of respondents (157 individuals) believed that Shadbolt should resign as Mayor of Invercargill. In mid-September 2022, Shadbolt attracted media attention when he abstained from participating in the Southland Business Chamber's mayoral debate during the
2022 Invercargill mayoral election. Shadbolt instead issued a statement stating that "After nine terms in office, you should be well aware of my strengths and weaknesses. It is for my challengers to take up the gauntlet and prove themselves to you." On 8 October, he lost the election with 847 votes; former deputy mayor Nobby Clark won with 6537. ==Other endeavours==