A few surprises in Maori Hill
Some good coverage in the Otago Daily Times in the last couple of days.

The candidates meeting at Maori Hill Hall last night was a surprise,
this is a well-off neighbourhood and I was expecting a tough crowd,
however it was the National and ACT candidates who got heckled by the
audience.

To quote a few excerpts from the ODT report:

"There was little appetite for tax cuts among those who went to hear
a meet the candidates forum at the Maori Hill Community Centre last
night . . .
The meeting reached a crescendo every time Alliance Party candidate
Victor Billot rose to speak, with his booming delivery apparently
designed to reach some way down Drivers Road from the Highgate
Venue . . . speaking first, he noted the way in which the poor of New
Orleans had apparently been abandoned following Hurricane Katrina.
'You have to ask yourself, why were they left there? They had no
money, that's why' he said. Some of the parties on the stage wanted
to take New Zealand the same way, he said.
Taking up that theme later, a member of the audience asked Mrs Rich
whether her party would cut the domestic purposes benefit if in power.
Mrs Rich said it would not."

A brief review of other candidates:

Pete Hodgson (Labour): Getting progressively more grumpy, probably because of his earlier involvement in a fracas with some lunatic fundamentalist at Otago University during Helen's photo op. Time to turn on the charm offensive, Pete!

Katherine Rich (National): Where are her supporters? Looking more and more ratty as every meeting she is met with a barrage of heckles and jeers. Still opens every meeting by telling us she has "gained a reputation, I am told, as an effective local MP."
The head prefect mannerisms aren't going down well though and she left immediately after the meeting with a small group of Nats, it looked like a defeated Sith Lord abandoning ship with a bunch of imperial troopers. The positive "winner" vibe is beginning to crack.

ACT guy: Some stand in from Auckland, hopefully nothing too serious has happened to their local accident prone candidate Willie Martin. The new guy was a real case study, dressed like Tom Cruise in Top Gun, and came across as a bit of a sociopath. Unlike Willie, he wasn't rattled by the hostile crowd. I called him a zombie, but he didn't seem to mind that either, so a point for keeping cool under heavy fire.

Brent Daglish (Destiny): Brent has followed my recent advice in this blog and now appears in a sober and stylish grey suit, having abandoned the zany red tie and black shirt look. Continues to be generally friendly although briefly lectured me that if I kept on disrespecting his spiritual leaders, he would "bite back."
I must wear some heavy woollen garments to the next meeting.

Mark Peters (United) was briefly astonished when asked if he would change policies if his party went in with National or Labour. I saved him by saying I would go into coalition with him and shook his hand. The audience laughed and hopefully Mark hasn't lost too much sleep thinking he has signed a coalition deal with the socialists.

Alan the NZ First candidate is apparently an ex-cop, which is disturbing considering he makes thinly veiled racist comments about something called the "Bro-ro-cracy" at every meeting. However he does have a very good understanding of what a load of hogwash "free trade" is. I had an interesting conversation with him after the meeting about "leadership." He was very big on it. What will he do when his leader is trounced in the election? Who will he look up to then? I must ask him at the next meeting.

Phillippa Jamieson (Greens) gave one of her best speeches so far, especially in defence of progressive taxes.

Earlier in the day I met the local Progressive candidate, an earnest young chap by the name of James. He kept on telling me I had to "play the game." I think he was talking about politics, because there weren't any Ludo sets around. He did tell me that the Progressive's had two members in Dunedin. Hopefully Jim "Get things done with my enormous and embarrassing 67 year old ego" Anderton won't sack him for divulging the secret Progressive masterplan to "get things done."
He also let me in on the secret of how Jim Anderton gets things done – it's because he gets to have a "word in the ear" of Helen Clark at cabinet meetings. I asked young James what "Get Things Done Jim" had actually got done in the last three years, upon which he walked off looking depressed.
- posted by Victor @ 11:21 PM