Tauranga Antics

This Rod Emmerson cartoon is a pretty good summary of why Peters is resorting to his desperate tactics.

The Herald editorial is well worth a read. It however makes one mistake in saying that the accusation of over-spending could, when determined, affect the election result. It won’t.

If Bob Clarkson wins Tauranaga, as is highly likely, and an electoral petition did find he had over-spent his budget (an accusation that is strongly refuted) then the seat would merely fall vacant and there would be a by-election. Now Peters might win the by-election but he would not retrospectively qualify for List MPs from the previous election (if NZ First had failed to make 5%).

The final sentence of the editorial says:

He seems be going out with a last flourish of the dubious art of character assassination.

Something worth reflecting on also, is Peters’ use of stolen information. Peters handed out IRD documents relating to Clarkson’s tax affairs.