The CitRat is finally out of the bag and, surprise, surprise, it turns out to be just a common or garden Nat after all. As though we didn't know.
On Saturday, the Herald revealed how the Auckland Citizens and Ratepayers team fighting the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust election had cuddled up so closely to the National Party that they had been rewarded with a copy of the party's invaluable membership lists.
This data-sharing rather puts paid to the time-honoured old fiction that the CitRats "have no affiliation, nor allegiance to any political party." This quote is from the team's latest campaign mail-out, sent, ironically, to those on the above list.
Now don't get me wrong. The CitRats can cosy up to whomever they want. All I ask is a bit of honesty in labelling.
Picking one's way through the weird pseudonyms that local body politicians use to disguise their true colours has always been the most confusing aspects of local elections. CitRats, Auckland Now, City Vision, Powerlynk, Energy Auckland: what do any of them stand for? Why not labels we vaguely understand like National, Labour, Act and Alliance?
Margaret Voyce, a CitRat candidate in the trust elections, is responsible for the present tie-up between her organisation and the National Party. Presumably, as a former Young Nat and longtime Auckland Central party activist she thought it natural to request party membership lists to help the campaign.
Particularly when her five-strong team includes John Collinge, a former National Party president (a high office, oddly omitted from his election blurbs), and Ron Greer, who unsuccessfully sought the party nomination to succeed Sir Robert Muldoon in Tamaki.
To begin with, the National Party's Auckland regional staff refused to supply membership lists. They told her to negotiate with each electorate organisation. At least one, to my knowledge, turned her down.
It felt bound by Privacy Act restrictions about data exchange and pointed to the proviso printed on each membership enrolment form stating that "under the terms of the Privacy Act, this information is retained for use by authorised National Party personnel to further National Party activities."
At this stage the CitRats appealed to elected National Party headquarters. Acting party president Bernard Duncan of Canterbury and Auckland regional chairman Richard Yates took a different view and ordered Auckland headquarters staff to provide a set of address labels. This was done without reference to the region's governing council. My understanding is that disgruntled councillors will seek explanations at the next meeting on Thursday week. But that's another story.
With the National Party membership list in her hot little hands, Mrs Voyce fired off a campaign letter, which for sheer cheek must score a perfect 10.
"Don't be fooled" she screams in capital letters. The two opposition parties, by their choice of name, "are part of a new trend to hide allegiances." One lot, she says are Labour/Alliance, the other are ACT activists. Her ticket, on the other hand, while top-heavy with National Party people, was "non-aligned."
When questioned about the mail-out, Mrs Voyce subsequently faxed this paper saying the Citrats were not endorsed by National, nor had they sought such endorsement, nor were they affiliated or aligned to any party.
But who needs such formal endorsement when you've already received their most valuable gift short of cash - their membership mailing list.
Why participants seem so ashamed about their true political colours when it comes to local politics beats me. Everyone does it, not just National. Labour and the Alliance hide behind such meaningless sugar candy as City Vision and Powerlynk, and ACTivists find a home behind labels like Auckland Now and Energy Auckland.
Why not let it all hang out, like young Richard Hackshaw of Palmerston North, who is standing as the student representative on the Correspondence School board. No hiding behind misleading packaging here.
"I will rule with an iron fist. The new curriculum will be based on the works of Karl Marx, with daily readings of Das Kapital. Teachers who resist will be re-educated in special classes. Statues of myself will decorate the school grounds. My hobbies include standing in the street yelling at strangers ... and sending fan-mail to Fidel Castro."
Read more from our Herald columnists
<i>Rudman's City</i>: Political colours hidden behind names
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