Labour drops challenge to Hide in Epsom

Act leader Rodney Hide is safe in his seat of Epsom, with the Labour Party dropping plans to mount a legal challenge against his election spending.

Labour had been contemplating filing an electoral petition alleging that Mr Hide had overspent his $20,000 electorate campaign budget. If successful, it would have forced a by-election in the blue-ribbon seat.

But Labour Party president Mike Williams said yesterday that although he believed Mr Hide had blown his budget, Labour had little to gain from challenging him.

"Our back-of-the-envelope calculation I think was $36,000, but it was going to cost us $100,000 to do it and strategically we think he drags National to the right and makes them unelectable."

Mr Hide last night welcomed the news that his seat was no longer under threat.

"I know that Helen Clark and the Labour Party didn't want me back. Well, they're going to have to get used to it." Mr Hide said his spending had been "well within the rules" and the people of Epsom had decided by themselves who to vote for.

"Mike Williams would be better to get out and meet more people rather than sitting in the back room always plotting and trying to be tricky."

If Mr Hide had lost his seat, Act list MP Heather Roy would have remained, even though she was only returned to Parliament on the back of his Epsom win. A by-election would probably have been won by National, leaving the centre-right vote unchanged.

Mr Williams said key questions about the election - including whether "push-polling" and paid canvassing staff counted as campaign expenses that had to be declared - would be answered by Winston Peters' petition against Bob Clarkson in Tauranga, which Labour would co-operate with.

He had met Mr Peters' lawyer, Brian Henry, and would provide information to assist in the court case.

Labour's local organisation in Tauranga had clocked Mr Clarkson's spending at around $47,000, he said.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY