Mud flies in hotly contested Tauranga

Tauranga MP Winston Peters was labelled a "slimeball" by National rival Bob Clarkson yesterday after Mr Peters made a raft of accusations about the millionaire developer.

Mr Clarkson also revealed he has already halted campaign spending in a bid to stay under the $20,000 limit.

And Mr Peters hinted that he might take an electoral petition to have the result overturned if Mr Clarkson wins on Saturday, on the basis of overspending.

The stakes in Tauranga are high: if Mr Peters' New Zealand First Party falls under 5 per cent in the party vote, and it is close to that, it would not survive without his seat.

Moreover the party's survival might be National's best chance of gaining the Treasury benches.

Speaking to 200 people at a Grey Power meeting in Tauranga, Mr Peters said Mr Clarkson had been investigated by Inland Revenue in 1989, and issued financial records and notes of the IRD interview conducted with him at the time.

Mr Peters said the material had been sent to him by a metropolitan newspaper and that certain members of the National Party had also been anxious that he have it.

Mr Clarkson yesterday acknowledged he had been investigated but said it was common; he had paid $30,000 extra tax but never paid penalty tax nor been charged with any tax offence.

He did not believe anyone within National had helped Mr Peters' attack him.

Mr Peters referred to a story the Bay of Plenty Times ran in 2002 claiming Mr Clarkson was "at the centre of a sexual harassment dispute" for using the phrase "I'll bet my left testicle ... " in front of a woman who had been been selling corporate boxes at his BayPark Stadium, named in the article as Viv D'or.

The story was essentially Mr Clarkson's version of the dispute and Mr Peters claimed that the newspaper ran the story only after securing an indemnity agreement by him to pay for any law suit that might arise from the complainant.

Mr Clarkson yesterday backed up that claim but the paper disputed it.

Mr Clarkson, while not naming anyone, said he had sacked a former employee for "using the F word" to a client. He then received a letter from the employee's lawyer objecting to his use of the phrase "my left testicle".

He had thought it so ridiculous he wanted the story in the paper straight away.

"I wanted it out because I wanted the facts dealt with. And they thought for a while it was too dangerous for them so I said I would sign any paper," he told the Herald.

The editor of the Bay of Plenty Times at the time, Bruce Morris, last night said his recollection was that there had been no agreement.

The story was obtained through normal sources and when Mr Clarkson was approached about it, he had been open and honest.

Mr Morris had not spoken to Mr Clarkson before or after publication. "It's nonsense to suggest there is some kind of conspiracy with Bob Clarkson."

Mr Peters said he was speaking with the permission of Viv D'or.

She told the Herald from Australia yesterday that her main claim against Mr Clarkson had been for monies owed but she had also wanted to show how disgusted she was with constant reference to his anatomy.

"I didn't think I deserved to be taken out on the front page ... "

She said she had been called anonymously by the Times about an indemnity agreement.

Mr Peters said it was clear that Mr Clarkson had forfeited the election and overspent .

Mr Clarkson's first response when he heard of the claims was "slimeball".

"But I don't really want to really get into that sort of mood," he said before adding that he believed Mr Peters was "down the gurgler".

* The New Zealand Herald is not the newspaper mentioned by Mr Peters as having passed him material.