KEY POINTS:
New Zealand First's deputy leader Peter Brown has admitted that some election spending by his party identified as unlawful by the Auditor-General was exactly that.
But Mr Brown wants his party to challenge in court Kevin Brady's view that NZ First misspent almost $158,000 of taxpayers' money in the lead-up to the 2005 election.
Mr Brown put up a good case for legal action in a letter he sent to the Herald this week but conceded that there had been some misspending.
"Speaking personally (and I emphasise that) I believe some of the debts identified by the Auditor-General have some legitimacy but I am of the belief that others do not," Mr Brown wrote.
"In short, I believe there are good grounds to challenge at least some of the Auditor-General's findings."
Mr Brown's letter was sent in response to a Herald editorial that argued taking legal action would be a lose-lose proposition for NZ First.
Mr Brown plans to tell his caucus colleagues on Tuesday that he wants a legal challenge.
NZ First had the second-largest figure of all political parties identified by the Auditor-General as unlawfully spending parliamentary funds.
The party is the only one refusing to commit to paying the money back, repeating that it is waiting for legal advice as to whether a challenge is feasible.
Mr Brown said he thought party leader Winston Peters would likely provide an update on that legal advice at next week's caucus meeting.
Any decision about whether to take a challenge would be made once that was known.
In his letter, Mr Brown said he agreed totally that the public was "completely unforgiving" of politicians who used public money for personal advancement.
However, he said the parliamentary wings of political parties were funded to address issues, make concerns known and to advise the public where they stood on particular matters.
"The quandary I live with is should those findings be challenged because of being fearful of political recriminations? If I am fearful of that how can I expect a witness to a crime to speak up if he/she is fearful of threats from the criminal or associates?"
Mr Brown wrote that "seems like a double standard to me".
"For what it is worth, my view is simply if it is genuinely believed there is something wrong, an MP in particular has a moral obligation to speak up and challenge the assertions/determinations or whatever".
Money trouble
* NZ First is said to have misspent about $158,000 of taxpayer funds in the lead-up to the 2005 election.
* That was the second-largest figure of all political parties identified as unlawfully spending funds.
* NZ First is the only party refusing to commit to paying the money back.
* It says it is awaiting legal advice as to whether a challenge on the matter is feasible.
