KEY POINTS:
Lawyers have been called in over the name of a political party launched today to contest the Auckland local body elections.
Headed by controversial mayoral candidate Steve Crow, the new party is called oneauckland.com and is promising to offer an alternative to the current left and right-wing factions in the Auckland City Council.
However, the One Auckland Trust, which was set up last year to lobby for local government reform, is upset the political ticket has effectively hijacked its name.
Chairman Grant Kirby has spoken to lawyers and the Electoral Commission about oneauckland.com, and has registered the trust as a company to protect its name.
Chief electoral officer Dale Ofsoske confirmed the council's solicitors had been asked to check whether oneauckland.com had the right to that name.
Although the groups may share similar ideals for local government reform, Kirby said One Auckland Trust was a lobby group and did not want to be involved in a political party running for council.
"People are going to immediately think of us and we have nothing to do with them."
Chris Diack, secretary for oneauckland.com, said the party would not be confused with the One Auckland Trust - which has featured prominently in the recent fixauckland.com campaign.
"I am absolutely confident that our name is... sufficiently different. I'm absolutely confident we have the right to use our name."
Billing itself as the "fresh face" for the city, the oneauckland.com party is led by Crow, a high-profile pornographer, and is launching its election campaign today.
Other members of the ticket include Diack - former aide to Rodney Hide, Citizens and Ratepayers Now candidate and Labour Party member - and Julie Chambers, who was dumped by C&R as a Hobson council candidate in favour of John Banks' biographer Paul Goldsmith.
Chambers said she was "perplexed" by Kirby's concern and did not think the One Auckland name was an issue, as both groups shared similar philosophies. "This issue of ratepayers being hit in the pocket by disastrous councils is more important than a few words on a page."
She said oneauckland.com did not want to confuse voters and wanted to meet the One Auckland Trust to work together, but Kirby had spurned the offer.
Ofsoske said the Electoral Act prevented a political ticket branding itself in a way likely to confuse or mislead voters. He had sought legal advice because he could not accept a nomination that fell outside that criteria.
