Raukawa-Tait walks out on Christian Heritage party

The embattled Christian Heritage Party has been hit by the resignation of its high-profile deputy leader, Merepeka Raukawa-Tait.

Mrs Raukawa-Tait, the former outspoken head of Women's Refuge, quit yesterday citing "concerns about the lack of financial accountability and un-Christian tactics of [leader] Graham Capill".

Mr Capill and the party's Wairarapa candidate have been feuding since Christian Heritage failed to attract much support in the July 27 election.

Mrs Raukawa-Tait called on Mr Capill to quit after she failed to gain her seat and the party nationwide gained only 1.35 per cent of the party vote. She made it clear she wanted to lead the party.

Today, the entire Wairarapa Electorate Committee also resigned from the party in support of her, Mrs Raukawa-Tait said.

In a letter to Mr Capill she accused him of un-Christian behaviour and said the party lacked integrity.

After the election, supporters of Mrs Raukawa-Tait accused Mr Capill of financial mismanagement. He denied the charges and threatened to take legal action.

Mrs Raukawa-Tait accused Mr Capill of numerous sins in her resignation letter. Among them were:

* "The lack of adequate scrutiny and accountability of the party's finances."

* Blaspheming by using the name of Jesus Christ "for fundraising to further the worldly interests of a few people".

* "Inappropriate use of party and election funds."

* "The repeated and un-Christian attempts to intimidate us with threats of defamation actions, expulsion from the party, the withholding of promised payment for campaign-related bills, and other unlawful measures to attempt to enforce our silence over wrongdoing by the party leadership."

Mr Capill said that all money raised and spent during the campaign had been properly accounted for and had passed an independent audit.

The accounts had all been signed off by electoral officers.

"Obviously Merepeka is disappointed with the election result, we all are ... it doesn't help to have recriminations and attack each other ... that is not positive," Mr Capill said.

- NZPA