The candidate who will benefit from the Labour-Green deal in Mount Roskill has hypocrite written all over him.
Michael Wood supposedly hates dirty electorate deals. In fact these very words came from his mouth just two years ago.
"We are calling for a straight contest and an end to the dodgy deals."
Wood stood for Epsom at the last election. Epsom. The home of the dirty deal.
And boy, did he tell everyone about it.
In fact he went as far as bringing a bag of flour along to debates to replace National candidate Paul Goldsmith who stepped aside to make way for ACT's David Seymour.
"Every time that Paul Goldsmith fails to front in this campaign, we're going to remind people about the dirty deal with this bag of wholemeal flour," Wood said on The Nation's Epsom debate.
"This is going to sit in place of Paul Goldsmith, who is not fronting and is facilitating a deal with the ACT Party, to get them back when they don't deserve it."
He tugged at the heartstrings of voters, saying they'd effectively been exploited for their vote.
"This is an electorate which has been kicked around and abused and used. And I actually think that the least the ACT party could do at this point in the proceedings is to concede that there is a deal that is on the table or in the offing."
He told The Nation that voters were sick of dirty deals.
"That is the only way that the ACT party has survived, they don’t stand up on their own two feet. And I think that heaps of people are sick of it."
He called for David Seymour to call the deal off.
"Call for no deal David. Call for no deal."
That was all in one debate.
Now the Greens look likely to stand down their potential candidate who'd run against him in Mount Roskill as part of the Memorandum of Understanding. (This is assuming Phil Goff wins the Auckland mayoralty, resigns as an MP, and forces a by-election).
It’s not the first time Wood has been in the headlines. Earlier this year, National’s candidate Parmjeet Parmar accused Mr Wood's partner Julie Fairey - who works for Auckland Council - of blocking her from attending citizenship ceremonies.
An analysis of the party vote shows Parmar is a serious threat, with National more popular than Labour.
Barry Coates stood there for the Greens at the last election and got 1682 votes. There is also a new Indian Party starting up that will undoubtedly steal votes off the major parties messing things up.
It won't be easy for Wood - he needs the "dirty deal" he once supposedly despised.
My question is who is bringing the bag of Quinoa to debates to stand in for the Greens?
Newshub.
