Panicky posties and charges of forgery bring Super City election into disrepute

It’s a funny old election they are running in the Super City.

No matter who wins, Alf will be suspicious about the result and the going-on that will have tainted it.

Some voters seem to have been disenfranchised by the non-delivery of their voting papers.

Others seem to have been fiddling the system by casting votes with forged papers.

Nah, this ‘punchup’ is simply some pricklish politicking about a teenage strumpet called Holly

The first thing Alf has to say this morning is that the SST has conned him – and all its readers – with its headline Political punchup over call-girl claim.

There was no punch-up.

Not even the hint of a bit of arm wrestling or of someone firmly putting an arm on the shoulders of someone else.

The second thing to say is that the story involves George Hawkins, mostly known to Alf as a bloke who spat the dummy when the Labour Party placed him around 25th on its party list in 2006. Hawkins thought he deserved a higher place, withdrew his name from the list, and won the seat handsomely when he stood for election in Manurewa.

But Alf reckons this tells us much more about the collective wisdom of the people of Manurewa than about the electoral appeal of George Hawkins, although the voters did have the good sense to lop his majority when he stood again in 2008.