Fourth candidate for Sydenham

Press, 16 July 1983, Page 1

Fourth candidate for Sydenham

A Christchurch City councillor, Mr Geoff Stone, has confirmed that he will offer himself for selection as the Labour Party’s Sydenham candidate.

Mr Stone said yesterday that he and his wife had agreed he should seek nomination to give the people of Sydenham as wide a range of candidates as possible. “A wide range of candidates allows a wide range of capabilities, interests and concerns to be canvassed during the selection process,” he said. “Against such high ranking and respected nominees as Jim Anderton and Wes Cameron I will obviously start out as a ‘long-shot,’ but New Zealanders have always been generous in their respect and consideration of underdogs,’’.Mr Stone said.

. A first-term councillor at the Christchurch City Council, Mr Stone is chairman of the town planning committee. He is also a member of the Canterbury United Council and the Christchurch Transport Board. Within the New Zealand Labour Party, Mr Stone is an executive on the Canterbury regional council, a member of Labour’s Christchurch Central electorate committee, and membership secretary of the party’s Linwood branch.

Mr Stone joins another Christchuch City councillor, Mr Alex Clark, the president of the Canterbury

Trades Council, Mr Wes Cameron, and Mr J. M. Anderton in seeking the nomination.

The Leader of the Social Credit Party, Mr B. C. Beetham, has greeted with derision the intention of Mr Anderton to seek the Parliamentary nomination for Sydenham.

He said that from being known as the "Garden City,” Christchurch would be known as the “Carpet bag City” for Labour.

Mr Anderton’s was the third instance in recent times of a Labour aspirant from outside the region seeking a Christchurch seat.

Mr Beetham said that Mr Anderton joined Mr M. K.

Moore (Lab., Papanui), and Mr G. W. R. Palmer (Lab., Christchurch Central) as a “carpet bagger.” The Labour member of Parliament for Palmerston North, Mr Trevor de Cleene, has said that Mr Anderton should quit as party leader if he wants to nominate for the Sydenham seat. Mr de Cleene said Mr Anderton had successfully campaigned for the party presidency against the former Palmerston North member of Parliament, Mr Joe Walding, on the basis that a member of Parliament should not also be president. “So I think he should stand down as president now that he hhs decided to seek the Sydenham nomination,” he said yesterday. Mr de Cleene said that it would not be good for the party if Mr Anderton quit as president just a few months before the election. He described Mr Anderton as “a good president, organisation wise.” “But he has exceeded frequently the boundaries for a president by entering too much into the political arena, and this has caused trouble in the party. “He has tried to be a politician before entering Parliament, and he has embarrassed both Mr Rowling and Mr Lange. I think it is time he got into Parliament, if that is how he feels,” he said.