In 2008, the people of Maungakiekie elected Sam Lotu-Iiga as their local MP. But Lotu-Iiga was already serving on the Auckland City Council. Labour MP's denounced this as double dipping, and called on Lotu-Iiga to resign:
People of the Tamaki Maungakiekie deserve better representation than a sometime City Councillor, says locally based Labour MP Carol Beaumont.(That press release also quotes Carmel Sepuloni and Su'a William Sio on the difficulty of juggling both jobs as well).“The people of Maungakiekie deserve a fulltime MP to represent their views; likewise the people of the Tamaki Maungakiekie ward of the Auckland City Council deserve a fulltime City Councillor – at the moment they are being short-changed by Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga.
[...]
“Members of Parliament are required to be in Wellington when the House sits on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, it is unacceptable that the people of Tamaki Maungakiekie do not have councillor representing them on these days.
Fast forward to 2010. Progressive leader and Labour ally Jim Anderton has just announced that he will stand for the Christchurch mayoralty, and that he will not resign if he wins. Labour's response? Silence.
This is simply hypocrisy. Everything Mallard, Beaumont, Sepuloni and Sio said is applicable to Anderton - moreso because being mayor is a more time-consuming role than councillor. But apparently, what was unacceptable from a National MP is acceptable from a Progressive one. Such obvious double standards do us no favours whatsoever.
(Yes, I understand that Labour isn't responsible for Anderton. But they weren't responsible for Lotu-iiga either. If they denounce one, they should denounce the other. Otherwise, they're just hypocrites).
