So, Labour is talking up Greg O'Connor as one of their candidates. You know, the Greg O'Connor who ceaselessly advocates for an armed, military style police force equipped and empowered to shoot whoever they want, and protected from oversight or any legal repurcussions for doing so. The guy who makes excuses for police who beat people in cells and for even the most extreme police and unethical misconduct. The Greg O'Connor who denounces the Bazely report's requirements for the police to clean up their act and stop raping people as a "ritual humiliation". That Greg O'Connor. The man is a jackbooted fascist and an advocate for state thuggery and lawlessness. And if he's Labour's answer, you really have to wonder what they think the question is.
Oh, but apparently he was just advocating for his members (which says some very disturbing about our police officers) and that he doesn't really hold these views. He was "just pretending" for the job, in the same way that Don Brash was "just pretending" to be racist in order to grub for votes from racist arseholes. But that paints a pretty dim moral picture as well. And as with Brash, it doesn't really matter. He advocated for those positions. And we should judge and condemn him for it. And ditto any party which makes him a candidate.
Apparently O'Connor is being talked up as Labour's Ohariu candidate. I can't think of a better way to squander any deal over Ohariu with the Greens - or make sure that one doesn't happen. And if O'Connor is Labour's candidate there, I'd advocate voting for Peter Dunne, and showing your support for the left through the party vote instead. Because remember under MMP all electorate votes to is reorganise the party list. And both Peter Dunne and an anonymous Labour candidate are both far superior on police and social issues than a knuckle-dragging thug like O'Connor.