Former Work and Income New Zealand CEO and Dancing With The Stars contestant Christine Rankin has been announced as the new CEO of the Conservative Party. "My admiration for the party and its leader has continued to grow over the past year or so," the Families Commissioner says in a statement on the party's website. "The energy here is contagious, and I sense that this is the beginning of something very significant for New Zealand." Rankin goes on to claim the party is "mainstream" and represents "what every day [sic] New Zealanders are thinking." The party's leader Colin Craig thinks being gay is a choice, claiming he could be gay if he wanted to. He doesn't believe equality means being the same, or being treated the same, and once infamously tweeted: "it's not intelligent to pretend homosexual relationships are normal". The announcement of Rankin as CEO comes as party donation returns show Craig donated spent more than $1.6 million of his own money on the party last year. The party had the highest level of donation returns, with $1,623,504.06. Of that $1,618,600 came from Craig. The Conservative Party continues to hit around or below the two per cent mark in political opinion polls.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 10th May 2013 - 9:50pm