Georgina Beyer in Dunedin. Picture / Facebook Georgina Beyer has criticised Internet Party founder Kim Dotcom and says her campaign is running on “thin air”. The Te Tai Tonga candidate for the Mana Party told 3News yesterday she believes Dotcom is tearing her party apart. "His reasons for becoming involved in New Zealand politics in the way he has is one of retribution against people who he feels have slighted him," she said. Beyer has since told the Otago Daily Times she ''absconded'' from the Internet Mana roadshow last month, having formed negative views of backer Kim Dotcom after getting to know him on the road. The outspoken, history-making, former Labour MP is currently in the deep south, and says her campaign is badly under-funded, Mana candidates are being treated as ''second-rate'' compared with those from the Internet Party and she is not happy she has been told to focus on the party vote rather than winning her seat. When it came to Dotcom she added: ''I'm a girl with some street smarts from way back, and I sort of have an intuition sometimes about people ... there's something about him I just don't trust.'' Beyer has had strong support for her comments from some Mana supporters on social media, who say she is offering "home truths", while others say she shouldn't have spoken out. Travelling with Beyer through the vast electorate is friend and provocative former Mana Party staffer Jevan Goulter, who left his position as Hone Harawira’s executive assistant recently and told GayNZ.com Daily News the reasons why are none of our readers’ business. In March he took to Facebook to describe Dotcom as “a fat white rich prick with a bunch of money” but added the alliance with the Internet Party would help Mana get MPs in Parliament. Mana Party vice president Annette Sykes says there is now, and always will be, a range of views about many issues within the movement and members are free to express them, but Beyer’s views are not shared by the party leadership. “She only recently came on board Mana and therefore she has not been privy to some of the discussions that the Mana Movement has had with Kim or the Internet Party," Sykes says. “Our relationship is ever-evolving as we continue to mature as the newest political force in the country. Sometimes as the relationship develops, people can be misunderstood or form opinions of others that are not accurate”.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 2nd September 2014 - 10:26am