Michael Laws’ antidemocratic sentiments preceeded his election to Mayor of Wanganui, but continued in the manner of his governance and his public statements.
It was not well-known to the local citizenry that he had a reputation to live down. He had been obliged to resign from a position as MP when it was discovered that he had faked a poll giving him favorable results. Essentially, lying to Parliament is a cause for removal.
As a Councillor in Hawkes Bay he soon wore out his welcome. Then he came back to Wanganui, a city where he had lived as a boy growing up. He had a reputation for poor sportsmanship and questionable tactics. He had written a book “Dancing with Beelzebub” which was reliably described as a testament of his dislike of the city.
As a shock-jock and column writer he achieved a certain notoriety status (too often translated into a quasi-celebrity status in this small country which often imitates the United States in a race for media-based tastelessness). He was reprimanded as a racist bigot by the Broadcasting Standards Authority for remarks about a Christian religious sect whom he dubbed a “cult” and said its members practiced “child abuse” and “should be bred out of the gene pool.”
Among his many extreme opinions was his stated support and admiration of Hitler Youth. Especially, he supported their burning books of the Western Canon.
His support for George Bush and the Iraq war was expressed in a perversion of the lyrics of John Lennons most famous peace anthem. “All we saying,” Laws wrote, “is give war a chance.”
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