HOW COME?

Now that the truth of Allan Titford’s nasty life has come out, the Minister of Local Government is asking how come he was able to stand for election while facing serious criminal charges. 

But there are far more important questions to answer than that, not least being how come he ever came to prominence in this country in the first place? 

It started in 1992 when the Waitangi Tribunal recommended that the Crown return to Te Roroa all the land which it should have set aside for them from purchases it made in the 1870s at Maunganui, Waipoua, Waimamaku and Wairau.  Included in those lands were two reserves totalling 36 hectares on a farm owned by Allan Titford. 

What Titford did next almost beggars belief, until you read the evidence and hear the broken-hearted testimony of the wife and children he enslaved, isolated and terrorised for more than two decades. 

Having burnt down his own home and damaged his own property, Titford lied and blamed Te Roroa for that arson and damage, as well as for ‘rustling his stock.’ 

The resultant outcry from the anti-Treaty brigade saw the Crown pay him $3.25 million compensation for the $600,000 farm he’d bought nine years earlier.  

Fast forward to 2010 when Titford, minus his millions and plus a new wife, turned up in Te Hiku o Te Ika claiming an island in Rangaunu Harbour.  However both he and his claim seemed to vanish without discernible trace other than a few local mutterings.  In fact little more was heard of Titford until his name appeared as a Mayoral candidate on the voting papers for this year’s Far North District elections. 

Now here are the important questions: Titford never turned up at a single public meeting, didn’t put out one flyer, didn’t put up any hoardings, and never produced a skerrick of policy throughout the election period.  And yet he got more than 400 votes.  How come?

Meanwhile, Rueben Taipari (a loving husband and doting father) tirelessly turned up at every public meeting going, ran his tiny budget ragged, and consistently walked his policy talk.  And yet he got just over 800 votes.  How come?

What is it about this country that sees a wife raping, child beating bully like Titford rewarded with almost half as many votes as a good man like Taipari? 

Even though the facts of Titford’s brutishness were not publicly known until after the election, in this country where voter apathy is the norm, he did extraordinarily well as a first time candidate. 

So please, if you are amongst the 414 who bothered to vote for him, sight unseen and unheard, enlighten me; how come?

I also note that the websites for the One New Zealand Foundation, and the Centre for Political Research still uncritically promote Titford’s lies.  How come?