Morgan tells TOP candidate to resign
TOP leader Gareth Morgan has sent an ‘‘upsetting’’ email to one of the party’s candidates, telling her to resign.
Morgan signed off with an insult, telling TOP tax spokesperson and 2017 election candidate Jenny Condie she was ‘‘a pain in the arse’’. The controversial leader sent Condie the email on Thursday night after she asked Morgan to hold a meeting with candidates and volunteers to talk about the future direction of the party.
Condie told RNZ a tweet Morgan sent following the death of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s cat, Paddles, had upset some of TOP’s candidates and volunteers.
After the cat was run over and killed on Tuesday, Morgan responded by speculating the cat may have been wandering, adding that wandering cats posed a risk to New Zealand wildlife.
Condie said this tweet, during a time when Jacinda Ardern was mourning her cat, was consistent with other inflammatory comments he had made in the past.
These types of comments were ‘‘an ongoing issue for many members and volunteers in the party’’, Condie told RNZ, adding that staff and volunteers had been expecting an internal discussion following the party’s election result, where it achieved 2.4 per cent of the party vote (not enough to get a seat in Parliament).
Morgan responded to Condie’s request with the email that read: ‘‘Hi Jenny, Please just resign from the party – you’re a pain in the arse. Ka kite ano, Gareth.’’
Condie said after receiving the email she got in touch with friends for ‘‘moral support’’.
‘‘I was a little bit upset.’’
But she told RNZ the email wasn’t ‘‘out of the blue’’.
‘‘I’ve come to expect that sort of behaviour from Gareth.’’
The economist turned politician was a controversial figure throughout the build-up to the election, and made a number of comments that were considered insulting. Morgan has not responded to requests for comment.