Michael Laws
His father, Keith Laws, a schoolteacher, became rector (principal) of Waitaki Boys' High School in Oamaru and then of Scots College, Wellington.In the 1987 election, Laws stood as the National candidate for the Hawkes Bay seat, but narrowly lost to the incumbent Bill Sutton of the Labour Party.Laws voted against his party on a number of issues, joining several other dissident MPs to oppose the economic policies of the Minister of Finance Ruth Richardson.When Gilbert Myles and Hamish MacIntyre left National to found the new Liberal Party, they invited Laws to join them, but he declined.In the end, Laws' relationship with the National Party deteriorated to the point where he no longer attended caucus meetings, and he decided to join New Zealand First in April 1996.Laws claimed "there had been no profit to either company or individuals," and an official inquiry by the Auditor-General confirmed it found only a minor and unintentional breach of regulations in not declaring his wife's shareholding.Laws' administration was controversial: he dismayed the local arts community by cancelling an extension to the Sarjeant Art Gallery, was the subject of a code of conduct investigation after making derogatory comments about some Whanganui residents, and on a radio show he hosted described the deceased Tongan king Taufa'ahau Tupou IV as "a bloated, brown slug.However, citing public pressure, Laws changed his mind about retiring from the mayoralty and signed up to contest a second term on the last day for nominations to be submitted.[28] In mid August 2021, ORC chief executive Sarah Gardner lodged a code of conduct against Laws regarding comments that he had made about Council staff in two articles that were published in the Otago Daily Times.According to fellow Councillor Gary Kelliher, the code of conduct investigation against Laws amounted to NZ$20,000 since the Council outsourced it to external lawyer Dyhrberg.He said the council was playing a "very dangerous game of chicken" with the Government and accused his colleagues of refusing to accept the results of the 2023 New Zealand general election.[34] In mid March 2024, Laws joined a majority of ORC councillors in voting not to extend half-price bus fares for university students.When questioned by the university student magazine Critic Te Ārohi, Laws defended the tone if his response and accused Grace of selfishness and said that "he could have been much harsher."In response, Laws welcomed the Government's move, saying that it would "save Otago ratepayers millions of dollars in consulting and legal fees, and bring some much needed political sanity to the regional council table."[39] The following day Laws joined six other councillors in voting down a motion expressing "deep concern" about legislation passed in the New Zealand Parliament on 22 October preventing the notification of the Land and Water Regional Plan.Additionally, in 2008 he was charged with contempt of court for breaching a suppression order on his radio programme and in October 2010 he called Governor-General Anand Satyanand a "fat Indian."[44][45] In 2011, Laws made comments described as "outrageous" about a young man with Asperger syndrome who was arrested for minor theft in the aftermath of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake[46] and was suspended from his radio programme after criticising journalists' conduct in their coverage of the 2011 general election.Laws had a regular column in the Sunday Star-Times and has authored three books: a political memoir, The Demon Profession (1998); a mystery novel, Dancing With Beelzebub (1999); and sports biography Gladiator: the Norm Hewitt Story (2001).