From The Press:

Former skinhead wants to run the city
By JOHN HENZELL - The Press | Wednesday, 13 June 2007

Former National Front leader Kyle Chapman is standing again for the Christchurch mayoralty, but on a platform that includes eco-friendly sustainability rather than forced repatriation of Chinese and Polynesian immigrants.

Chapman came fifth of the 10 candidates in the last mayoral race, attracting 1665 votes, but he was outpolled 30-fold by winner Garry Moore.

Chapman announced yesterday that he was putting his hat back in the ring as a candidate for the National Democrats, which describes itself as “New Zealand’s only patriotic political party”.

He resigned from the National Front in 2005, saying his high-profile position as the face of the party was having too big an impact on his family and that his views had moderated.

“I’m not as extreme as I was under the National Front banner. I’ve become more moderate but I’m still a patriotic person,” he said.

Chapman, a former marae-firebombing skinhead, defined his patriotism and nationalism as “looking after New Zealand and making our cities something that we’re proud of so that tourists and visitors can look anywhere and see nice things”.

Other policies he now espouses are replacing Christchurch’s slum housing with low-cost, quality council housing, introducing environmentally friendly and long-term sustainable industry, moving away from the volatile tourism industry, and creating safer communities through the introduction of a local security patrol force for high-risk suburbs.

Chapman said his own recent experiences with the police helped sway him to stand for the mayoralty.

He said when his mother’s home was burgled she was told after several days that the police were too busy to attend the scene.

He also said that when he reported a death threat made against him, despite giving the name of the person he claimed threatened him, the police did nothing further.

Chapman will also stand for the Hagley-Ferrymead Community Board.