By Willie Jackson

That's the question most journalists were asking after the Maori Party selected him as its candidate for the Te Taitokerau by-election.

The favourite for the selectionhad been broadcaster and actor Waihoroi Shortland. He dominated the media, especially Maori media, in the week preceding the selection and made it very clear he would run an aggressive campaign against the former Maori Party Te Taitokerau MP Hone Harawira.

Shortland said Harawira wasn't a team player and hadn't represented the people of the North well.

Many in the media were salivating over the prospect of a showdown between Shortland, Harawira and Labour's Kelvin Davis.

And Davis was hopingthat Harawira and Shortland would split the vote, giving him an opportunity to win the seat.

Shortland is the Ngai Hine Runanga chairman so it seemed odds-on that he would win the nomination.

But that wasn't the case. Surprisingly two other Ngati Hine candidates stood; Tipene and lawyer Mere Mangu who had stood twice before in the seat.

No one gave Tipene a chance of winning – the general consensus was if Shortland didn't win then Mangu would. Most thought he'd entered the race too late and his lack of profile would count against him.

But to everyone's amazement he won the selection and when the media gathered for his first press conference there were naturally very high expectations of Tipene.

The event, however, proved to be a flop.

Tipene, flanked by supporters, seemed to be under instructions not to mention Harawira's name, which turned the press conference into a debacle and made him look silly.

His performance was so bad that Mere Mangu commented that Tipene and the Maori Party were not ready for the byelection and he was not good for Te Taitokerau as he was no more than a yes-man.

It's a shame the Maori Party felt the need to over-manage Tipene as many of us in south Auckland know him to be a capable worker.

He has a very good reputation as a strong supporter of kaupapa Maori having worked as a top official in Corrections, Child Youth and Family and Maori Affairs. If he has a weakness it's probably that he's too much of a gentleman for national politics.

Also Tipene has only been back living in the North for five years and doesn't have the profile to threaten Harawira's reign.

Wassie Shortland certainly had that and Harawira will be relieved that Shortland wasn't selected. Labour, too, will be very disappointed that a major chance to cut back Harawira's vote has been missed by the Maori Party.

Auckland Stuff.co.nz 3rd June 2011