By TANYA KATTERNS - The Dominion Post
Last updated 05:00 18/08/2010
Former MP, mayor, prostitute and drag queen Georgina Beyer's decision to pull out of the race for mayor of Masterton has been met with scepticism.
Ms Beyer, 52, who for the past few months has been campaigning to oust sitting mayor Garry Daniell, says she is broke.
The recent death of a Taiwanese friend who was to have funded her campaign was the final nail, she said.
Instead of campaigning, she was left juggling what limited finances she had left to cover the next few weeks of her rent and was joining the dole queue.
Her sudden decision after such a high-profile "unofficial campaign" since April has come as good news for Mr Daniell. He was elected by a 450-vote margin after the departure of long-standing mayor Bob Francis.
However, Mr Daniell is wary of just how long Ms Beyer's stance will last.
"I am not ruling out the possibility of Georgina doing a Lazarus act. Part of me wonders whether this is just a ploy to get the financial backing that she needs."
She would have been a formidable opponent and her contention had kept many other interested candidates away, he said.
Ms Beyer would not comment yesterday on the possibility of returning to the contest if the $10,000 she needed to campaign could be found.
"I am dealing with a bereavement and have been all day at a funeral home dressing a body. You need to have some consideration for this very sudden event that has happened and I am in no mood right now.
"I will deal with your questions tomorrow."
The world's first transsexual mayor and MP has a long track record of changing her mind.
She said before the 2002 general election that she was fed up with politics and would not stand for Parliament again. However, she did and was re-elected.
She again said she would quit national politics at the 2005 election, blaming the rigours of parliamentary life for her decision. After musing publicly over a possible return to local body politics, either in Carterton, where she was mayor from 1995 to 2000, or in Wellington, she returned to Parliament on Labour's list.
She quit in February 2007, halfway through the parliamentary term, and considered contesting the Wellington mayoralty before confirming that she was back in the race for Carterton's mayoral chains.
She backed out of that contest four months later, saying she did not have the public support.