Taupo MP Mark Burton (left) talks tactics to supporter Iain
Loan, a general practitioner in the town. Dr Loan has three
children at the Otago Medical School. Photo by Dene
Mackenzie.
Labour MP Mark Burton is one of Parliament's nice guys,
always friendly and with a ready smile.He has a
passion for vegetarian Thai food and a liking for Kim Crawford
pinot gris.
His parliamentary record in the past nine years is impressive
reading.
From defence minister, minister responsible for treaty
negotiations, local government and state-owned enterprises,
Mr Burton (52) has played a major part in the Helen Clark-led
Government since 1999.
But Mr Burton has found himself a victim of Labour's
rejuvenation programme.
In 2007, he lost his portfolios and, from being 16th on the
list in 2005, he is now 39th and really needs to retain his
Taupo electorate seat to ensure a return to Parliament.
Not that you will hear him complain about his treatment,
despite some leading questions from Taking the Pulse.
"There is nothing but plan A for me.
''I am aiming to win again," he said in an informal chat in
Taupo.
Walking the streets of Taupo, it was impossible to find
anyone who had a bad word to say about their local MP.
He has an incredibly high name recognition factor, people
from all sorts of backgrounds know him either as an MP
attending the prize-giving of their children or in his
earlier career as an educator.
Some people were not too keen on Labour, or National, for
that matter.
But no-one said anything but good things about their MP.
And that is part of the problem.
The "warm fuzzy feelings" sometimes do not translate into
votes and boundary changes have made Taupo a National seat,
at least on paper, with the inclusion of the blue belt of
Cambridge.
The town has about 50% of the votes, and at the last election
Mr Burton polled about half of those votes.
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