Mr Moore wrote an article in his weekly Tuesday Club e-newsletter claiming a group of business people looking for a challenger to incumbent Mayor Lianne Dalziel were turned down a number of times before approaching Darryll Park.
Mr Moore described Mr Park in the e-newsletter as “well-down-the-list Darryll” and criticised his campaign promise of zero rates.
Mr Park would not discuss the matter with The Star on Wednesday, leaving that to his campaign manager David Lynch.
Mr Lynch said there was “a lot of misrepresentation in the article.”
“I think it is an attempt to dissuade people from voting for Darryll, end of story. Whether there was a list or not the fact is at least Darryll is brave enough to put his life on hold and put up with this nonsense,” said Mr Lynch.
“Garry can go and play in his electoral campaign sandpit for as long as he likes, we are not going to go there,” he said.
Asked if the he thought the article was aimed at benefiting Ms Dalziel’s campaign, Mr Lynch said: “We know they are both very good friends.”
Mr Moore said he stood by the article.
He refuted suggestions that he was attempting to derail Mr Park’s campaign to benefit Ms Dalziel.
“My issue is policy and if Lianne had a policy wrong I would tell her.”
