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Meet Stephen Franks, a man who gave up a lot for the ACT Party, a sacrifice which may one day be repaid in power rather than pennies.
By Graeme Peters.
AN awe-inspiring intellect bound for a stellar political career? Or a gangly policy wonk with the personality of an amoeba?
A genuinely curly one. For either description could, and has been, tagged to Stephen Franks, the Wellingtonian who last year turned his back on an awesome career in commercial law to be an MP for ACT New Zealand, a party seemingly wracked with divisions over its campaign of "dirty" politics.
Nearly a year into his new, lower-paid job, Franks is quietly being tipped as the next leader of the party which has drawn flak for doing most un-Franks-like things: attacking Maori MPs for their past behaviour, rather than staying on the message of proposing "sound" (right-wing) policy.
ACT's apparent success at dishing the dirt on those MPs - the most obvious example is sacked Maori Affairs Minister Dover Samuels - is why some in the party are subtlely pushing Franks as Richard Prebble's heir apparent.
But such a coup would not be easy. Prebble has given no hint he wants to stand aside, and ACT's savvy finance spokesman Rodney Hide also has his supporters.
While Hide and Prebble are akin to swaggering streetfighters, Franks is very much the phlegmatic lawyer he has been for 20 years at Chapman Tripp.
In that respect, he's more like the previous occupant of his Bowen House office, the respected ACT MP Patricia Schnauer, also a lawyer, who gave up politics last year after only one term. Her reasons then were never made clear, but recently she said she had grown dissatisfied with ACT's approach, particularly Prebble's style of personality politics.
Franks, 49, is sanguine about the possibility of becoming leader, a move said to be favoured by party president Roger Douglas.
An unlikely and seemingly unwilling participant in the leadership imbroglio, Franks says it's too early in his career to consider leading ACT. He doesn't regard himself anywhere near the level of experience and guile needed to take the reins. "I wouldn't rule it out, but I would say it's not what I think I would be best at."