Michael Laws' guiding force is public opinion, but he says he doesn't poll Wanganui - he rules from the gut. Photo / Wanganui Chronicle

Michael Laws' guiding force is public opinion, but he says he doesn't poll Wanganui - he rules from the gut. Photo / Wanganui Chronicle

Michael Laws sits in an empty room surrounded by piles of documents, copies of his own books and a toilet roll. He is reading aloud nonsense written by a man named Richard.

"I was going to donate to the Samoan tsunami victims, but then I looked at my fortnightly payments going to Samoan criminals, Samoan cripples and Samoan dole bludgers already in New Zealand and decided against it," Richard writes.

Laws, the mayor of Wanganui since 2004 and the man known almost solely for his blunt barbs, appears to have undergone a New Testament-style conversion when he responds. He is now preaching the brotherhood of man: "Our brown brothers and sisters are devastated by this natural disaster. Samoans are absolutely outstanding citizens," he says. "Dear God, would we have a sports team without them?"

A new leaf? Hardly. Laws is just stirring the talkback pot and soon he gets the bubbles he wants: a storm of slurs that will take his Radio Live show though from nine until noon. Dave is worried about Chinese expansion into the Pacific, and Rosemary recounts one time she was in Middlemore Hospital and "big fat Pacific Islanders clogged up the beds". Trevor reckons "the fat rednecks should pull their heads in", while Jillian fears that "white liberals, the PC ones, are going to be the moral downfall of this country".

Throughout all this Laws is calm at the centre of the storm he created. "It helps to have strong conservative opinions," he says. "It sets up the show nicely." And the Michael Laws Show now stretches far beyond Radio Live or the district of Wanganui.

Aside from dealing with constituents, Laws says Talkback Host Michael operates identically to Mayor Michael. "I am a populist, and if you are opposed to popular opinion you are opposed to democracy," he says. "I am paid to be an opinion maker."

His style was forged in national politics, and if it wasn't for a silly prank involving a forged signature and a fictional transvestite, he might today be occupying a position of prominence in the National Government. But despite his key role in the 1996 election, when he guided New Zealand First to a result that gave it 17 MPs and a place around the Cabinet table, Laws reckons his brand has never been stronger than it is today. "I have been more influential, locally and nationally, as mayor than I ever was as an MP."

Whereas most provincial mayors occupy themselves solely with footpaths and drains, Laws sees the mayoralty as a skeleton key to any door he cares to open. Brandishing a well-thumbed and highlighted copy of the Local Government Act 2002, he points to a section outlining the responsibilities of local councils. "It's virtually a licence to do anything you want," he enthuses. "I can enter into a national debate on something - like the anti-smacking bill - on the basis that it affects my constituents."