Rotorua Maori Party politician Te Ururoa Flavell is accusing a local district councillor of racism and is calling for his resignation.
Mr Flavell, the Waiariki MP, said Cr Russell Orr had attacked the people of Kawerau on a personal website blog with his "racist rantings".
But Cr Orr, a Whakatane District Councillor,
has hit back at Mr Flavell, saying the MP doesn't have a sense of humour.
The blog, entitled Bad Storm Hits Kawerau, originated from another New Zealand website www.propertytalk.com blog entitled Bad Storm Hits Tokoroa.
In June, Cr Orr copied it on to his own website - but replaced the word Tokoroa with Kawerau.
The piece stereotypes the people of Kawerau as beneficiaries with little or no assets, a high crime rate and a community that requires beer, takeaway food and red bandannas to get back on its feet following the "storm".
A paragraph from the blog reads: "One resident - Tina Ngahuria Kauwhakahaere Aroha Kowhenua Smith Brown, a 15-year-old mother, said: 'It was such a shock, my little girls Chardonnay and Crystal-Meth came running into my bedroom crying. My youngest two, Dunhill and Jack Daniels, slept through it all'."
Mr Flavell has asked Whakatane Mayor Colin Holmes to get involved.
"I am disgusted by the diatribe on Mr Orr's website," Mr Flavell said.
"His attack on the people of Kawerau is a gross dereliction of the duties of office and if the mayor and Whakatane District Council don't take urgent action, they call into question their own competence."
Mr Flavell said disciplinary action needed to be taken over the "racist rantings".
Cr Orr told The Daily Post yesterday he felt the MP had overreacted.
"I did adopt the post by putting it on my website and I did think, in fact I still do, it was humorous."
Mr Orr said the Waiariki MP obviously had no sense of humour and anybody who couldn't laugh at themselves was sad.
On his website and in response to Mr Flavell, Cr Orr said he did not judge people by their race or colour, only by their actions.
Mayor Colin Holmes said he would not be getting involved.
"This is a personal opinion piece run as a blog on Mr Orr's personal website and he acknowledges that," Mr Holmes said.
"We [council] have no power other than to offer advice and I will not be grandstanding on the matter."
