THREE INTO ONE CAN GO

MAJOR links between three separate groups standing for election to Wagga City Council have been confirmed by The Daily Advertiser.The groups – led by Garry Hiscock, Alan Brown and Clint Uden – reject any suggestion the links indicate the groups are actually one bloc split into three tickets to maximise election chances.Nomination forms for all 18 candidates in the three groups were signed by the same justice of the peace, including 10 from all three groups on the same day and six from two of the groups on another day.Denece Bayliss, a candidate in Alan Brown’s group, and Stephen Post, who is on Garry Hiscock’s ticket, confirmed yesterday they were in a relationship.And John Anderson, who is with Mr Brown’s group, is the brother-in-law of Donna Argus, who is on Mr Hiscock’s ticket.The revelations follow a question to Mr Brown at a meet-the-candidates forum on Monday night asking if it was true his and Mr Hiscock’s groups were really one group.Mr Brown told more than 250 people at the forum it was not true.Mr Hiscock was furious about the Advertiser’s continued questioning on the issue.“I don’t know why you and the paper are pursuing this,” Mr Hiscock said.“They (the candidates) are just normal people standing for council.“People saying these things are frightened about me and the people I am standing with and they are using dirty tactics and it will backfire on them.”Mr Hiscock agreed that some of the candidates from his and Mr Brown’s may have been at the same meeting before groups were formed but argued there was nothing wrong with that.“This is not breaking the law, this is not contravening the Local Government Act,” he said.“What about Wayne Geale and Kerry Geale, what about Karen Vidler and Lindsay Vidler?”Ms Bayliss said she became involved in the election after a direct approach from Mr Brown and she had never been involved in any meeting with Mr Hiscock.“We are our own team,” she said.Ms Bayliss said she and Mr Post never discussed what their respective groups were planning for the election.“What is so sad about this is it is so petty, it makes no difference,” Ms Bayliss said.Mr Post said he had known Mr Hiscock since they had played football together years ago and had been asked to join the ticket after Mr Hiscock heard he was interested in standing for council.“We (Ms Bayliss and Mr Post) have similar views, but she wanted to go on a different group,” Mr Post said.