tayser
April 9th, 2005, 05:11 PM
HUN (http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12805920%255E662,00.html)
Labor woos McGuire
By LINCOLN WRIGHT
10apr05
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,1658,433547,00.jpg
THE Labor Party has asked Eddie McGuire to help it win government.
The Collingwood and Channel 9 figure confirmed yesterday that he had been approached to stand for the ALP at the next federal election -- and refused to rule out a career move.
The move is part of a Labor strategy to recruit celebrities, including football figures.
Senior Labor figures have even pencilled in McGuire for the northern Melbourne seat of Scullin, centred around Epping and Thomastown.
But McGuire said his loyalties remained with Broadmeadows -- the suburb he grew up in. McGuire told the Sunday Herald Sun he had been approached by several Labor people, and he had not ruled out a political career.
"Politics interests me," McGuire said.
"I have been approached in the past on it, but it's just not something that's on my radar at the moment," he said.
He said a future political career was a possibility post-television.
Labor is also looking at AFL boss Andrew Demetriou and would like to recruit -- as either candidates or public supporters -- other footy celebrities, including Brisbane Lions' coach Leigh Matthews and Essendon's Kevin Sheedy. A senior Labor figure confirmed McGuire had been mentioned for the outer-metropolitan seat of Scullin, held by Harry Jenkins.
"The party is interested in these sorts of people with broad experience," the source said. McGuire, now a Toorak resident, spoke openly about the influence his working-class upbringing.
"Look, it's always something when you are a kid growing up in an area like I did (Broadmeadows).
"You look at politics as being one of the ways that you can get in and make a difference. "My politics are probably centre-left, I suppose.
"The political side of things as far as wanting to make an impact on the community is very strong.
"Apart from my upbringing, if you look at what we've done at Collingwood, we've turned it into a good going concern and the biggest footy club in Australia as far as finances go.
"But we also run the biggest philanthropic sports club in Australia," he said.
McGuire said he had met Labor's behind-the-scenes powerbroker, Senator Robert Ray, a Collingwood supporter, on plane trips.
"But we didn't discuss politics," he said.
The push to recruit football celebrities comes as the Victorian Labor Party deals with a growing row over branch stacking and federal pre-selections.
_________________________
save us!
Labor woos McGuire
By LINCOLN WRIGHT
10apr05
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,1658,433547,00.jpg
THE Labor Party has asked Eddie McGuire to help it win government.
The Collingwood and Channel 9 figure confirmed yesterday that he had been approached to stand for the ALP at the next federal election -- and refused to rule out a career move.
The move is part of a Labor strategy to recruit celebrities, including football figures.
Senior Labor figures have even pencilled in McGuire for the northern Melbourne seat of Scullin, centred around Epping and Thomastown.
But McGuire said his loyalties remained with Broadmeadows -- the suburb he grew up in. McGuire told the Sunday Herald Sun he had been approached by several Labor people, and he had not ruled out a political career.
"Politics interests me," McGuire said.
"I have been approached in the past on it, but it's just not something that's on my radar at the moment," he said.
He said a future political career was a possibility post-television.
Labor is also looking at AFL boss Andrew Demetriou and would like to recruit -- as either candidates or public supporters -- other footy celebrities, including Brisbane Lions' coach Leigh Matthews and Essendon's Kevin Sheedy. A senior Labor figure confirmed McGuire had been mentioned for the outer-metropolitan seat of Scullin, held by Harry Jenkins.
"The party is interested in these sorts of people with broad experience," the source said. McGuire, now a Toorak resident, spoke openly about the influence his working-class upbringing.
"Look, it's always something when you are a kid growing up in an area like I did (Broadmeadows).
"You look at politics as being one of the ways that you can get in and make a difference. "My politics are probably centre-left, I suppose.
"The political side of things as far as wanting to make an impact on the community is very strong.
"Apart from my upbringing, if you look at what we've done at Collingwood, we've turned it into a good going concern and the biggest footy club in Australia as far as finances go.
"But we also run the biggest philanthropic sports club in Australia," he said.
McGuire said he had met Labor's behind-the-scenes powerbroker, Senator Robert Ray, a Collingwood supporter, on plane trips.
"But we didn't discuss politics," he said.
The push to recruit football celebrities comes as the Victorian Labor Party deals with a growing row over branch stacking and federal pre-selections.
_________________________
save us!