HERE'S some friendly advice for council election candidates: don't get caught in the pig pen.

I know that sounds crude and possibly inappropriate, but it is an important lesson for aspiring politicians to learn before they start campaigning.

With less than two months to go until polling day in this historic council amalgamation election, local candidates should waste no time in coming to grips with a sordid tactic once used by former US president Lyndon Johnson.
According to legend, the story goes something like this.

In the 1948 Congress elections, Johnson was trailing in the polls behind a wealthy pig farmer who was favourite.

About a week out from election day Johnson called his campaign manager and told him to call a press conference.

In front of the media pack, Johnson wanted his campaign manager to accuse his rival of having carnal knowledge of his barnyard pigs, regularly.

His campaign manager, aghast at the suggestion, said "We can't say that, it's not true."

"Of course it's not," Johnson apparently replied.

"But let's make the bastard deny it."

Most people don't care about politics unless there is sex and scandal involved.

So I would ask that all candidates do their best to dig up dirt and scuttlebutt on their opponents, just like Johnson, if only for the sake of arousing public interest.

Thankfully there are already indications this election will be played out in a tangled web of backdoor deals, puppet masters and personality clashes.

Pigs or no pigs, it is certain to be far more exciting, interesting and closer than the race for a federal seat late last year.

The unfolding saga involves Mayor Kevin Byrne and a rift in the Liberal Party and the Labor Party's manipulation and backing of his competitor Val Schier.

I spoke with several Liberal Party sources this week who painted a grim picture for the impending re-election campaign of Cr Byrne.

It seems the fallout from the preselection process for the seat of Leichhardt has ruptured the party and disfranchised members who would've helped Cr Byrne in the campaign.

Apparently many folks on the conservative side won't be campaigning to help Cr Byrne and in some cases they may actively campaign against him.

This schism was sparked more than a year ago, when Cr Byrne either resigned or was pushed from his position as a zone chairman of the party.

This apparent shift away from Cr Byrne is in stark contrast to the Labor Party's push behind Ms Schier's campaign.

Given the Labor Party is in power at federal and state levels, it is important for Ms Schier's Cairns 1st team to come clean about its links with Labor.

Cairns 1st candidate Kirsten Lesina works for Labor Senator Jan McLucas, and Cook MP Jason O'Brien's role as a Cairns 1st puppet master also deserves exposure.

The Cairns Post recently revealed details of independent candidate Rob Pyne's exit from Ms Schier's team, a move he blamed on Mr O'Brien.

Mr Pyne said he left the Cairns 1st because he didn't want to be controlled by Labor campaigners or be forced to toe the party line.

And what's the deal with Ms Schier? She seems nice enough, much like her Labor elder Jim Turnour.

But, like Jim, does she possess the leadership qualities an international city like ours needs?

Is she a Labor government lackey too?

What about Cr Byrne? Has he pushed too many buttons and upset too many apple carts?