LIBERAL National Party candidate Wendy 
Richardson's campaign has got off to an embarrassing start after she was caught out describing her main opponent as "wet 'n no balls" in a leaked email.

In the email, sent ahead of Ms Richardson's pre-selection to contest the state seat of Barron River, she launches a stinging attack on sitting Labor MP Steve Wettenhall and refers to Premier Anna Bligh as "Jack Boots Anna".

"Wet 'n no balls had better be scared, very, very scared," the email, leaked to The Cairns Post, reads.

Mr Wettenhall last night said Ms Richardson's email showed the "base levels the LNP will drop to".

"It's pathetic," he said, people were interested in policies and issues not name calling.

Cairns MP Desley Boyle, who Ms Richardson unsuccessfully challenged at the last state election, also took aim at the LNP candidate for signing off the email in her role as the co-ordinator of People Against Demolishing the Yacht Club.

Ms Richardson has consistently said PADYC does not have a political agenda.

"She has misled the people of Cairns by using her position as the co-ordinator of the PADYC when all the time it was really about her political career," Ms Boyle said.

In the email, which begins "OK people, the payback time has begun", she warns that while she will not be standing against Ms Boyle, it "doesn't mean she's off my radar".

"I'll be helping whoever is the candidate and bringing them right up to speed," she writes.

Ms Richardson, who was in Townsville attending the inaugural LNP State Council meeting when she wrote the email, also said Premier Anna Bligh and state MP Craig Wallace had "flabbergasted" the city by naming a new suburb after military and Cyclone Larry hero General Peter Cosgrove "without telling anyone locally first!!!".

"Jack Boots Anna has struck again!" she wrote.

Ms Richardson yesterday confirmed she had sent the email to a group of people but said she was aghast someone within that "closed circle" had gone public with it.

"I apologise for any offence it may have caused," she said. "It just goes to show in this day and age of email you just have to be careful. I am not the first and I will not be the last to be caught out by it."

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