Crikey political correspondent Christian Kerr writes:


John
Brogden’s resignation from the NSW state parliament is a body blow for
moderates within the party. As leader he worked hard at mentoring
talented young moderates and his departure from politics is likely to
leave them high and dry.

Meanwhile, a few names have emerged as
potential candidates to replace Brogden. One is Jason Falinski, who
recently denied having any interest in the job after The Daily Telegraph ran a front page story fingering him as a potential rival to Brogden.

In an email forwarded to Crikey the day after the Tele story
broke he wrote: “…the story is false, and its conclusions highly
offensive in the extreme. The most distressing part of this story is
the unnecessary concern that this might cause John, especially after I
thought it impossible that the Telegraph under David Penberthy could do any more harm…”

Falinksi
is close to Malcolm Turnbull, and played a significant part in
orchestrating his Wentworth preselection win. He argued in his email
that he’s unavailable for the job due to business commitments, but key
people on the ground are hoping he’ll recheck his diary.

Another
possible starter is Adrienne Ryan, former-wife of ex-chief police
commissioner Peter Ryan. The plain-speaking mayor of Ku-rin-gai has
previously been tipped as a possible successor to Bronwyn Bishop or
Philip Ruddock. She’s unaligned but could be a wild card.

Paul
Ritchie, a former staffer and media manager for Australian Business
Limited, who’s also linked with the religious right, is another
potential (and potentially controversial) candidate who previously
sought preselection for the seat of Davidson.

Also shaping up as
a potential candidate is grizzled old nutter and sometimes
Parrot-wrangler, Michael Darby. Other mooted contenders include
Warringah mayor Sam Danielli, Warringah councillor Julie Hegarty and
businessman Jonathon O’Dea.