Aaron Gilmore

Aaron Wayne Gilmore (born 26 August 1973) is a New Zealand former politician and member of the New Zealand National Party. He was a list MP from the 2008 election until the 2011 election and again from February to May 2013.

Early years Gilmore was born in Christchurch to shopkeeper parents and attended Parkview Primary School, in the Christchurch suburb of Parklands. He attended Shirley Boys' High School, before attending the University of Canterbury where he gained a Master of Commerce degree in Economics in 1995.

Gilmore's curriculum vitae posted on the Parliament web page until 2010 listed him as a member of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute, a position he never had, although he had been a provisional member. He attributed the error to the Parliamentary Service, but a spokesman said "biographical information about MPs published on its website was supplied by them and approved by them as correct". The same online CV by Parliamentary Services contained other inaccuracies, including that Gilmore was married at the time.

In the , he again contested Christchurch East and was 53rd on the party list. He again placed second in the electorate behind Dalziel, and on election night results was set to be returned to parliament via the list, the last-placed candidate to be returned. However, with the counting of special votes and the release of official results, National lost a seat to the Green Party so Gilmore was not returned.

Second period in Parliament, 2013 In early 2013, Lockwood Smith was appointed as High Commissioner of New Zealand to the United Kingdom and resigned from Parliament. Gilmore was the highest person on National's party list not already in Parliament, and so he replaced Smith and became an MP again.

Emails were released under the Official Information Act in May 2013 from his time as a contractor to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in November 2012, just prior to his return to Parliament in 2013. The emails contained comments to a Treasury Manager during an argument in which Gilmore said, after noting he may be returning to Parliament as a government member, "I am sure this sort of thing will come back to haunt you if you want your career to reach its full potential." The emails were described as "inappropriate" by the Ministry and the Ministry. TV3 had asked Gilmore specifically, in a previously broadcast segment, whether there had been any complaints about his time at MBIE, and Gilmore had replied on camera that there was nothing that had been brought to his attention.

Departure from Parliament Gilmore announced his resignation from Parliament on 12 May 2013, following a public scandal involving a restaurant in Hanmer Springs, in which it is "alleged Gilmore asked the barman (who had declined to sell him more alcohol) 'Do you know who I am?' and threatened to have Prime Minister John Key intervene to have him sacked." Gilmore's resignation followed pressure from senior Ministers and the revelation that he had misled the Prime Minister. He gave his valedictory speech two days later. His membership of Parliament ceased on 27 May, and his committee memberships (Maori Affairs, and Local Government and Environment) a day later. He was replaced by Claudette Hauiti.

After Parliament Gilmore runs a private property investment company, The Mighty Rocket Group, later renamed St Pauls Asset Management. Amanda High, a former employee of The Mighty Rocket Group, took the company to the Employment Relations Authority in 2018 to enforce payment of a settlement agreed in an employment dispute. Gilmore had disputed High's complaint.

In December 2021 Gilmore was ordered to pay NZ$11,000 in costs after a failed attempt to enforce a statutory demand against Mighty Rocket's landlord over the termination of its lease. In March 2022, he was taken to court by his parents over an unpaid loan worth more than $250,000.

In July 2022 Gilmore ran for the Wellington City Council in the Eastern Ward at the 2022 local government elections. After announcing his candidacy, Gilmore's parents commented that he needed to "pay his bills" before he seeks a seat on Wellington City Council, in reference to his unpaid debts that he owes them. According to preliminary results, he came ninth out of ten candidates and did not win a place on the council.