Penny Webster is a former mayor of Rodney District and a councillor on the Auckland Council.
Owen Jennings, another former farmer, was also ranked lowly, prompting some to suggest that ACT was not as interested in the rural vote as it might once have been.
ACT did not win sufficient votes for thirteen seats, and so Webster did not return to Parliament.
In December 2008 she was also appointed by Environment Minister Nick Smith to sit on a technical advisory board on reforms to the Resource Management Act.
In 2010 Webster was elected to the inaugural Auckland Council, representing the Rodney Ward.