Voters at a Goulburn candidates' forum ahead of the March 28 state election were treated to an array of colourful characters and contentions, including the assertion that sodomy decriminalisation was to blame for the government's plan to sell electricity poles and wires.

Adrian van der Byl, of the Christian Democratic Party, told the crowd at the Goulburn Soldiers' Club that the state's descent into a "financial mess" had its genesis in Neville Wran's 1984 decision to decriminalise sodomy.

"Legislation changes our values and consequently our values change the way we spend our money," he began, arguing that tax proceeds were being directed away from Goulburn toward frivolous causes.