Labour's commitment to democracy

The Labour party has always had a very thin veneer of democracy. Its was paper thin under Helen Clark and even more so under Phil Goff. He basically over-rode the people of Mt Albert and parachuted in his mate from Amman, David Shearer. Now we are hearing of the wearing down of that veneer in Mana.

There has been much commentary, too, about Kris Faafoi putting his name in the hat. Labour loyalists aren’t happy and it is with good reason. It appears that Kris Faafoi is Goff’s appointee and democracy has nothing to do with it. Of course the nasty left will say that I know nothing about Labour and its processes, and they may well be right, but I know a cooked book when I see one.

The Whois record for krisfaafoi.org.nz is:

Whois data for krisfaafoi.org.nz
[Cached]
[whois.srs.net.nz]
New Zealand Domain Name Registry Limited
Users confirm on submission their agreement to all published Terms

version: 4.00
domain_Name : krisfaafoi.org.nz
Date First Registered : 2010-08-16T15:11:16+12:00
Date of Expiry : 2011-08-16T15:11:16+12:00
Date Last Modified : 2010-08-16T15:57:02+12:00

REGISTRAR
Name : 1st Domains
Address : P O Box 1520
: Christchurch Mail Centre
City : Christchurch
province: Canterbury
Country : NZ (NEW ZEALAND)
Phone : +64 3 962-9520
Fax : +64 3 962-9513
E-mail : hostmaster@1stdomains.net.nz

REGISTRANT
Name : Kris Faafoi
Address : PO Box 27159
City : Wellington
Post code : 6141
Country : NZ (NEW ZEALAND)
Phone : +64 21 903767
E-mail : krisfaafoi@gmail.com

ADMINISTRATIVE CONTACT
Name : Chris Elder
Address : PO Box 27159
City : Wellington
Post code : 6141
Country : NZ (NEW ZEALAND)
Phone : +64 21 903767
E-mail : chris@onethreenine.co.nz

TECHNICAL CONTACT
Name : Chris Elder
Address : PO Box 27159
City : Wellington
Post code : 6141
Country : NZ (NEW ZEALAND)
Phone : +64 21 903767
E-mail : chris@onethreenine.co.nz

Name Server 1: ns1.openhost.net.nz
Name Server 2: ns2.openhost.net.nz
Name Server 3: ns3.openhost.net.nz

Big deal you say, but the problem here for Kris Faafoi is that Chris Elder is a paid staffer working in Phil Goff’s office as “Communications advisor Labour Leader’s Office“. He is long suspected to be an author at The Standard (all_your_base) and now he is on record as Administrative and Technical contact for Kris Faafoi’s domain and website. Clearly we have a prima facie case of  a parliamentary staffer being involved in political actions outside of his job in Phil Goff’s office. You’ll note from the registration date and time that it was on Monday the 16th of August at the normal business hours of 3:11pm.

Worse though;

Whois data for marcusganley.org.nz

[Cached]
[whois.srs.net.nz]
New Zealand Domain Name Registry Limited
Users confirm on submission their agreement to all published Terms

version: 4.00
domain_Name : marcusganley.org.nz
Date First Registered : 2010-07-19T19:02:57+12:00
Date of Expiry : 2011-07-19T19:02:57+12:00
Date Last Modified : 2010-08-02T17:06:02+12:00

REGISTRAR
Name : 1st Domains
Address : P O Box 1520
: Christchurch Mail Centre
City : Christchurch
province: Canterbury
Country : NZ (NEW ZEALAND)
Phone : +64 3 962-9520
Fax : +64 3 962-9513
E-mail : hostmaster@1stdomains.net.nz

REGISTRANT
Name : Chris Elder
Address : PO Box 27159
City : Wellington
Post code : 6141
Country : NZ (NEW ZEALAND)
Phone : +64 21 903767
E-mail : chris@onethreenine.co.nz

ADMINISTRATIVE CONTACT
Name : Chris Elder
Address : PO Box 27159
City : Wellington
Post code : 6141
Country : NZ (NEW ZEALAND)
Phone : +64 21 903767
E-mail : chris@onethreenine.co.nz

TECHNICAL CONTACT
Name : Chris Elder
Address : PO Box 27159
City : Wellington
Post code : 6141
Country : NZ (NEW ZEALAND)
Phone : +64 21 903767
E-mail : chris@onethreenine.co.nz

Name Server 1: ns1.openhost.net.nz
Name Server 2: ns2.openhost.net.nz

Marcus Ganley is standing for Lambton Ward in the Local Body Elections and is self described as a Policy Director in the Office of Phil Goff. So it appears that Phil Goff’s office is funding the campaign of Marcus Ganley, at least in technical resources and also the campaign of Kris Faafoi even though he has been selected yet.

It certainly doesn’t pass the sniff test. It appears Labour are using taxpayer dollars to fund council and by-election campaigns, if not through real dollars then through the efforts of paid staffers, those staffers themselves remaining on the payroll in order to campaign.

For all intents and purposes it certainly looks like Phil Goff has approved Kris Faafoi as the candidate by authorising the resources to assist him. It also appears that Labour is still treating the public purse with complete disdain. I think we really should be opening up Parliamentary Services to the OIA so we can get som3 clarity on the murky dealings within the Leader of the Opposition’s office.