59

The Shield of Sanctimony will not Protect the Greens

by Whaleoil on November 15, 2011

Russel Norman’s admission that the Greens are responsible the shabby tactic of stickering National’s hoardings should pierce the shield of sanctimony that the Greens hide behind.

Earlier today I accused green supporters of being behind this and I also published motorbike number plates. Those plates came from eyewitnesses in Christchurch and were forwarded to me via the tipline. I also now know, again from Christchurch based tipsters, the identities of the owners. One is a well know Green activist and spokeman for the Anglican Church, Jolyon White who is also the husband of Russel Norman’s EA.

Nat's billboard defacing co-ordinated by Jolyon White, the husband of Russel Norman's EA. @ has rung Key to apologise #votenz
November 15, 2011 9:45 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@dchengnzh
Derek Cheng

The Greens hold themselves up as morally virtuous, yet have been shown to be as shabby and as shoddy as every other political party in New Zealand. No one would mind much if they weren’t such a bunch of holier than thou, unctuous, sanctimonious pricks.

I correctly identified the sticker tactic on October 14th when a tipster gave the tipline details of quotes being sought for large numbers of hoardings.

This kind of stupid campaign tactic might appeal to the tribal, intellectually incestuous group thinking hard left/green group, but it doesn’t sit well in the eyes of the average voter. The Greens have made a major strategic error in the campaign that they were doing so well in, and I expect they will lose votes.

I believe the Greens deliberately defacing National’s hoardings on a massive scale has the potential to have the same impact as the Brethren did on National’s campaign in 2005.

Remember too that the Greens are fervent supporters of MMP. They sanctimoniously tell us how fair it all is and yet behind the scenes they are quite willing to pull every dirty trick in the book in order to screw the scrum their way.

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  • Guest

    At the minimum, the National Party should send the Greens an invoice for sign replacement.

  • Agent BallSack

    One word..WOW.
    Major cock up from the Greens!

    • Anonymous

      Cock up?  I think it was a brilliant move.  Anyone who finds this offencive already thinks the greens are a pack of filthy hippies.  More likely such a move will gain respect from marginals who may otherwise vote Labour.

      The party is remote enough that they can officially condemn it while gaining notoriety.

      Any one who was planing on voting green now going to vote for someone else? Speak up and let us know.

      • Kimbo

        I’ve told my wife that she is free to vote for whomever she wants, but if it is for the Greens, I have valid grounds for divorce. No doubt I have probably unwittingly gained the Greens a vote!

      • Green green grass

        Dream on Jimmy69 go have another sump of ya bong

  • http://keepingstock.blogspot.com/ Inventory2

    The Green Party was polling really well; nek minnit …

    A splendid harpooning by the one and only Whale!

  • kehua

    Told you so.  Well done Cam another scalp.

  • TCrwdb

    Awesome – this needs to go straight onto the Harpooned wall!!!  The Whale strikes again!!

  • Paul

    I have to say Russel Norman’s damage control is exemplary; unconditional apologies, with no hint of “while we sympathise with the message…”. It may even do the Greens some good.

  • Quintin Hogg

    He looks, he shoots, he scores.

  • Guest

    Yes, Russel Norman has done the right thing. However, questions will be asked whether the Green campaign knew of this mass destruction of signs and anti-democratic behaviour. After all – 50 people, on one night – someone in the Green campaign must have known…. and said nothing.

    • Agent BallSack

      Such as Jolyon White herself? Very likely and being the EA of Norman, a very bad position to be put into. Obviously some advice is not being transmitted.

    • Observation

      Norman has handled it well but he should sack his executive assistant, as she knew about the vandalism and didn’t tell him.

  • Figaro

    Just when the green started to look credible, their loony roots have betrayed them !

  • Roger

    As well as having to pay to replace the billboards, hopefully the Police will investigate the unauthorised messages these miscreants placed on billboards.

  • Agent BallSack

    Wouldn’t this be the text book definition of organised crime? Pre-knowledge, Pre-planned, a multitude of people breaking the law and being exhorted to by the ringleader? Shouldnt the police be seizing email and phone transcripts about now?
    Is the penalty for tagging/vandalism still being stabbed to death?

  • http://twitter.com/OliverGI Oliver Ibbetson

    I’m impressed, without any of the resources the major papers have, Whale captures himself another scalp. It begs the question why the MSM have to rely on reading blogs to get any news. 

    • Tristanb

      To be fair, they also rely on planting hidden tape recorders.

  • http://twitter.com/DylanReeve Dylan Reeve

    I bet Russel is pissed off. The very wide variety of members the Green Party attracts has always been one of it’s weaknesses in securing popular support.

    That Green supporters were involved is not surprising perhaps, but that someone so closely linked to the party and it’s leader arranged it is just embarrassing for the Greens.

  • Gary

    The Greens have offered to clean off stickers etc. and it is good Norman has apologised to Key. BUT… when will he and the other Green hypocrites apologise to all the hard working volunteers who have had to sort this out so far? Goodness knows how many hours and how much expense it has already taken to go around checking for these stickers! Bloody Greens! I hope their vote crumbles!

  • Fister

    This Jolyon (had to be a Green with such a dopey name) works for the Anglican church. I wonder how they will react to being dragged into this.

    Dreadlocked, hippie, cock smoker….your’e fired.

    • Kimbo

      Your knowledge of what the Anglican Church seeks in its clergy is misplaced. Dreadlocked, hippie, cock smoker = candidate for Archbishop. The days when Louis XIV could object, when one particularly bad candidate was proposed to him, “No! The Bishop of Paris must at least believe in God!” are long gone when it comes to the C of E. I think that muppet Stepahnie Mills, whose boat got boarded by the Frogs around Mururoa (and also the one Paul Henry made the infamous moustache comments about) is a Bishop’s daughter. I seem to recall reading once where he blathered on once in nebulous “raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens” Anglican-speak about how her watermelon ability to get herself arrested and piss people off was a wonderful example of spiritual activism.

  • Mick Buckley

    Whale, you imply that the stickering was a Green campaign tactic, but where’s your evidence? 
    From what’s come out so far it looks like it was done without the knowledge of the Green Party.  As soon as the leadership discovered the stickering organiser was a party member they fronted to the media and apologised to National.

    • Agent BallSack

      Right before they were about to be snapped by Whale. Not a coincidence.

    • Guest

      No Mick – as soon as the leadership realized the organizer had been caught, they fronted up.

      That the front up was the same time that they first knew about it is highly implausible.

      Look at the facts and see what they suggest

      - massive campaign requiring organizing and money for stickers (where did the money come from, Green Party funds? Where did the organization come from, Green Party members?)
      - The organizer is the partner of the executive assistant of the leader. If Russel Norman didn’t know, then the EA most certainly would (darling, where are you going out with that balaclava late in the night? darling, what is this cash invoice for stickers posted to our house all about? The EA should have said – “Russel, you need to know about this risk to your campaign”:

    • Bob

      Really Mick? The partner of Norman’s EA involved, do you really think the EA knew nothing? If she didn’t tell Norman, then she is just stupid. Another idiot who does not understand how small NZ is and probably won’t get a decent job again. Has wrecked the Greens exposure for the rest of the week. Instead of their transport policy being discussed it will be all about this guy and the connection with the Greens. Bet it leads both news bulletins tonight…

      And if she did tell Norman then that will probably be next weeks Green’s coverage fucked up as well!

      Bob

      • Mick Buckley

        Bob.  Russel Norman just came on the radio to say he believes his EA did know about it, for about 2 months.  He said the plot was uncovered when Green Party members recognised Jolyon White’s voice on breakfast TV this morning.

        • Bob

          Mick, just saw that too, guess that just makes her stupid then, suspect she will be fired, if she is to thick to understand what affect this sort of thing would have then she is in the wrong job.

          The offending partner is not very bright either… going on radio only to be recognized by 50 people, so dumb. Norman will get blasted by all about if he knew… Greens message and credibility destroyed… epic fail.

          Bob

        • Kimbo

          “Ronald Ziegler, who as President Richard
          M. Nixon’s press secretary at first described the Watergate break-in as
          a “third-rate burglary”… Face it, Mick Buckley – the Greens are one great big conspiracy theory: The multi-nationals and evil corportates conspire to pollute the envionment to enrich themselves, and exploit the poor, like cutting down ancient Indonesian teak forests to turn them into shiny toothpicks, and glossy porno magazines. You sell that set of goods, along with the self-righteous justification of those who did it that they were enhancing the cause of “honest campaigning”, and no one is going to believe the doe-eyed denials. As guilty as a toddler with chocolate smeared all over their face, and a hand stuck in a cookie jar.

    • greenmuppet

      Mick, it doesn’t work that way in politics. The concept of innocence until proven guilty isn’t a factor when judgement goes to the public.  Quite opposite, the public would expect the leadership to prove their innocence or face losing votes. Russell knows it and fronted up to the media and apologised to National.

      I would say if no hard evidence of the leadership innocence is offered the damage would become permanent and irreversible. So far the GP leadership has been trying to limit the damage. 

      Mick, if you think the appologies are enough to put the matter to rest I am afraid you are a little bit naive. But good on you for trying.

      • Mick Buckley

        greenmuppet, I agree this will do a lot of damage to the Greens, despite the apologies and front-footing to the media.  Opponents of the Greens (including Whale in this post) will try to drag in the Party leaders by saying ‘they must have known’.  But to me it seems *very* unlikely that they did know before today, when they themselves broke the story to the media.

        • greenmuppet

          I appreciate you genuinely believe the leadership was not involved. I just think convincing the public this was the case is quite hopeless given the surface facts. It’ll probably take an act of sacrificial lamb to restore some credibility and that lamb must come from the leadership.  
          Also, please scan the comments on stuff and here  - there are plenty of greens supporters who believe the activists did the right thing by vandalizing the billboards. There seems to be no unity of opinions among GP supporters on the issue. Some say it was ok, some not. As myself being in opposition to GP I would much prefer the GP leadership continue to deny involvement while bleeding votes to Labour/Mana. 

          • Mick Buckley

            Thanks for your reply.  I think we see this in much the same way. 
            I haven’t seen the green supporter comments you mention.  But I would hazard a guess the comments didn’t come from party activists.  Activists put a lot of effort into putting up billboards and it is extremely frustrating that they continually get vandalised.
            In my experience the activists from all the political parties play it pretty clean with each other billboards – even to the point of helping other parties out by ringing to report damage.

      • http://keepingstock.blogspot.com/ Inventory2

        Quite so greenmuppet. Good on Russel Norman for apologising and trying to defuse thyis, but the damage has been done, and for the next eleven days, everyone’s going to be saying “Of couse he knew”. It’s so much like the EB situation in 2005, albeit in reverse, that it fully drips with irony!

    • Kimbo

      “Whale, you imply that the stickering was a Green campaign tactic, but
      where’s your evidence?” Hmmm. Where is the evidence those Cubans caught in the Watergate building were there as a result of an over-zealous interpretation of President Nixon’s campaigning instructions? Or better yet, where is there any evidence that Don Brash did anything else other than passively sit and listen to the Exclusive Brethren, and then point out that they were free to do whatever the hell they liked? Or, as per “The Hollow Men” attempt to package his policies in the best possible ligth – an activity every political, commercial, or social organisations should be able to do without attracting the accusation of “conspiracy!”. Hippie hypocrites who only ‘fessed up because they were about to get busted.

  • Kotahitanga

    If you read the news article correctly, you will see that the link to the Green party is co-incidental, and that Russell Norman has condemned the act.
    http://www.3news.co.nz/Greens-out-billboard-vandal/tabid/419/articleID/232785/Default.aspx

    • James Stephenson

      Ah yes, I believe that’s what is known as “plausible deniability”…

    • Rog

      Seriously? The link is ‘coincidental’ because they say so?

  • Agent BallSack

    From Stuff:
    Norman said his executive assistant had known about her partner’s plans for about two months and he was disappointed with her for not mentioning it.

    • Guest

      Where did the money for the stickers come from? Green Party coffers?

    • Layoutman

      “Disappointed” – perhaps an understatement. If I knew my employer was about to be undermined by criminal activity spearheaded by my partner and failed to inform my boss or stop my partner then I would be guilty by association in the least. Dismissal of the EA is required to have any credibility.
      This is also under the assumption that you didn’t tell your boss.  – Having said that if I had advised my boss and he turned the other cheek and did the shultz answer of “I know nothing” ” I see nothing” before it happened then I should  keep my job…

  • Moby

    Good stuff by The Greens, fixing the signs so they told the truth they should get paid by National for doing it. They should leave the stickers on and it will be one the bright side it’s one less lie that national can be accused of telling.

  • Bill Barnsley

    BULLSHIT.
    Norman must have known and should resign immediately. Taken responsibility has he? Going to pay out of his own pocket. That is what taking responsibility means.
    We need to know who paid for the printing. Greens themselves or the long suffering tax payer?
    If Norman does not suspend his felchmong assistant immediately I will take that as an admission that he knew and cannot suspend them.

    • Guest

      Doesn’t really matter whether he “knew” or not. Norman & Turei are responsibile 

      If our electoral commission had any teeth, the first announcement after the polls closed was that all Labour & Green votes were being shredded due to corrupt practices.

      As it is: if they knew they’re guilty – much more guilty than Tiler Field ever was; if they didn’t know they’re incompetent. 

  • Anonymous

    Of course the vast majority of the Greens not only knew about it, but were complicit in it. I mean at least fifty people actively involved not top mention everyone that they have talked to for the last 2-3 months. It is not plausible that the leadership were the only ones not involved. Will they name and shame the other conspirator’s, not likely. Will the police take an active interest, again not likely?
     
    Only a simpleton believes everything he is told.
     
    The trouble with these people is that they don’t believe in democracy, it is only a means to get power. Once they have the Power, you can guarantee democracy will be next.
     
    A bunch of fanatics who believe fervently that the only way is there way, no exceptions, no contrary opinions will be accepted.
     
    Despots and Dictators.

  • kevin

    Funny how ‘labour’ sprung to mind for me with this sign caper. It just seemd to fit… plenty of whackos to go round both labour and greens it seems.

  • notavictim

    awesome whale. Bill Barnsley, good point, if he doesnt get rid of her he must’ve known.

  • Blair Mulholland

    I am pretty sure that Whale Oil is right when he says that this will have the same effect as the Exclusive Brethren “scandal” did:  It will have no effect on the party’s polling whatsoever.  National lost in 2005 because they ran out of money one week out and stopped campaigning, allowing Labour free reign in the media for the final week.  Anyone who says otherwise is propagating the lies that the Left like to tell about that election.

    This may drive swinging left voters back to Labour, but somehow I doubt it.  If you are considering voting Green, you already agree with the substance of the criticism on the offending stickers.

    • Catweasel321

      As a propagating Liar I would be curious to known if you are implying that the primary reason National didn’t win the last election, and good on you for not letting that go yet, is that they didn’t have enough money to buy it?

      • Catweasel321

        Correction “the 2005 election’

        • Blair Mulholland

          Well I don’t know about anybody else’s memory, but mine was that the EB “scandal” hit about three or four weeks out.  Despite this, one week from polling day National was still ahead.  So I don’t know how that squares with the EB costing National the election.

          I also remember that Labour had a week’s worth of unanswered attack ads in the Herald and the Dom Post in that last week, and their higher broadcasting allocation gave them much greater saturation on radio and television.  I believe that turned the tide for them. It turns out that National had reached their spending cap in the last week, and rightly decided to stop spending money, while Labour had done the same thing, but decided to overspend and break the law.  So yes, it was a stolen election.

    • Guest

      Oh come on – National won the 2005 election then labour stole it

      • Catweasel321

        There’s that wounded sense of entitlement.

  • Catweasel321

    ‘The Shield of Sanctimony’
    meet the ‘Right-hand Sword of Perpetual Indignation’…

    The secret is out
    brothers, the Greens are politically motivated. See, this little stunt proves
    it.
    And for those amongst us that feel typing in capitals makes things more likely
    to be believed….I DEMAND THEY ALL IMPLODE IMMEDIATELY…as we bring them to boiling
    point in our minds with the laser power of right-eous resentment and invective.

    Damn you Greens for thinking
    of it first!

  • Guest

    Geez you’re pathetic. If Norman the Commie didn’t know he’s incompetent’;
    if he did know he’s guilty of a corrupt practice.

    Either way, if he electoral commission had any balls whatsoever – the first announcement just after the polls closed would be that all Green and Labour votes (both candidate and party) were ineligible due to corrupt practice and therefore would simply not be counted.  End of story. End of Greens. End of labour. End of unions. 

    and a small chance for NZ! 

    Just goes to show how stupid NZ is allowing three openly communist parties and another three socialist parties to contest an election in what is supposed to be a democracy.

    • Catweasel321

      Not so much the Electoral commission as the Electoral Coup Commission then.

      Who’s nationals next appointee to the commission chair, Frank Bainimarama….hey maybe Don Brash was sounding him out with him when in Fiji last.

  • Chris

    This ain’t the work of the Greens – the whole thing smacks of the Anarchist/Urewera/SAFE/animal loving vegan brigade. Sure, there are personal links to Greens but Norman is too straight and not dumb enough to endorse this sort of handy work, which, by the way, I think should be allowed as part of the deal.  At the very least people shouldn’t get so precious about it.  There are already loads of groups from all persuasions getting out giving the public something to have chortle over.  Those ones of Cosgrove are great, bring ‘em on, I say.  Reminds us we’re still human and can have a laugh.

  • Anonymous

    Ahh all this talk of sanctimonious prickery reminds my why I rarely bother to read this blog. Well done Russel Norman for showing us what leadership really means. Something neither National nor Labour have displayed, remind us again Cameron about Bill English rorting the housing allowance and the deafening silence of John key over the matter. 

  • kehua

    Chris,I agree with you as I said early in the piece it is a collective of the  `wild greens /vegans/anti pork and hen/forest&bird/greenpeace rad radicals` unfortunately for norman they will use him and his party and anyone else to further their fucked up causes.