Roger Bridge

It looks like the back-room boys have done their work after the call went out mid-week that the board wasn’t getting anywhere.

Some calls have been made, some stern words been had, and Aaron Gilmore is gone. Job done.

Disgraced National List MP Aaron Gilmore has announced he will resign from Parliament.

“It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that I announce my intention to resign from Parliament,” Mr Gilmore said in a statement.

“After taking counsel from colleagues and family in recent days, I have decided that to stay on in Parliament would only serve to cause my loved ones more upset, and cause me undeserved further stress.”

Mr Gilmore said media scrutiny in recent days since reports of his night out in Hanmer Springs where he was abusive to a waiter had “put me and those who are important to me under immense pressure with an attempt to discredit me”.

“I have made mistakes. I am human. But the attacks on my integrity have started taking a toll on those around me and this is unfair on them.”

Mr Gilmore said he’d advised the National Party’s whips of his decision.

“I also want to make clear my support for the National Party and Prime Minister John Key remains unwavering.”

Questions now need to be asked about some key members of the board and their performance over the past few weeks, notably Peter Goodfellow and Roger Bridge.

A couple of phone calls and the knifing was done…that is how it should be done not endless conference calls with yelling and finger-pointing.

Grant Robertson is the deputy leader of the Labour Party, and that means he is supposed to be the attack dog. He is supposed to sink his teeth into opponents and hang on grimly. In this role he has been toothless, and I am sure a redneck commenter will explain why.

National have handed up a whole lot of meat for Grant to sink his teeth in but he hasn’t even gummed them. He could start by asking about a senior political figure who has a suppression order over a domestic incident. He could then orchestrate a series of questions about National Party President and Sanford Director Peter Goodfellow’s business dealings starting with their $2.3m fine for deliberate pollution in the United States.

Peter Goodfellow keeps giving Labour free hits, and Grant keeps refusing. Sanford has issues with “slave labour” that are in the public domain, and these come up in the media repeatedly, yet Grant hasn’t asked the tough questions. Labour are supposed to look after the oppressed, yet one of the oppressors has escaped public scrutiny because Grant hasn’t manned up.

Grant could have also asked a series of questions about the investment in a Nelson property that left investors out of pocket for about $5m, with National Party Board Member Roger Bridge, and former Board member Craig Myles being the directors of the company involved.

This may seem a bit minor but Michael Cullen would have made National ministers look corrupt by tough questioning about Goodfellow and Bridge. Cullen would have convinced the New Zealand public that where there was smoke there was fire, and National were dodgy.

If Grant is serious about being Prime Minister he will start savaging National, holding Key to account for the people around him. That’s if he can overcome a habit of a lifetime and bare his teeth.

The tipline is saying that a much broader net is being cast looking for a replacement for Roger Bridge. The parliamentary wing are concerned that there is no natural successor to Peter Goodfellow, who is rumoured to be thinking of standing down so he doesn’t have to fundraise for the 2014 election. Of course Peter Goodfellow has his own bad news stories that follow him around like a bad smell. On Thursday Sanford was again in the news for all the wrong reasons. With Goodfellow on their board they have been accused of using slave labour and been prosecuted for illegal dumping and pollution in American Samoa.

It is likely that National will have to bring in a strong leader from outside the current board to replace Peter, and this is an opportunity to bed someone in before they replace Peter.

The name that immediately springs to mind is Wira Gardiner. Long time readers will remember that this blog took a hostile position on Wira’s candidacy in 2009, as he was too conflicted given his wife was on caucus. His ham-fisted campaign managed by Michelle Boag counted against him and he did not win a seat on the board.

This blog is willing to admit mistakes and Wira would have been a far better president than Peter. The conflict of interest is a problem, but both Wira and Hekia are professional enough to manage it. After smashing up Nick Smith so effectively Boag is no longer a player in National, and Wira would not be seeking advice from her.

If Wira were available he would make fine board member, and could take over from Peter Goodfellow next July, leading the party wing of National into the 2014 election. On a board of non-entities he would be a real leader.

If the rumours that Roger Bridge is intending to tender his resignation are true National has the mechanism to replace a board member without a fresh election. This happened in when then board members Eric Roy and David Bennett resigned to contest the 2005 election.

The difficulty in replacing Roger is there is a fairly limited talent pool for potential directors. In recent years Alan Towers has lost board elections twice, so obviously not popular enough within the party to deserve a place. Regional chair for the CNI Peter Osborne is regarded as one of the most indiscrete men in the party, and someone who would probably leak even more than the current board leaks. Plus he has a moustache and men with moustaches generally can’t be trusted.

Both men are members of the buggers muddle and Osborne especially loves to meddle in selections and is a known misogynist who actively seeks to discourage women candidates. The last thing National needs is to be taken over by the kind of factional fighting we see in Labour. Placing either on the board means a confirmed vote for the buggers muddle factional leader Alastair Bell for president, and sources from close to the parliamentary leadership are saying there is no way Alastair Bell will ever be president because he has repeatedly proven himself to be a lightweight.

The only other regional chair not on the board is Ele Ludemann from the Southern Region. Ele is a much loved member of the National Party whose grace is unusual in political parties, where pettiness often dominates. Ele would provide a welcome strategic brain on the board, and would be a nice geographical replacement for Roger, but may get tripped up by overt and unsubtle lobbying by the buggers muddle.

National Board member Roger Bridge is in the NBR (paid content) but has declined to comment about the affairs of a Heartland loan.

Roger Bridge deflects queries on Heartland loan

Britannia Management and National Party director Roger Bridge has declined to discuss progress on the recovery of a toxic Heartland loan.

He referred all queries to fellow Britannia director Craig Myles.

Listed Heartland recently confirmed it has taken control of a Nelson subdivision which is the security for one of its toxic loans.

The debt has grown to about $8 million with penalty interest.

This is a very sad day for the National Party. Roger is a National man through and through, and one of the few true gentlemen left in New Zealand, and he is well loved throughout the country. Many have benefited from Roger’s legendary hospitality and generosity, and it is not too much to say that there are members of caucus and cabinet who owe their places in politics to Roger.

Hopefully Roger will be able to fight his way through this. Parties are built on men like Roger, and National needs more honest men, not fewer, and unfortunately Rogers impeccable manners may mean he resigns rather than cause the party embarrassment.

Following on from the series of posts I am doing about the National Party in 10 years time let’s consider the National Party Board. The current members are:

John Key
Michael Woodhouse
Peter Goodfellow
Roger Bridge
Alastair Bell
Pat Seymour
Malcolm Plimmer
Kate Hazlett

We can safely assume John Key will not be leader or on the board in 2022. Michael Woodhouse likely won’t be on the board as list MPs do not last 15 years as so rightly pointed out by David Farrar.

Peter Goodfellow certainly will not be around. Presidential tenures are usually not more than five or six years. Of the rest most are of advanced age, or served for a long time already, and whose best time in the party was before 2011. This means I think that it is fair to say that there will be no current board members still serving in 2022. In fact it is hard to see many of them serving when National goes into opposition and politics gets really tough for National again.

The clear implications of this is that if you want to be involved in the party in the future you can safely ignore idle threats made by the current board as they will not be around in ten years time.

The National Party has a preferential voting system for electing board members. Preferences are vitally important for ensuring that you get the board members that you want. Therefore I am going to provide a guide for delegates from the various regions on the best way to maximise the preferences for the candidates you prefer. I am also providing the guide because no conference booklet has yet materialised.

Before I do that though, I have had a great deal of feedback about the alleged charge that voting Peter Goodfellow off the board might somehow embarrass the prime minister. Several people have pointed out that it would be hard to embarrass a man who supports and implemented an ETS on the advice of Nick Smith. There is a great deal of angst in the party about the ETS, so I have a suggestion for those delegates that are really very angry with the party implementing the ETS. Place Peter Goodfellow 4th in the preferences in order to embarrass the Prime Minister and make the message about the ETS. He doesn’t seem to get it that the party is angry, so what better way to send a message. Put Peter last for the ETS.

On another note, delegates have been contacting me also to point out that under the presidency of Peter Goodfellow this is the first conference in 74 years of the party that hasn’t had a conference booklet produced prior to the conference, nor a conference agenda. This is done usually two weeks prior to conference and is a useful tool for delegates to get together to work out which sessions each will attend, discuss various nominees for office and plan an effective conference. This year, no booklet has been sent, I presume delegates will be given something upon arrival, but essentially there is nothing so far with just two days to go. Of course one supposition is that this has occurred because each of the nominees for the board positions would have had a page to extol their virtues and there would have been a stark contrast between 3 of them and Peter Goodfellow, who would be hard pressed to fill a postage stamp with his achievements for the National Party. Nevertheless the lack of a conference booklet or agenda prior to the conference is an indictment on the organisational abilities of Peter Goodfellow and accordingly he deserves to be ranked dead last.

Now onto suggested preferences. For me it is quite simple. There are three board positions and four contenders. One is a lazy, waste of space who has held just one previous office in the party, that of Auckland Region Publicity Officer, a position he put his entire abilities into by not holding a single meeting of the publicity committee in his entire tenure. The other three have very long pedigrees at branch, electorate and regional positions.

So my suggestion is always put Peter Goodfellow last. If you are from LNI, Auckland or South Island regions then place your Regional chair first and the the other two candidates second and third in whatever preference you desire.

Example A: a delegate from Christchurch would vote thus:

1. Roger Bridge

2. Alan Towers or Malcolm Plimmer

3. Malcolm Plimmer or Alan Towers

4. Peter Goodfellow

Example B: a delegate from Auckland would vote thus:

1. Alan Towers

2. Roger Bridge or Malcolm Plimmer

3. Malcolm Plimmer or Roger Bridge

4. Peter Goodfellow

Example C: a delegate from Wellington would vote thus:

1. Malcolm Plimmer

2. Roger Bridge or Alan Towers

3. Alan Towers or Roger Bridge

4. Peter Goodfellow

By voting in this manner the delegate can ensure that the preferences flow to the three best candidates and Peter Goodfellow is ranked dead last. Let’s get quality board members, members who will contribute and not just be nodding patsies to the agenda of caucus. Elect Roger Bridge, Alan Towers and Malcolm Plimmer to the board

I have posted previously on these candidates but will post again.

There are four candidates for three positions, and the board elects the president.

Peter Goodfellow (Incumbent, President): Well known in National circles for being indolent and useless. His tenure has been marked by doing nothing, achieving nothing and not understanding that the Party Presidents role is a 60-70 hour a week job that leaves no time for other employment. His list of non-achievement can be found in yesterday’s post, The Case Against Peter Goodfellow. He said to TV3 last night:

Mr Goodfellow refused to appear on camera, but told 3 News he has achieved “in a bunch of areas”.

“Cameron Slater represents an intransigent view. I’m certainly getting a lot of support and I’m standing on my record.”

As I said to TV3 yesterday not even Peter can tell us where he has achieved, and from the quote above you can see I was right. Peter Goodfellow stands on his record, therefore he stands on and for nothing. If anyone is concerned about embarrassing the PM it should be Peter and he should withdraw.

Alan Towers (Challenger): Alan is the new Northern Region Regional Chair, and has a track record of working hard in different parts of the party over a large number of years. As the Chair of the biggest region and the region that National need to win to win government he should be on the board, no ifs, buts or maybes.

Malcolm Plimmer (Challenger): Malcolm is the Lower North Island Regional Chair, and has received rave reviews for turning a region that was a dysfunctional disaster area into a focused, tight unit that will put a lot of pressure on Labour in 2011. His campaign pitch is all about providing electorates with the tools to win the Party Vote. This focus on winning votes will be valuable around the board table.

Roger Bridge (Incumbent): Roger is the much loved and hard working Chair of the Canterbury Westland region. He has been in the National Party since his teens, and has held just about every office possible. Roger is a true gentleman with many friends all over the country, especially as he is known as one of the most generous people in National with both time and money.

Saturday 12.15pm delegates get the chance to vote for the Board. For the future of the National Party I will be voting for Alan, Malcolm and Roger, solid men with a track record of hard work for National. I will be ranking Peter Goodfellow last.

Call to Action for vot­ing delegates:

• Elect Roger Bridge, Malcolm Plimmer and Alan Towers to the Board
• Rank Peter Good­fel­low Last
• Pun­ish him for his record of doing nothing
• Get a new Pres­i­dent, and see the National Party thrive

As the focus of caucus shifts from the failure of trying to strong-arm Alan Towers from the board elections to putting pressure on Roger Bridge (Yes I’m very well informed, thank you). Senior Ministers are whispering now that Roger will be standing down, leaving just three candidates for the three positions. If Roger stands firm then they will move onto Malcolm Plimmer.

One has to ask why it is that a faction within caucus are hell bent on have a lazy, pontificating twat as president and why they are meddling in party business? Do they want this blogger to start to focus on their performance as MPs and Ministers?

Now I’ve bagged Andrew “Three Hats” Little off and on for years, and a fair bit since he became Labour Party President. Even though I have bagged him I have to say he has a points victory over Peter Goodfellow because he has actually got around to doing something in the seats Labour wants to win.

Labour had early selection in Auckland Central, Waitakere, Maungakiekie, Ohariu and West Coast. There are five Labour list MPs of varying levels of ability out there working in the electorates they want to win. “Gladys” Chauvel is working his guts out in Ohariu where he might just win if National don’t kneecap Dunne and turn it into a blue seat. Damien O’Connor is a good bloke (wrong party) with plenty of time to win a seat he had held for years. “My Little Pony” Ardern is Labour’s pick to win back a seat that means more to them than just about any other, Auckland Central. The best that can be said about the other two is, in the immortal words of Murray Ball “God, he loves a trier”.

Fair play to Andrew “Three Hats” Little. He has seen something needed to be done and done it. Compare that to Peter Goodfellow. He has done nothing. Nothing at all. Our MPs in marginal seats have had absolutely no support from the party, and nothing seems likely if Peter stays president.

Think about that Paula, Nicky, Sam, Katrina & Chris. Think about what could have happened, and what has happened, and if you personally would be better off with a change in president. Add Nathan Guy and Gerry Brownlee to that list because they are the most vocal supporters of Peter Goodfellow right now.

Call to Action for vot­ing delegates:

• Rank Peter Good­fel­low Last
• Pun­ish him for his record of doing nothing
• Get a new Pres­i­dent, and see the National Party thrive