Rort

This started arriving in letterboxes over the weekend.

More taxpayer-funded election advertisements from Labour.

They’re spending up large on the taxpayer before the three month ‘election period’ starts.

Labour are certainly stepping well over the mark with their state funded advertising. This brochure clearly is asking for votes and as such should not be funded by Parliamentary Services. It even directs people to a Labour party campaign website. Again the PS logo is smaller than Labour’s which is against the rules.

Time for some complaints I think.

When the news finally caught up with my posts about Labour being prosecuted for Electoral Act breaches I thought it strange that Labour pushed Grant Robertson out in front to try and weasel his way through the mess.

Trevor Mallard was nowhere to be seen. Why was that?

The answer’s is fairly straight-forward.

They couldn’t use the crippled campaign manager to front. It would have destroyed their pathetic excuses.

Mallard couldn’t front, because he could not run the ‘we didn’t know about it it was an honest mistake‘ line.Why’s that?  Because he’s broken this law before!!!!!!!!

From his Wikipedia page:

“In May 2008, Trevor Mallard was warned by New Zealand’s Chief Electoral Officer Robert Pedan that signage on his electorate vehicle breached provisions of the controversial Electoral Finance Act and ordered him to update the signage to include an authorisation from party officials. However, the Chief Electoral Officer did not refer the matter to the New Zealand Police to prosecute as the matter was considered inconsequential.^“

Here is the news article from the time complete with a photo of the offender and the offending vehicle. The article also says:

The Electoral Commission ruled Labour secretary Mike Smith broke the law by using the party, rather than his home, address on a promotional CD and a taxpayer-funded Labour brochure was caught for not carrying authorisation.

So actually – they ARE repeat offenders.  No wonder Peden at the Electoral Commission is pissed.

They’re either thick – or they’re deliberate.  Or both.

Given that he is the campaign manager it seems incredible that Labour are still trying for that defense. The Police need to set an example otherwise why bother having the law in the first place if parties can just willy-nilly ignore them.

Labour looks set to clash with the Electoral Commission for breaking the law again.

Newstalk ZB has been told by the Electoral Commission last week that Labour is in breach of an Electoral Law that carries a maximum $40,000 fine.

“It’s given an advisory opinion a “Stop Asset Sales” flyer is a party advertisement and doesn’t satisfy statutory requirements for a promoter statement  …  Although the flyer does contain Phil Goff’s name and Parliament Buildings as his address, the Commission advises that doesn’t satisfy statutory requirements … The Commission is considering whether this is serious enough to report to police.”

This Electoral Commission opinion appears to be for one piece of material.  I’ve highlighted others on this blog. That was a week ago, what is happening at the Electoral Commission

Labour knows the rules – they helped write them plus they’ve been well circulated and even featured here.

Too right the Commission should take further action. They should be prosecuted and they should be fined, and not just for this case, but for all of their cases.

Labour are recidivist offenders - and this is not accidental.

We know Labour MPs are being instructed to use Parliamentary funding to “benefit the LP” and trying to save what little cash they have for later this year.

Labour’s constituency MPs are trying to keep a constant flow of taxpayer-funded material flowing through people’s letter boxes.

But this has now got so bad, that senior MPs like David Cunliffe are recycling taxpayer-funded material that’s months old. (NOTE: There’s a tiny weeny crest on the front of this which clearly break Parliamentary Services rules about logos as well)

Talk about junk mail.

The Cunliffe courier ‘Autumn 2010/11 issue arrived in letterboxes out west during the weekend.  It promotes events which have long been and gone – like the ’upcoming’ April 4 meeting with Phil Goff.  Don’t be late??

Voters will need a Tardis to make that meeting.

My Labour party sources also tell me the printers are currently busy putting together a big Labour order of taxpayer-funded election advertising. Those same sources report a large number of lawyers also spending a huge amount of time with the Labour party right now.

Who knows maybe this one will comply with the law, no others have yet.

This stinks, just because Labour does it doesn’t mean ACT and National should do it. It is public funding of political parties by stealth.

National and Act, the parties that kicked up a stink in Opposition about Labour’s taxpayer-funded election advertising, are engaging in their own taxpayer-funded binge this month.

The aim is to spend all the money they are entitled to before the financial year ends on Thursday.

But while Act is being up-front about its estimated $50,000 spending on a one-week campaign to reinstate youth rates, National is keeping the details of its publicity burst secret.

Under Parliament’s rules, party leaders are entitled to funding according to their number of MPs, but if they don’t use all their money, they cannot carry the balance over to the next financial year.

So National is spending up big time around the country, producing leaflets, in the names of MPs, on last month’s Budget, with a survey attached.

The survey is clearly intended as an election tool. Its questions include asking voters which party they support and it tries to ascertain if they are swing voters.

National is refusing to say how many leaflets have gone out or how

This nothing by public funding of political parties by stealth and yet another reason why parliamentary services should be busted open via the Official Information Act.

Just as it was appalling that Labour flew up heaps of MPs for their losing campaign in the Te Tai Tokerau by-election it is likewise appalling that public funding is being used for campaigning.

The politicians won’t change the rules though, they truly are the foxes in charge of the hen house.

ACT on Campus have published one of Labour’s student brochures. It is seriously creepy, not to mention illegal. This is yet more evidence that Labour thinks electoral advertising rules don’t apply to them.

Just look at how tiny they’ve made the Parliamentary Crest. And if you look closely, you’ll see that the full crest isn’t even there! That isn’t a problem with my scanner, it’s the same on the original. It’s printed so small that only the inside “NZ HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES” text is present. No outline and no crown on the top.

There is also no authorisation statement and the Parliamentary Crest isn’t the same size as as the Labour log as required by Parliamentary Services rules. Labour should be made to withdraw and repay these brochures and they should be prosecuted for again breaching the Electoral Commissions rules regarding promoter/authoriser statements.

front view

back view

Labour are past masters at breaking rules surrounding electioneering from the tax-payers purse. They were admonished by the Auditor-General about their Working for Families bus stop adverts, they nicked $840,000 from parliamentary services that they had to pay back for Helen’s pledge card rort and this election they are at it again. (Click for larger image)

Parliamentary Services says the following about funding for publicity:

Publicity can be funded from Vote: Parliamentary Service if it meets the rules set out in the ‘Speaker’s Directions’ (or ‘Directions and Specifications for Services and Funding Entitlements for the House of Representatives, its Members, and Former Members’). The rules require that publicity funded from Vote: Parliamentary Service:

• has a parliamentary purpose;
• identifies that it has been paid for by the Parliamentary Service;
• contains contact details for the member or party responsible for the publicity;
• does not contain inappropriate/misleading representation or descriptions of electorates; and
• does not contain electioneering that explicitly seeks support for the re-election of a member or party, explicitly encourages party membership or explicitly solicits financial support.

These fliers definitely breach points 4 and 5.

It is blatant electioneering on the taxpayer purse – and deliberately blurs the lines between taxpayer and party funded campaigning (ie: the Let’s Not segment of the pamphlet).

Furthermore – they use ‘Campbell Live’ as a source for their food price increases – hardly a reputable source!

It claims a 20% increase from Sep 2010 to April 2011 (so actually 7 months not the 8 months they claim).

According to a more reputable source – Statistics NZ’s Food Price Index – food prices rose 3.1% between Sep 2010 and April 2011.

So they are being deliberately misleading not only on the time frame claimed but also on the actual figures. This is a clear breach of Parliamentary Services funding rules. I think it may be time for another complaint to the Speaker and to the Auditor-General.

They’re deliberately blurring the line between party funded and taxpayer funded.  Labour tries to bend the rules again.

Also I am pretty sure there are rules in the size of the crest which must be the same size as the party logo or larger.

Finally I am pretty sure that these fliers also breach Electoral Commission rules regarding authorisation statements. They are completely absent from the fliers.

If Labour cannot or as it seems in this case will not follow election rules then how can we trust them to run the country?

UPDATE: I have just received this advice from the Electoral Commission. It has apparently been sent to all political parties and therefore it shows Labour’s total disregard for all the rules.

PROMOTER STATEMENTS REQUIRED ON ALL ELECTION ADVERTISEMENTS

• All parliamentary-funded publicity you distribute which includes a political message is an election advertisement. It must include a promoter statement.
  • MP publicity must include an MP promoter statement.
  • Leader’s Office publicity must include a promoter statement.
• Failing to include a promoter statement on an election advertisement is an offence, and subject to a fine of up to $40,000.
• A political message is anything that “is reasonably regarded as directly or indirectly encouraging or persuading voters to vote or not to vote for a candidate or party”. A political message can be as innocuous as words like “Working for our community” because that implies a judgement about how good the MP is at their work, and can be seen as indirectly encouraging voters to vote for that MP.

Labour are clearly and demonstrably in breach of regulations.

It has got to be the most embarrassing story of the year for the bumbling goof Phil Goff.

Last year when Bill English was caught “Double Dipping” (within the current rules I must add) Labour and Phil Goff attacked him. Phil Goff said that he would “lead by example”. They continually taunt English in parliament about his “Double Dipping”. Red Alert constantly brings it up, as does their propaganda machine and paid lap-bloggers also known as “The Standard”. And yet here we have “The Standard” saying that it is okay for Phil Goff to rip off the tax payer. They need to rename themselves as “The DOUBLE Standard”. What a bunch of wankers they are. If it is good for one it is good for all.

So it was with interest today that we see that Phil Goff is literally dripping with hypocrisy. For the last year and a half, him and his Labour flunkies have been attacking Bill English despite him STOPPING his double dipping and all along their inept, bumbling leader has been double dipping the entire time. In fact the hypocrisy of it all reeks so bad that I feel I need to put a peg on my nose to try and avoid the stench.

Good on TV 3 for looking in to it and reporting it.

What pisses me off the most is that Goff is defending it saying that he is doing nothing wrong and that it is within the rules. Well excuse bloody me but what the hell were they hammering English about it for then if it not wrong. I am sick to the back teeth of these wankers and their bloody double standards.

I hate to say this since he is doing so well…for National… but it is time for Phil to piss off. He is well passed his used by date. He needs to quit now and stop wasting taxpayer money.

If Labour had any balls they would get rid of him. Their attacks against double dippers have now been destroyed because of their idiot leader. He has made a total mockery of their attacks and they have lost whatever moral high ground they ever had on the issue. How Phil can claim that Bill English is breaking or musing the perks for his housing arrangements, but that he is not rorting the system is beyond me.

I wonder if Trevor Mallard who wrote this blog on Red Alert about Bill English needing to stop taking the housing allowance will now demand the same of his leader for his double dipping?

I wonder if this latest incident of Phil Goff’s along with his pathetic poll ratings will finally see Labour ditch him before the election. Surely the Labour caucus will be pissed about this.  Somehow though I suspect not. They are the kings and queens of double standards as this latest incident and Phil Goff’s response shows.

If I was Goff I would jump before I was pushed. Pansy Wong resigned when caught out, so did Richard Worth, will Phil Goff?

I am staggered, even when me and my mates were selling phone systems we never did a deal as spectacularly good for the sales person and bad for the customer as the “deal” that Telecom has been extorting from the DHBs.

Telecom is scrambling to offer health providers alternatives to its beleaguered XT network as a third district health board confirms it is considering dropping its contract.

The Dominion Post reported yesterday that Hutt Valley and Capital & Coast district health boards had asked to switch to another network, saying the problems with XT were putting patients at risk if on-call doctors could not be contacted.

Capital & Coast would not say how much its 341-phone contract is worth, but Hutt Valley’s 49-phone contract is more than $1 million.

Fuck me dead, that is astounding! I was trying to figure it out, even over five years it’s still an average phone bill of $340 per month.

If I was Tony Ryall I would seriously, seriously be looking very closely at the rorting that Telecom is conducting inside the health Sector. Another area worth rattling the cage over is the exorbitant costs associated with the Health Intranet. When you have got the officials bullshit explanation as to why THI is so expensive, give me a call and I’ll translate it for you.

There are literally millions to be saved just in communications.

Labour have very consciously avoided photographing the back end of Caropotamus the Tax bus. Here is why, that little logo tells us that you are paying for their campaign.

Labour uses taxpayers money for campaign, makes Heatley wine bottle fiasco look small change.

This is un-fricken-believable. Chris “Koru Club” Carter has decided to take yet another junket on the taxpayer.

Labour MP Chris Carter is to lead a team monitoring general elections in the Caribbean state of St Kitts and Nevis.

Mr Carter said Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma asked him to head the five-person team monitoring the January 25 election.

The last election in 2004 was plagued by allegations of corrupt practices.

The team would spend 10 days in St Kitts and Nevis. It would write a report on the election.

Sending a Labour member to monitor an election in a country beset by corrupt practices! At least he will know how to recognise thembeing a member of the same party that is yet to distance itself from the corrupt practices that Taito Phillip Field was convicted of.

Oh and how convenient that the only election on offer to go and monitor happens to be in the Caribbean. Lastly just how believable is it that Chris “Koru Club” Carter was personally asked to go by some wallah at the Commonwealth. I bet he is taking Peter too.