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David Carter
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Denis O'Rourke
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NZ First
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NZ Herald
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Parliamentary Services
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Winston Peters
Winston Peters had more reasons than most to be grateful for the Maurice Williamson story yesterday. It took media focus away from some allegedly dodgy dealings by on of his own MP's, Denis O'Rourke.
The Herald ran this story yesterday morning:
A New Zealand First MP is the subject of a complaint to Parliament's Speaker over the employment of a person who lives at the same property.
Queenstown resident David Simpson has raised questions about the nature of the relationship between MP Denis O'Rourke and Stephen James, whom Mr O'Rourke employed after the 2011 election. MPs are not allowed to employ their partner, husband or wife in or outside Parliament.
A spokeswoman for Parliamentary Service, the in-house watchdog, confirmed Speaker of the House David Carter had "referred an issue to us and we are looking at it, but that's between us and the Speaker's office. I'm not going to say any more than that".
The story went on to allege:
Mr O'Rourke and Mr James were listed as living at the same address in the 2011 electoral roll, but Mr James is listed as living at a separate address in last year's roll.
However, Herald investigations reveal both addresses apply to the same property - Mr O'Rourke's home.
On Tuesday Mr James emerged from the Mt Pleasant property to check the mailbox. He was later seen inside the property but refused to answer the door.
Mr O'Rourke later confirmed Mr James lived at the same property.
"Yes, there's a flat attached to my home with separate bedroom and kitchenette and an ensuite and so on. It's separate accommodation."
Online records show Mr O'Rourke's property is listed as a single dwelling. Mr O'Rourke later said Mr James lived in "a room that's been separated from the house and used as a bedsit".
"It's not a formal subdivision ... I did upgrade it a couple of years ago and that's the same time that we got the separate letterbox."
He reiterated that he and Mr James were not partners. "We're deliberately not partners and whatever it takes to convince people we're not partners, that's what we'll do. We don't intend to be partners, we've agreed not to be partners, we don't do the things that partners do, so we're not partners."
He said Parliamentary Service had not spoken to him about Mr James. "I haven't heard anything about a complaint so as far as I'm concerned a complaint has not been made."
If Mr O'Rourke was wanting to fan the embers, and turn them from smouldering into a conflagration, his rather bizarre statement about relationships will have done the job quite nicely.
And let's get one thing straight; this is not an issue of sexuality. If (and we emphasise "if") Messrs O'Rourke and James do indeed live at the same property, then there is an issue with Parliament's rules being broken, and public money is being spent on something outside the rules. That is the only issue as far as we are concerned.
And the Herald has a follow-up story this morning which makes Mr O'Rourke's behaviour look even more dubious:
New Zealand First MP Denis O'Rourke is under further pressure after being caught out over a fake testimonial on the Trade Me page of his classic car rental business.
Parliament's Speaker David Carter yesterday confirmed he is formally investigating the relationship between the list MP and his taxpayer-funded staffer Stephen James with whom he shares his Christchurch home.
However, the complaint from Queenstown resident David Simpson which sparked the investigation said there was "a clear case of Mr O'Rourke and Mr James conspiring to create bogus testimonials about a wedding car hire firm they both have an interest in".
The pair were directors of Christchurch-based wedding business Garden City Weddings.
After the business ceased trading, Mr O'Rourke continued to lease classic cars for weddings, including a 1948 Jaguar Mark V named Winston.
Under his Trade Me handle DJSteve, Mr James wrote: "Such beautiful black cars - thanks for your great service for our wedding."
Mr O'Rourke replied: "Denis: Many thanks Steve. it was our pleasure."
The post was placed three months before Mr O'Rourke was elected to Parliament in 2011 and has since been deleted.
Mr O'Rourke said he knew Mr James had placed the reference but, because it was done before he was an MP, he did not need to apologise to the public. The NZ First Justice spokesman said: "It's probably not proper but it's no big deal, I wouldn't have thought." Mr O'Rourke said all of the other testimonials on the page were genuine.
Winston Peters' response is entirely predictable:
NZ First leader Winston Peters said the allegations were part of a smear campaign against his party.
We will reserve judgment on Denis O'Rourke until Parliamentary Services has conducted its investigation into his and Mr James' living arrangements. Then we will all know whether Mr O'Rourke's conduct is "no big deal", or a rather substantial deal.
