Laila Harre has confirmed suspicions that she is being paid a salary to lead the Internet Party; the NBR reports:
Internet Party leader Laila Harre reveals has revealed she is being a paid back-bench MP salary as leader of the Internet Party
A backbench MP is paid $147,800.
"I have just agreed to a contract which is in line with the already public intention of the party to pay candidates the same as a backbench MP. But I have to say that there simply wasn’t any discussion at all about personal remuneration for me at any stage during this decision and it just was not a factor in me making up my mind," she told Lisa Owen on TV3's The Nation this morning.
Kim Dotcom, who made his fortune from Megaupload (for which he faces piracy, money laundering and racketeering charges), and sister sites including Megaporn and Megaerotic, has revealed he is bankrolling Internet Mana to the tune of $3 million.
Earlier, Internet Party CEO Vikram Kumar told NBR that other sources of funding paled next to the money being tipped into the campaign by one of Mr Dotcom's family trusts.
This seems to be a most unusual arrangement. Is this the first time in New Zealand political history that a party "founder" has paid salaries to the party leader, and to aspiring candidates, as Dotcom has already promised to do?
Despite Ms Harre's protestations that money was not a factor in her becoming the Free Kim Dotcom Party leader, we have our doubts. Laila Harre certainly wouldn't have been earning close to $150k per annum working for the CTU would she? Or if she was, what do the CTU affiliates rank and file think about their hard-earned dosh paid out as union fees being paid out with such gay abandon?
And has anyone yet asked Laila Harre how she feels about being the employee of a former pornographer? Or do scruples disappear when the chequebook is waved around?
