Posted by Blogger Name. Category:
Anonymous donations
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David Cunliffe
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Elephant in the room
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Labour Party
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Quote of the Day
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Rodney Hide
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Secret trusts
Rodney Hides summarises the current political distractions, and mentions the elephant in the war room:
John Key, Bill English and Steven Joyce must now steady the ship. That they will do. Governments are good at it. And it's Budget time. That provides a platform for them to step up a gear and talk about the the things that matter to Kiwis.
Meanwhile, if you think you may ever need some help from your local MP, don't donate to the National Party. Nothing is now more likely to see that door slammed shut than your name appearing on the donor list.
But Labour, too, has its problems. In chasing down Collins it has failed to confront the elephant in its caucus. We know who donated to National. We can spot the possible conflict. We can't say the same about Labour. That's because its leader resolutely refuses to name the donors to his leadership campaign. He has kept his donors secret.
What has Cunliffe got to hide? What favours has he promised? Labour keeps insisting that money taints politics. Well, who has tainted Cunliffe? Will he ever tell us?
Transparency over donations is a wonderful thing. But it must apply equally across the board, to every party inside and outside Parliament.
Every time that David Cunliffe or one of his MP's shrieks about "cash for access", the question must be asked of Mr Cunliffe; who are the anonymous donors to the secret trust, and what access did THEY get?
