0 Another Whale of a scoop

Cameron Slater has developed a bit of a reputation for breaking significant stories over the last couple of years. That saw him win the Canon Media Award for Best Blog earlier in the year, to the chagrin of a number of mainstream media figures.

And he's broken another story this morning which, if it is true, casts Labour leader David Cunliffe in a very poor light.

It's Slater's scoop, so we're not going to steal any of his thunder here. We simply suggest that you go and read this story, and judge it for yourself. But it certainly casts Mr Cunliffe's apology for being a man in a very different and unflattering light.

0 Harawira - "an inside job"

Whilst David Cunliffe is crying foul, Hone Harawira reckons the Donghua Liu revelations are an inside job from within Labour; Stuff reports:

HARAWIRA: IT'S AN INSIDE JOB
Mana leader Hone Harawira believed someone within the Labour Party, rather than the Government, was running a smear campaign against Cunliffe.
He admitted he was concerned about the impact of Labour's latest troubles on the chances of Left-wing parties attracting enough votes to form a coalition government at the next election.
"I'm in the game of trying to change the government. To do that requires Mana and the Internet Party to get stronger without adversely affecting the Greens and Labour and for the Greens and Labour to also get strong with their own constituencies. Any threat to that is a threat to us overall." 

It's not often that Harawira and Cameron Slater would be singing from the same song-sheet, but we read this earlier today on Whaleoil:

Sources inside Labour having been consistently saying that Grant Robertson knew all about Donghua Liu and his donations to Labour.
I know he was specifically warned over attacks based over Donghua Liu.
When he was attacking National over this he was setting his leader up for a fall. 
This was known for a couple of months, as Robertson was able to deny any involvement in fundraising as he wasn’t an MP until after the 2008 election.
What will be more troubling for David Cunliffe supporters is the same sources are saying that Robertson couldn’t believe his luck when Cunliffe made statements saying he hadn’t advocated on behalf of Donghua Liu. 

Then here comes the clincher:

Apparently Robertson knew all about the letter and didn’t warn Cunliffe. This kind of low political bastardry has to be admired.
Grant Robertson has shown he has the mongrel to be leader of the Labour Party, and the finesse as well.
His set up of his leader was absolutely brilliant, and he has effectively sandbagged the Labour campaign so he can have a shot at being leader. 

Let's not forget that Grant Robertson served his political apprenticeship in the office of Helen Elizabeth Clark, with her formidable chief of staff Heather Simpson. So close was Robertson to H1 and H2 that the urban legend reports his nickname at the time as being H3. To have received the Whaleoil Seal of Approval for Political Bastardry suggests that Robertson was a very good student of the Dark Arts.

So if this is indeed a set-up and an "inside job" as Harawira describes it, Grant Robertson would unsurprisingly be high on the list of suspects. But then again, so would the co-chairs of ABC, Trevor Mallard and Clayton Cosgrove, neither of whom is beyond getting down and dirty.

The Labour Party doesn't look especially happy or united at the moment. Labour registering at 28% on the Roy Morgan poll that has just come out this afternoon won't do much for the mood either as the caucus disperses for the weekend. How will they be when they reconvene after a weekend of BBQ's?

0 Some thoughts on Electoral Act breaches

3News reports that the Labour Party wants an inquiry into why the Police chose not to prosecute John Banks; check this out:

Labour is calling for an independent inquiry into recent investigations and prosecutions involving politicians, in the wake of the John Banks scandal.

Friday will be the Epsom MP's last day in Parliament as he is quitting after being found guilty of electoral fraud.

Labour's justice spokesman Andrew Little says the public is entitled to know why the police decided originally not to prosecute Banks.

"There is a real question now that has to be examined more closely by a very high-powered, legally trained person," he says.

Mr Little says an independent agency may be needed to look into allegations of electoral malpractice and corruption.

We actually agree with Andrew Little on his final point above. But we reckon that Andrew Little should be careful what he wishes for, given the Labour Party's past record of electoral infringements that were not prosecuted. 

Cameron Slater has refreshed a story published in Truth when he was editing it, detailing some outstanding and unresolved alleged breaches of the Electoral Act:

Back when I was editor of Truth I OIAd the Electoral Commission about outstanding complaints they had sent to the Police for prosecution.
To date nothing has happened with those complaints.
Here is what I wrote back then. The sentiments and facts remain the same:

In our January 3rd issue we reported the following story. This has since been picked up by other media agencies, so we thought we would refresh your memories on how you heard it first at Truth.

Police are sitting on more than twenty open investigations referred to them for prosecution under the Electoral Act by the Electoral Commission.

Truth has obtained details under the Official Information Act that reveal Police seem to have no interest in prosecuting offences and breaches of the Electoral Act.

Of the 32 cases referred, 6 have lapsed because the prosecution time limit has expired.

62 dual vote referrals remain open and un-prosecuted.

Headline cases referred by the Electoral Commission that remain open with little or no progress are the Green party worker Jolyon White’s alleged vandalism of National’s signs at the 2011 election, several of Labour’s flyers including their ‘Stop Asset Sales’, ‘Prices are Rising faster than wages’ and ‘Ohariu Census’ pamphlets.

Only 3 cases have been closed, with no action or prosecution resulting.

The Electoral Act is the governing act to keep checks on political parties and candidates. The Police do not appear to be interested in prosecuting these cases.

We agree with Cameron Slater that the Police seem to have no interest in getting involved in electoral offences. We even have a possible solution! 

We reckon that the Electoral Commission should be given the necessary powers to set up a prosecutions branch, independent of the Police and of any political parties. Those staffing the branch would have an in-depth knowledge of electoral law, something that the Police seems to lack. 

Whilst some of the offences listed above may seem trivial, they are breaches of the law nonetheless. Political parties are given extensive information from the Electoral Commission as to what they can and cannot do. If they choose to ignore that advice, as David Cunliffe did with his tweet on the morning of last year's Christchurch East by-election, a prosecution should be strongly considered. If there is no sanction for breaking the law, there is no incentive to comply with it.

If the Police lack the will to prosecute, then that responsibility should be passed on to an agency that will treat breaches of the law with due seriousness. That agency should be the Electoral Commission, which already administers the Electoral Act.

Do you agree?

0 Hate speech hypocrisy

Not everyone was happy to see Cameron Slater and Whaleoil win the Canon Media Award Best Blog gong last night. You can read a sampling of reaction here, but we urge caution. The Left prides itself on being caring and sensitive, but that trait was lacking last night.

Naturally enough, Whaleoil's arch-enemy, Martyn Bradbury was right to the forefront of the less-than-charitable stuff. Bradbury tweeted thus:

Had Bradbury left it there, it would have been enough. He would have made his point. But making your point is never enough for the bombastic Martyn Bradbury; he had to lay it on thick at The Daily Blog; check this out:

What do you reckon; is accusing someone of being a "hate speech merchant", then posting an image of their face photoshopped on the body of an insect ever so slightly hypocritical? We reckon that it is.

As an aside, Bradbury's condemnation of  "the disgusting Len Brown story" made us laugh out loud. Within a couple of hours of Slater's scoop about the mayor's infidelity, Len Brown publicly admitted the affair. Brown's affair long preceded any political considerations, and the Lame Duck Mayor has only himself to blame for his predicament.

This is a healthy serving of sour grapes from Martyn Bradbury, with lashings of hypocrisy. It's not a pleasant recipe.

0 Congratulations Whaleoil

When you're a winner, a self-congratulatory tweet is eminently acceptable:

Congratulations to Cameron Slater and his Whaleoil team; Best Blog at the 2014 Canon Media Awards. Congratulations too to all the other winners and nominees.

0 Two perspectives on duck shooting

The duck shooting season opened yesterday. There was enough low cloud in our area first thing that a few ducks will have ended up being eaten, but the weather is more to the ducks' advantage today.

So here are a couple of perspectives on the annual ritual. The first is from Bromhead in the Herald:

Maurice Williamson will indeed be seeking sanctuary after a bruising week. How such a senior MP could have such a brain fade eludes us.

The other is from a shooter himself, and a well known hunter of mallards (and Mallards) himself:

It looks as though duck will be on the menu in the Slater household in coming days. Perhaps as a gesture of goodwill, Cameron Slater should invite Trevor Mallard around for a feed!

As partial as we are to a feed of duck, we've never felt the urge to go out and shoot one. But for those who do, and help keep the duck population under control, good, safe shooting.

0 The Mana implosion begins

A week is said to be a long time in politics. But the last 24 hours have seen plenty happen within the Mana Party; the Herald on Sunday reports:

Sue Bradford and other leading Mana Party figures have walked out of the party's AGM over its decision to continue negotiations towards an alliance with Kim Dotcom's Internet Party.
After discussions which went into the night at Mataikotare Marae near Rotorua yesterday, Mana's branches "unanimously'' agreed to move forward with the negotiations.
The party has given its leaders a month to negotiate, before they put any proposed alliance out to the party's local branches for consultation.
However, Mana President Annette Sykes this morning said : "Our movement, I was concerned that it may be fragile and some of our membership - I don't know whether some have chosen not to come back today.''
"There's quite a number. We're not talking hundreds, but we're talking people who I think are leaders young and old and they are principled people who I have respect for. They've gone back to reflect with their branches.''

Ms Bradford this morning confirmed she was among those who had walked out.
"We left us last night so she perhaps includes us among those people because there was deep debate, deep dissension and resistance to the idea of going into an alliance with the Internet Party.''
"Some of us, both Maori and Pakeha, are really disturbed by the idea of going into an alliance with a neo-liberal billionaire.''

Kudos to Sue Bradford and the other members of Mana who can hold their heads high. They have put principles ahead of dirty deals, and Kim Dotcom's tainted money.

What is left of the Mana Party is a joke. Principles have been abandoned, and instead, the promise of clutching the hem of Dotcom's rather ample garment is now what drives the party. And don't get us started on Hone Harawira; in terms of venal behaviour, he makes Winston Peters look like Mother Teresa.

The implosion of the Mana Party has begun. We warned several weeks ago that this would end in tears, and that now seems almost a certainty. 

And in the meantime, Cameron Slater has pointed out a huge disconnect between what Dotcom told Mana members yesterday, and previously published details about his upbringing. Like David Cunliffe, Dotcom brings different messages to different audiences.

Haere ra Mana Party. Don't say we didn't warn you.