0 Quote of the Day - 2 June 2014

Karl du Fresne is one of a dwindling band of old-school journalists; the kind who don't simply recycle the many press releases that cross their desks each day. And his comments on MegaMana are interesting; under the headline Mana ties knot with eye on cash du Fresne opines:

Whatever else you might think of Sue Bradford, she sticks to her principles. You have to respect her for walking away in disgust from the Internet-Mana pantomime.
Who, other than the most gullible, is going to believe these two parties have genuine shared concerns? They are united only by rank opportunism.
Hone Harawira needs access to Kim Dotcom's bank account, while Dotcom seems driven by a personal grudge against Prime Minister John Key and a need for political friends who might help him avoid extradition. These are hardly a sound basis for a credible political party.
In his desperation to make the merger look honourable, Harawira argues that internet access is a pressing issue for young Maori.
This is a convenient but very recent conversion. When I last looked, digital access wasn't even mentioned on the Mana website.
The $200,000 that Dotcom reportedly put into the Internet Party is a far more likely explanation for Harawira's enthusiasm. But at least he had the decency to grin cheekily when he admitting coveting his new ally's resources. Like Winston Peters, he often gives the game away by grinning when he knows no-one is fooled.
Unfortunately, a mischievous grin can't disguise the notion that this alliance is a cynical exploitation of a flawed electoral system. Theoretically at least, there is a possibility that Internet-Mana will end up in a position of power that bears no relationship to its voter support.
What's more, the two parties have undertaken to review their relationship six weeks after the election. So if they get into Parliament, all bets will be off. Take that, suckers.
The best we can hope for is some entertainment as the inherent tensions boil to the surface and Internet-Mana blows up like Krakatoa. How long, for example, before Mana office-holder John Minto – a conviction politician in the Bradford mould – spits the dummy? He can only fool himself for so long that the merger is in the best interests of the proletariat.
Even on their own, Far-Left parties such as Mana have a glorious history of disembowelling themselves. Who knows what bloody mayhem could result when the hard-core Left hitches itself to a wholly incompatible ally like the Dotcom party? 

Of course, since du Fresne penned his column we have discovered that Herr Dotcom has put a lot more than $200k into the Internet Party. The generally accepted figure now is $4 million, with $500,000 of that being paid to Hone Harawira's cult party as a dowry.

Karl du Fresne is dead right (sorry Rex/Edward/Judge); this is indeed a "cynical exploitation" of MMP. And if Labour overtly or covertly instructs Kelvin Davis to not try too hard in Te Tai Tokerau, it too will be a party to this dirtiest of dirty deals.

 The Left has lost the right now to criticise electorate deals done by any other parties. Having so staunchly defended MMP when New Zealand last voted on its system of democracy, who would have ever expected it would have been the parties of the political Left who exposed just how flawed MMP is, and gave us convincing reasons to demand change?

In the meantime, let's just stand back and wait for the ritual disembowelling to begin!

0 Bromhead on the MegaMana Marriage

Herald cartoonist Peter Bromhead calls the MegaMana marriage for what it is:

This is a marriage which already has an end date set; so much for "'til death do us part". We still reckon though that it will end in tears.

0 Dom-Post on the doomed MegaMana marriage

The Dominion-Post editorial this morning predictably touches on the "marriage of convenience" between Kim Dotcom and Hone Harawira and their parties. And it's not a positive editorial; under the headline Marriage unlikely to last the editorial begins:

So the Maori radical and the German squillionaire have spawned their odd little party. No surprise there. The deal suits both partners. The Internet Party now has a chance of getting into Parliament whereas before it had none. And Mana wins a chance of finding more supporters among the geeks and the worshippers of Kim Dotcom.
Radicals like Mana's John Minto reject Sue Bradford's charge that they have sold out to the wealthy German. Bradford, staunch and true to her ideals as usual, has predictably stormed out. But, in a sense, Minto is right. He has not abandoned his support for progressive taxes and soaking the rich. He has not had to swallow a dead rat.
The real objection to this political marriage is that it is unlikely to last or breed many successes. The two sides will be able to agree on a few things. They will want to spread more of the benefits of the internet to the poor. They will want to hobble the GCSB and put it under much tougher scrutiny. They will band together in an attempt to defeat John Key and his party.
But even these agreed goals will be very hard to reach. Perhaps the pair will score minor victories over internet speeds and cellphone fees. They will get nowhere with the GCSB unless they can persuade Labour to join them, which is doubtful. The GCSB needs much tougher accountability but Labour has traditionally been weak on this. It is a status quo party when it comes to intelligence. And National is still riding high.
The marriage of convenience is likely to become hollow even if a couple of MPs make it into the House. On the hard issues of economics – tax rates on the wealthy, for instance – it is difficult to believe Mana and the Internet Party will agree. They will have to have a big "agree to disagree" policy clause. So they will make little difference. 

The Dom-Post's leader writer is dead right. Issues like the GCSB and internet speeds/access are not the issues that change governments. On economic issues, how can a party with a billionaire who flaunts his wealth possibly combine credibly with a party that purports to resent rich people like Kim Dotcom?

The editorial continues, with a condemnation of the rules that make this ill-fated union possible:

The merger of the two shows up, once again, a bad flaw in the MMP system. The system gives far too much power to single constituency-seat parties, because they can avoid the 5 per cent parliamentary threshold. This has allowed self-serving deals that have given non-entity parties such as ACT and UnitedFuture too much power in coalition governments.
And nobody knows why this silly provision ever became part of MMP. The members of the royal commission that recommended the system now say the "Epsom clause" was a mistake.
The only question now is: will this political oddity, bred on the wrong side of the bed, have any appeal to the voters? Its best hope is to win about 2 per cent of the party vote – double what Mana got last time – and bring the still-unnamed leader of the Internet Party in on the list. If Annette Sykes won Waiariki, that would be a big dollop of cream on the cake. 
Maybe the geeks and the radical Maori and Pakeha can persuade enough voters to back their odd little band. It's also perfectly possible that Harawira will lose his seat to Labour and Sykes will fail in Waiariki. That would sink the Internet Party, which will certainly not pass the 5 per cent barrier by itself. The whole strange experiment could easily collapse.  

We'll certainly be cheering for Kelvin Davis to win the seat of Te Tai Tokerau, and for Te Ururoa Flavell to retain Waiariki, because we strongly doubt MegaMana's ability to get to 5% of the vote. Wouldn't it be funny if Harawira was unseated, and all Dotcom's money went down the river?

0 Harawira and Dotcom to marry

Gimme a hug Big Fella!

Stand by for an engagement announcement at 11am this morning; Audrey Young from the Herald reports:

Mana leader Hone Harawira is this morning expected to announce a formal deal with Kim Dotcom's Internet Party to jointly contest the September election.
The marriage of convenience is designed to maximise the chances of both parties gaining MPs in the next Parliament.
It is likely to involve the creation of an umbrella alliance - with both the "Mana" and "Internet" names in the title.
It will be registered with the Electoral Commission, enabling both parties to present a single combined list in the same way the Alliance did in the 1990s with various component parties, including the Greens, NewLabour and Mana Motuhake.
Mr Harawira is the sole Mana MP and holding on to his seat is critical.
If he retains his Te Tai Tokerau seat on September 20, the new alliance will be able to claim its percentage of the party vote even if it falls under 5 per cent.

If the Internet Party were not tied to an electorate seat, it would have to get 5 per cent of the party vote on its own before getting seats in Parliament.
For its part, the Mana Party will almost certainly get a lot more profile than it otherwise would during the campaign.
The Internet Party is likely to stump up with a bigger war chest than Mana could though the extent of joint campaigning has yet to be announced.
The Electoral Commission donation declarations yesterday revealed that Mr Dotcom, an internet mogul, gave the Internet Party $250,000 on May 14.

Audrey Young is dead right to call this a "marriage of convenience". It is a cynical manipulation of electoral laws designed to give a voice to a party which at this point has no leader, no candidates, and the only noticeable policy being preventing Kim Dotcom from being extradited to the USA.

The next round of donations declarations will be interesting.  A donation of $250,000 from Kim Dotcom to the Internet Party was declared yesterday, but no donations seem to have been declared to date by Harawira's party. That is something to be followed with interest in coming months, because we're sure that there will be a dowry paid in this "marriage of convenience"

During his speech in the Budget Debate, Hone Harawira said this:

MORE INCOME INEQUALITY between the rich and the poor, with National’s policies creating an environment where the richest 1% of NZers own 16% of the country’s wealth while 50% of NZers own less than 5%, and where the income of the top 1% has risen nearly 10 times faster than that of the bottom 10%. 

It's really ironic that Harawira seems to have decided that if you can't beat the 1%, you join them. What say you this morning Sue Bradford?

MORE INCOME INEQUALITY between the rich and the poor, with National’s policies creating an environment where the richest 1% of NZers own 16% of the country’s wealth while 50% of NZers own less than 5%, and where the income of the top 1% has risen nearly 10 times faster than that of the bottom 10%. - See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/05/16/hone-harawiras-budget-speech-last-night/#sthash.Ystne9bn.dpuf

MORE INCOME INEQUALITY between the rich and the poor, with National’s policies creating an environment where the richest 1% of NZers own 16% of the country’s wealth while 50% of NZers own less than 5%, and where the income of the top 1% has risen nearly 10 times faster than that of the bottom 10%. - See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/05/16/hone-harawiras-budget-speech-last-night/#sthash.Ystne9bn.dpuf

MORE INCOME INEQUALITY between the rich and the poor, with National’s policies creating an environment where the richest 1% of NZers own 16% of the country’s wealth while 50% of NZers own less than 5%, and where the income of the top 1% has risen nearly 10 times faster than that of the bottom 10%. - See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/05/16/hone-harawiras-budget-speech-last-night/#sthash.Ystne9bn.dpuf

0 Hide on an unlikely "bromance"

Rodney Hide is scathing towards the bromance between new besties Hone Harawira and Kim Dotcom. Under the headline Bromance of convenience Hide opines:

The intricate Hone Harawira and Kim Dotcom dance is proving every bit as exciting as the royal tour. What makes the Hone-Dotcom tie-up exciting is its incongruity. It's the sheer implausibility of the marriage that commands attention.
The Mana Party represents Northland's poor and dispossessed. And here's Dotcom arriving at their conference with a cavalcade of late model European SUVs.
Dotcom drove up more like an African potentate than a suitor for the hearts and minds of Te Tai Tokerau.
Harawira believes "white motherf****** have been raping our lands and ripping us off for centuries". Dotcom is as white as white. The party that shouts the loudest about indigenous rights and Maori sovereignty is hooking up with a party led by a German self-styled "visionary". Dotcom is not even a New Zealand European but a European European.
Harawira says he would be uncomfortable if one of his seven children dated a Pakeha. But here he is hopping into bed with one.

Historical injustice hangs heavy over Harawira. He knows through political activism the power of potent symbols. Yet he dismisses Dotcom's signed copy of Mein Kampf as equivalent to owning a book signed by President George Bush. Even by Hone logic that's a stretch.

"Hone logic"; now there's an interesting concept. It actually explains much of what Harawira is about; if he can justify something to himself, regardless of how bizarre or perverse it may seem to others, then it's all ka pai. That's the only realistic explanation for the enormous disconnect between the Mana Party and Dotcom.

Hide then traces Dotcom's never-ending journey across the political landscape:

Dotcom has traversed the political spectrum. He started with John Banks. He famously donated to Banks' mayoral campaign. And when Banks became a minister Dotcom attempted to lavish gifts upon him. Former Dotcom staffer Alex Mardikian has spoken of Banks resolutely rebuffing them.
Mardikian says he now believes Dotcom was attempting to stitch Banks up. "No one rides for free with Kim."
Banks refused the gifts. When Dotcom was banged up in jail, Banks simply had his electorate staff check on him. That's what would be done for any constituent who rang. The donations and proffered gifts bought no special favours, which is exactly as it should be.
Because he received no special treatment, I believe Dotcom set out to destroy Banks.
Since being disappointed by Banks, Dotcom has played pied piper, persuading a who's who of political luminaries to make pilgrimages to his Coatesville mansion, often multiple times.
He has travelled across the political spectrum to settle upon the most unlikely of them all.

We have no doubt at all that there is a strong desire for payback from Dotcom in the John Banks donation case. The manner in which the allegations against Banks found their way into the media two years ago suggest a deliberate campaign to punish Banks for refusing to accept Dotcom's largesse once he had been returned to Parliament, and for refusing to intervene when Dotcom was remanded in custody.

Since the of course, there has been an unceasing procession of politicians through the gates of Dotcom's rental property at Coatesville. Winston Peters, Russel Norman, Clare Curran; they've all stopped by for a cup of tea with far more sinister overtones than the infamous Dilmah English Breakfast shared by Banks and John Key just before the 2011 General Election. And Hide is dead right; who would have ever suspected that Harawira would fall into the Large German Gentleman's arms?

Hide closes, declaring this an impending marriage of convenience:

Hone and Dotcom are dating and look set to tie the knot. It is a marriage of convenience. Harawira is desperate for political oomph and momentum.
Dotcom is desperate to have a Minister of Justice block his extradition to the United States.
There's no political principle at work. There's only naked self-interest. And Mana must take care. The Banks' experience shows "no one rides for free with Kim".
Unlike the royal tour, this bit of excitement is only just beginning.

We can't help but wonder what the bottom lines being discussed are. And if Hone Harawira has any sense at all he'll sign a pre-nuptial agreement, because this marriage of convenience is guaranteed to end in tears.