Count the press secretaries
I remember an article in 1998 or 1999 criticising Jenny Shipley’s office for having too many comms/media people when we had six and a half or something. I was the half.
The latest ministerial phone list has a total of ten people in the comms/media area for Helen Clark. That’s more than the entire National Opposition.
If we add on the other Cabinet offices, there is a further 25 for 19 Cabinet Ministers. Half the front bench it seems now have two, not one, press secretaries.
Also add on the six outside Cabinet and that’s a grand total of 41 press secretaries or communications staffers.
No wonder unemployment is so low in Wellington 
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Tags: Labour
November 21st, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Count the Auntie Helen spin doctors and whistle the tune; puppets on a string !!
This is insanity at its best .
November 21st, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Why the smiley face at the end, David? There is sad irony in having so many communications people to effect policies like regulating free speech. Similing is the very last thing I feel like doing when hearing news like this the day before a march to protect an attack on democracy.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Go ahead tell us how many press secretaries/ web masters and so on National has …. I bet it was LOT more than when labour was the opposition.
Reading your lines it seems that 10 is more than the entire opposition.
So we take that 8 or 9 ( not including web masters who do Keys blog etc)
bet there is only 0.5 press secretaries responsible for putting out nationals policy, or maybe one day a month.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:54 pm
ghostwhowalks ; when are all the Auntie Helen ghost stories coming out of the dark dungeon closest ?
November 21st, 2007 at 12:55 pm
And national would not have a single person less if they were in government.
Looks like Government has only 4 times that of the opposition
November 21st, 2007 at 12:58 pm
I bet the phones ring constantly for labours press secretaries.
As for nationals… they would have time to blog !!
November 21st, 2007 at 1:00 pm
someone type out all their names so they are accountable
November 21st, 2007 at 1:00 pm
“I bet the phones ring constantly for labours press secretaries.”
Yes, I do not doubt that, as person after person has a genuine grievance against this corrupt regime of twisted feminazi maggots !!
November 21st, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Its a bloody disgrace and always has been to those in the private sector who have worked in very large organisations without these highly paid hangerson
I worked in one very big public company where our policy was that each director took turn about to take calls from the media etc and deal with them on a direct basis.
If the director didnt have the answer ar their fingertips they would make a time to call back with the details.
It worked very well and we got a good response from the media who knew they werent going to be fobbed off by the PR or paid lairs as they are really are.
None of these politicans deserve or need the numbers of hangerson.
If they spoke to and more importantingly listened to the citizens then they wouldnt keeping on making chumps of themselves
November 21st, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Government departments have followed the PM’s trend. The Ministry of Social Development has a PR/Comms staff of 26!
November 21st, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Was does a PM need a dozen or so bullshit artists , are they that cowardly ?
November 21st, 2007 at 1:07 pm
How many are male? How many are female ? How many are both? How many are `partners` of known Labour MP`s or other incestuous connections?
November 21st, 2007 at 1:10 pm
As for John Keys personal communications people at the Christchurch Show last Thursday . FFS has anybody got a clue in this country? No wonder no -one bothered with it .
Really John boy – get a real job and put a leader in that can smash the leadership of Clark day after day . Why are you all scared of the mad bitch ?
November 21st, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Did DPF not join the march? The post time is 12:44…
[DPF: I preset it to appear while I was on the march. When I have quite a few posts I time them to appear during the day. I write most of them from 5 am to 8 am.]
November 21st, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Seen this vid DPF? Waddaya reckon?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAetoouVYhA&feature=related
[DPF: I reckon 10 points for off topic trolling. And it is weeks old that.]
November 21st, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Roger, Phillip John:
Stop trying to hijack threads. Take your stalking elsewhere.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Two questions ;
These spin doctors to Klark , what % are women ? Are any heterosexual ?
November 21st, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Prick, I wasn’t asking you – mind your own business.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Gnome:
Can you tell me why the government is sucking up to communist countries?
Why is Winston in North Korea?
Why is the government talking of giving Nth Korea ‘financial assistance?
Why did my father bother to spend half a decade fighting for our democracy?
Why are you and your traitor mates so desperate to errode said democracy?
Why do you think you are so ‘gung-ho’ when you consistantly and deliberately offend the very people that financially support you so you can sit on your arse in Dunedin and offend them?
Why do you think it is such a joke to denigrate our democracy that so many people sacrificed their lives to acheive?
Is a frontal lobotomy mandatory for socialists?
November 21st, 2007 at 1:45 pm
How many of these parliamentary staff spend time hijacking blogs? Perhaps some of the Roger Nomes and Tanes?
November 21st, 2007 at 1:51 pm
No, Roger is too busy introspecting and Tutae will be doing what all good union organisers do – getting fatter and lazier.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Maybe the PM’s office has to deal with a lot of angry people and loonies? Company directors just deal with business, but some people tend to hold the government/PM liable for just about everything!
November 21st, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Stephen -
Angry people and loonies who write letters have them farmed out to a) Government departments to write replies or b) get a standard response that any idiot can print out. Those who ring are generally culled by the telephonists or private secretaries, not comms staffers.
Nope, the PM’s department is in full-on control freak mode.
November 21st, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Ah, thanks. I still dont think they exert a lot of ‘control’ exactly, but yeah i’d be interested to know why they need so many if they arent (presumably) putting out new policies every hour that needed communicating.
I spose David would know, seeing as he was one…?
November 21st, 2007 at 2:27 pm
“I was the half.”
I met you at the March today DPF, and no-one could ever accuse you of being half a person.
Good speech by the way. Was that big guy heckling with the megaphone really Tane?
November 21st, 2007 at 2:55 pm
stephen says
The reason these arseholes have so many hangerson is that they are incapable of crapping usless they have 4 policy advisers to analysis the possible outcomes and 3 press secretaries to write different versions of the press release depending on the outcome of their crapping and 2 proof readers to check the press releases before release .
And then you know what?
They get constipation
November 21st, 2007 at 4:24 pm
full employment is a wonderfull thing, worked well in the USSR and is going ok in North Korea apparently. Anybody remember the fuss that the dykocracy made when in opposition about “jobs for the boys” and consultants on the public tit.
Theses thieves make the grace and favour antics of the last national govt look minuscule now.
In the unlikely event of national actually getting in next year I sincerely hope Key appoints somebody as head of a new razor gang to slash and burn those suckholes in wellington.
Bob Jones will be shitting himself if the nats win. imagine what will happen to welllington cbd rents if we suddenly no longer need thousands of labour stooges running all these bogus govt departments.
razor gang…..hmmmmmmm Bill Birch, wayne Brown, Ruth Richardson…. or darth vader himself Prebble with a bit of help from Roger Douglas…
November 21st, 2007 at 4:51 pm
I can’t imagine the hell hole these press sacretaries must work in . To put up with and put out the crap that comes from the Liarbore loonies must be very depressing. These people are nothing more then a paid support system for the socialists lunatics. They must be very well paid to sit there day after day and nod their heads mindlessly as more shit is spouted from the mouths of the imbeciles.
November 21st, 2007 at 4:58 pm
SSB, don’t worry, the boss shouts them a Chardonnay every Friday
November 21st, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Shit David I would want more then a bloody Chardonnay, I was thinking more like a pallet.
November 21st, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Every Friday SSB?
November 21st, 2007 at 5:16 pm
DPF this post is not fair to the Labour Government !!!!
They have got to have more than one press secretary each because you have to have one supplying the current spin and then another one to run every bit of spin past the Grand Ayatollah of Spin Heather Simpson. She is not called H2 for nothing and look out if any of the press secretaries issue a statement without her express OK !!!
November 21st, 2007 at 5:41 pm
You would have to question the wisdom of organising a march to protest against the dykocracy in WELLINGTON.
most of the population either work for the govt or work retail in that village we laughingly call our capital.
Clearly no civil servant is going to take part and the spotty yoof are too busy stealing stock from their minimum wage retail jobs.
November 21st, 2007 at 6:58 pm
Yeah, of course David it should last all week how else could you put up with these delusional people. The only way I could relate to them is if I was off my trolley EVERYDAY.
November 21st, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Barnsley Bill: you are quite correct. Some of us will use other means to protest against the legislation.
David – can you please provide the names of Helen’s Clark’s media staff. It would be handy to know – for future reference, at least.
November 21st, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Sorry David ,Mein Fuhrer clark needs many arse licking goverment toddies to massage her pathetic ego, and her consert davis , shit our country is being ruled by degenerate leftist group , in the disguise of a public service
November 21st, 2007 at 10:20 pm
David – are you implying that under a National-led administration that there will (or should) be less press secretaries than in the current Labour-led government? I haven’t seen any specific policy releases indicating that…
Or are you just attacking people who do a necessary job, when it is in fact the Parliamentary Service who decides whether these people are employed or not, not the Government, based on workload levels.
November 21st, 2007 at 10:24 pm
PP if it was based on work levels then I suggest Miss Clark should not have one at all !!
How many are gals PP? Hi Peter.
November 22nd, 2007 at 12:11 am
This reliance on the crutches of media intermediaries to micromanage every aspect of perception of the Dear Leader speaks only of her weakness.