Candidate refuses to file expenses claim
March 12th, 2009 at 1:00 pm by David FarrarA candidate who stood for the Human Rights Party in last year’s general election is refusing to submit his campaign expenses and says he is waiting to be arrested.
Anthony Ravlich stood in Auckland Central and gained 67 votes, 0.2 percent of those cast in the electorate.
Today he released an email he had sent to the Chief Electoral Office, telling it he was not going to complete the election expenses form “as a matter of principle” because his party’s policies did not receive any publicity in mainstream media.
Compliance with the law is not optional, based on whether or not you like the media coverage you got.
At least he has it all now. He won’t go to jail – he will be fined though.
Tags: Anthony Ravlich, Electoral Finance Act
March 12th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
He should just file any old rubbish statements – it was sufficient for New Zealand First and Winston. No charges will result from such behaviour.
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Maybe no one cared about his party, its policies or him.
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
This is barely worth commenting on, but if this lemon’s problem is with the media, perhaps he should’ve done something that would affect them, rather than his wallet.
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
As one who has faced jail for his beliefs I believe that Mr Ravlich is quite right in his approach- if he thinks that the law is wrong, he should front up, go to trial, and take his punishment. I think that his cause is silly, but his approach is a good use of the traditional non-violent response to unjust laws.
If only all who seek to subvert society were as happy to go to jail.
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Waste of time pursuing it. Resources would be better spent on supporting the production of a book called ‘Scene Investigation for Dummies’.
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Great to see that a man of principle still exists in New Zealand, however I do believe DOC has just put them on the endangered species list. Jail – do not pass go Mr.
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
” if he thinks that the law is wrong, he should front up, go to trial, and take his punishment.”
True. But the weird thing here is, he doesn’t appear to have any principled objection to the election return process itself. So he’s risking a fine of up to $40,000 in order to protest not being noticed by the media. That is pretty odd.
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Overseas I have seen media outlets acknowledge their duty to fully inform voters by offering space on their website (which is, after all, an unlimited resource) to every registered candidate in their area. Usually there’s limitations – x number of words, one photo etc – to ensure some degree of uniformity and to limit rambling.
They then – quite rightly – reserve the right to publish or broadcast whatever they consider to be newsworthy. But they regularly promote the existence of the website and advise that full coverage of all candidates and parties can be found there.
In NZ, many media people consider themselves players rather than reporters, pontificating on the relative merits of parties, policies and candidates and picking winners whilst ignoring the rest.
That’s an abrogation of their role in a democracy. So I can understand this fellow’s frustration…
But wrong target, matey… if you have $40,000 to waste, start your own website and promote it in the lead-up to the next election by buying space in the media. I’d advise a series of ads along the lines of “What the NZ Herald / Newstalk ZB / TVNZ / TV3 (etc) won’t tell you…” That’ll attract more attention than a tilt at the Electoral Commission’s windmill.
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Rex
“if you have $40,000 to waste…” and if you don’t then follow the example shown by other parties.
Either;
a) Steal it from the tax payers
b) Borrow it interest free from somebody who has policies they want you to implement
c) Get it donated to your party by somebody who has policies they want you to implement
BUT – Remember the golden rule. DO NOT DECLARE IT BECAUSE THERE WILL BE NO LEGAL CONSEQUENCES FOR FALSE RETURNS.
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
His position is perfectly rational, from a certain (warped) point of view:
Premise 1: the Mainstream Media is a corrupt sock puppet controlled by “The Gummint”
Premise 2: The Mainstream media did not publicise your policies for you.
Premise 3: The Gummint asks you to declare election expenses because it just wants you to jump through its hoops.
therefore:
Conclusion 1: (= P1+P2) “The Gummint” suppressed your election campaign.
Therefore:
Conclusion 2: (= C1+P3) The gummint has shafted me, so why should I jump through The Gummint’s hoops?
Perfect. The reasoning is beautiful really. Can hardly blame the guy for his stance
Vote:March 14th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
As could be expected NZPA got it wrong. Although I was very annoyed the Human Rights Party did not get any publicity this, which I was prepared to forgo, was not the principle upon which I actually decided to do something about it. The principle (mentioned on a number of occasions in my book, ‘Freedom from our social prisons: the rise of economic, social and cultural rights’, Lexington Books) was that the poor and marginalized need a voice of their own in the mainstream media so they could influence the democratic process. For a further explanation of this read the email on Auckland Indymedia or Scoop on the net – the title is ‘Awaiting Arrest: Offence under the New Zealand Electoral Act’. And see if the original version affects your opinions or not. But thanks very very much for your comments – both positive and negative – at least it might introduce some rational debate in a society dominated by tribal groups with human rights, given the big gap between rich and poor, becoming group rights.
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