Labour breached EFA – again
May 4th, 2009 at 12:15 pm by David FarrarJust saw a story on NewstalkZB about Labour breaching the EFA with undisclosed donations:
Mike Smith, Labour’s party secretary, admits failing to disclose $25,000 from Meatworkers Union; says omission was an oversight Labour acknowledges it made a mistake in the filing of its donations ahead of last year’s elections.
Labour’s Secretary Mike Smith says he is personally responsible for failing to disclose donations totaling $25,500 from three branches of the New Zealand Meatworkers Union. He says the omission was an oversight and is in breach of the Electoral Act which requires that donations from the same donor of more than $20,000 be declared. The donations should have been declared last year.
The incident follows other instances of Labour being found to have breached the laws under the now-scrapped Electoral Finance Act.
The parties that have breached the law the most often are Labour, Progressives, Greens and NZ First – the very ones that voted for it.
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May 4th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Well, the law is gone now, (isn’t it?) but I guess it was only ever going to be applied to the Exclusive Brethren who invested their own money and not slimy little commie cronyists who take money raised by means of the exploitation of NZ’s meat workers?
Vote:May 4th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Do as we say not as we do…
The Labour-led govt never thought they would need to follow or be held accountable for the laws they passed.
Plonkers. self serving muppets. opposition.
Vote:May 4th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Why would the Meatworkers Union give money to a party which was through the ETS going to cause livestock numbers in NZ to decrease which would have meant less meat processing which would have meant less work for their members and less jobs in the meat processing industry and put many of their members at risk of unemployment?
Vote:May 4th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
They have no shame.
Vote:May 4th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Richard Hurst
They are Labour supporters – they never though the tax would apply to them.
Vote:May 4th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
So why is this not being prosecuted ? Not in the public interest ?
Vote:May 4th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
“So why is this not being prosecuted ?”
The law no longer exists.
Vote:May 4th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Redbaiter
It existed at the time it was broken.
Vote:May 4th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
“It existed at the time it was broken.”
True, but nobody knew Labour had broken it. (thanks to “forgetful” Mike Smith)
Just more crookedness from the same old bunch of power obsessed manipulators.
Vote:May 4th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
OECD rank 22 kiwi
To have shame requires accurate reflection of ones own deeds. The socialists see themselves according to their own press releases – reality never entered the frame.
Vote:May 4th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
To have shame requires one to have good morals and good ethics
the Socialists and Communists and their supporters possess neither
Vote:May 4th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
When will we see the revisionist EFA apologists showing up in this thread? You know, the ones that proclaimed it as the latest and greatest mechanism for ensuring free and fair elections and that the nasty National Party and their rich buddies would now be forced to compete on an even keel?
Those idiots that proclaimed Labour and the Greens are noble and beyond all reproach when it comes to electioneering?
And that Union work is not a donation.
Do you think we’ll ever see an apology from them? I might hurt myself laughing if that ever happens.
Vote:May 4th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Gee now there is a surprise. I get the impression that their disconnect from the electorate was total and they just assumed they would win and we would not find out about this.
Vote:May 4th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Go easy on them guys, denial is one of the most powerful aspects of grief.
I warrant that Annette “full-moon” King has just put her best lines in storage for the minute. Time will come again when she can shriek ” … and there is National, with an overflowing warchest of #2million dollars just itching to buy another election.”
Trevor has put “US bagman” away in his home safe for re-use in 2011 and Helen has just stuck her fingers in her ears and is rewriting her personal history on a daily basis.
Only MC has shown the true hollowness of their statements with his sort-of apology (with unspecified qualifications) to John key for the “rich prick” comment.
Vote:May 4th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Why has Labour got off pretty much scot free for “cash in the hat” fundraising evenings that netted $200,000 in “anonymous” donations? Did they actually not pass a law against this?
But in any case, don’t they deserve a hammering from the media (besides Ian Wishart’s publications) for the sheer hypocrisy of this?
Vote:May 4th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
PhilBest
They are Labour – It’s OK when they do it.
Vote:May 4th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
A government would be powerless if the average citizen started ignoring laws. Parliament is often called the highest court in the land and MPs are referred as ‘law makers’.
So there’s no excuses Labour. Labour’s excuses after the 2005 election rort were particularly bad.
Helen Clark is often credited with bringing decline to the Labour party. But on the flip side… because there seemed to be no descenting voices within the Labour party ranks while ethically questionable things were going on (i.e. 2005 election rort, EFA, Winston Peter affair… speedgate… H1… The Standard!) – it really calls into question the judgement of every sitting Labour MP from Helen’s rein.
Now that might be harsh .. but it’s the reality.
Helen Clark voted to repel her own EFA!! If that’s not a smudge on her legacy.. then what is!
Vote:May 4th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
To all the Labour MP’s that served under Helen Clark, and to all the supporters of the Helen Clark regime, and to the coalition partys of this regime, I hold you in utter contempt, and nothing will ever persuade me otherwise. And to National, supporting Clark into the UN, and giving Cullen a prime job, you are currently sitting a close second on my shit list.
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