Is Len Brown spamming Council staff asking for money?
August 31st, 2010 at 12:55 pm by David FarrarWhale blogs:
I got sent more than a few copies of a Len Brown email that has been sent to staff at Manukau City Council. The truly creepy thing about this email from the Brown campaign is that it was sent to internal email addresses, and it was sent with embedded links that if you check the code are hard-coded to the individual receiving it so that the mere act of clicking on a link can identify you to the Brown campaign team. …
Not only is he soliciting donations from staff of Manukau City but he is also encouraging them to join the campaign and it is all being tracked in some sort of big brother creepy way.
The people that have received this and forwarded to me all say that they have never joined any mailing list for Len Brown. The code of the email shows clearly that this email was sent internally, ostensibly from the Mayor’s office. …
Bottom line is that Len Brown has used council provided resources to campaign amongst council staff and thereby politicized the neutral hard working staff of Manukau City.
Sending a fundraising e-mail to Council staff is incredibly unethical, if the report is correct.
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- Brown endorses Williams?
- Herald says Brown broke every rule in the book
August 31st, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Has Len Brown ever claimed to believe in ethics?
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 1:18 pm
I think Len spells it as efix!
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 1:23 pm
I look forward to one of the MSM’s reputable investigative journalists ringing Len to ask him if he thinks this is appropriate. Of course Len will say that he can’t answer the question fully because whilst he is always honest, it is only within limits.
Of course I jest, we have no reputable investigative journo’s.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 1:33 pm
“Has Len Brown ever claimed to believe in ethics?”
With “limits” apparently.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 1:49 pm
But isn’t this how the left operates?
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 1:52 pm
I hope the all Auckland City Council staff who have received Banks campaign emails are held to account for using Council resources inappropriately. Shameful to receive emails on the work computer like that. Shameful.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Please show us the email.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 2:43 pm
What is the ‘shock horror’ to this story ……… ?
Shock horror that he did it or
Shock horror that he has been caught out
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 2:44 pm
“unethical”, word not found. What does it mean?
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 2:45 pm
CraigM: Of course Len will say that he can’t answer the question fully
Len can’t comment as he has asked the Auditor General to look into the matter. Who will refuse to take it up, so Len can claim he has been vindicated.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 2:49 pm
So is going out for dinner on the council credit card, and refusing to say who you dined with in contravention of council policy.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Yes berend, and don’t forget the customary addendum that he has been nailed harder than Jesus.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Dunno why anyone is surprised.
Given the slimy nature of his campaign manager and the socialists typical world view that anything is fair game because of their natural sense of entitlement, this story is merely par for the course.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 3:17 pm
It goes further than that. If Brown is using Council resources for campaigning purposes and is using personal information relating to Council employees including personal council email addresses then Brown has crossed a thin but discernible line. He should be disqualified as a candidate for engaging in a corrupt practice.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Don’t worry Whale the pledge card is in the mail.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 3:50 pm
This is appalling. Len Brown should withdraw from the race. What next? He gets elected mayor of the super city and emails around its even bigger bureaucracy looking for cash. The man has no judgement at all. Either that, or he’s a crook.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 3:51 pm
I am reasonably confident that this breaches the Auditor General’s guidelines for behaviour of incumbent politicians during an election campaign period.
Essentially the incumbents cannot use the resources of council in any way to further their campaign. Wellington Mayoral Candidate got into trouble just for sending email messages to staff. The Dom Post reported:
Auditor-general guidelines for managing public communications before elections say local authorities must not promote, nor be perceived to promote, the re-election prospects of a sitting member.
Members should not be permitted to use council communications facilities such as email for political or re-election purposes, as this was “unacceptable and possibly unlawful”.
Council protocols say no council resources, including email, should be used for campaigning purposes. “Staff must not send or forward emails, either internally or externally, which seek support for a particular candidate.”
Assistant Auditor-General Bruce Robertson said the guidelines helped ensure sitting members did not gain an unfair advantage over other candidates, but carried no legal weight.
“The key issue here is it’s about political credibility. It’s potential political embarrassment, which is not a good thing in the middle of a political fight for success at the polls.”
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 4:45 pm
By the looks of it Owen I suspect you’re right. Knowing this country it’ll boost his polling by 5 points!
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 4:54 pm
correct me if I am wrong BUT I’m sure Brown told the good viewers on Campbell Live last night that it’s about trust …. mmm
Vote:AND, if I hear say community once more I will scream
August 31st, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Owen McShane, I think you will find the A-G guidelines do not apply, as the MCC ceases to exist on 31 October so its resources cannot be used to ‘promote the re-election prospects of a sitting member’. Similarly, they do not apply to Banks material emailed around the ACC. After the election, however, they will apply to the Auckland Council in respect of Brown.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Curious!
Surely council workers are free to ignore entreaties for donation cash if they so choose?
Whale Bile has all these ideas about how it should be done, perhaps he could back himself and run for mayor?
[/ attention for whale bile]
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 5:40 pm
RRM, I stopped paying any mind to Blubber Boy the day he revealed he prefers to beach himself on the couch on the sickness benefit rather than earn an honest living, like the rest of us.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 5:48 pm
RRM (Raving Roaring Maniac)
It’s about law breaking, you Lefties think breaking the Law is ok as long as achieves the objective. $800.000.00 springs to mind.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Like I chose depression, oh oh oh pick me, i’ll have that, sounds like a blast.
Cunt!
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Blubber Boy, I’m thoroughly tired of that lame excuse. You are clearly capable of earning a living. So why not try it?
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Brown is doing the same things as Brown has always done. Socialists with the Family name Brown are indeed scum.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 6:45 pm
who cares about len brown and john campbell or whatever ?
Lets do something about welfare beneficiaries who seem to spend all their time typing their irrelevent self promoting rubbish without contributing anything useful to new zealand society, but who are happy to hypocritically attack those who contribute to society, usually by telling lies
you hear me philu ????
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Tom Gould, attacking the messenger is a poor attempt to divert from the topic. If Len Brown is misusing council (ratepayer) resources – again – it is a serious election issue.
Do you think Brown hasn’t done anything wrong here? Or do you think what he’s done is no big deal?
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 7:04 pm
Tom Gould obviously hasn’t a clue about depression and what it does to you.Picking on the sick give you a stiffy does it Tom?
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 7:08 pm
Tom Gould is trying hard to deflect attention from this bit of the assitant A-G’s statement as quoted by Owen McShane
Len Brown’s political credibilty is stuffed, especially if someone from the left-leaning MSM ignores the heat that David Lewis is putting on for it to be hushed up.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 7:29 pm
But if Brown becomes Mayor of the Supercity and jobs will be scarce and if they stood out against Brown over these requests for money??? What then. I find these actions of Brown, if correct, to be very serious indeed. People should not feel their jobs are on the line if they do not support Brown.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 8:53 pm
No matter who gets voted as super city mayor, rates are going up.
Think I’ll stay in Hamilton.
As for this email thing, can’t someone just make a formal complaint to provoke an investigation.
Doesn’t sound a complicated case.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 9:34 pm
I don’t suppose anyone actually asked Len Brown if he approved this message.
Always more newsworthy to accuse first and ask questions later, I guess.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 9:39 pm
Luc do you have evidence he didn’t?
This is a serious accusation, toward some anonymous staffer in the Manukau City anatomy.
Whoever could it be?
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Not at all reid.
I just think that DPF, since he now appears to refer to himself a journalist, would do the obvious journalist thing and give Brown a call.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 10:00 pm
Luc Hansen “I don’t suppose anyone actually asked Len Brown if he approved this message….
I just think that DPF, since he now appears to refer to himself a journalist, would do the obvious journalist thing and give Brown a call.”
DPF has linked to WO’s story which has a full copy of the email which includes the line “Authorised by Len Brown, 8 Tiffany Close, Manukau” No need to call anyone just do a bit of reading.
If you want to see it for yourself go to the link that DPF provides at the start of this page, go to WO directly, or see this link… http://www.scribd.com/doc/36646637/Len-Brown-email-to-Manukau-City-Council-staff
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 10:06 pm
That’s right lefties, play the man bringing you the story and not the issue at heart. If that fails point at vague “rules of engagement” that you invent on the hoof. God, you are pathetic.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 10:22 pm
Socialists always follow the Party line, because they have a ‘Common Purpose’ and are just boring little drones.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 10:24 pm
There is no need to ask Brown….the email is there in black and white, or in this case full colour. I couldn’t paste the actual email because of the links and the code also would identify my sources.
Suffice to say they originated from the MCC Exchange Servers, and utilise the exchange settings of the recipients in order to track the links.
The story stands up, I don’t need to ring Brown and get David Lewis spinning shit in my ear.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 10:38 pm
So Len I’ve read is a trained and qualified lawyer and also given his current profession isn’t he ergo, more acutely than most especially sensitive toward esoteric things like campaigning rules the details of which escape we who aren’t intimately involved?
And yet it happened.
In full colour.
A prima-facie faux-pas that shows seriously flawed thinking.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 10:49 pm
“and get David Lewis spinning shit in my ear.”
You can’t polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter and call it Len Brown.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 10:52 pm
Actually the Mythbusters did prove you could polish a turd
Vote:
August 31st, 2010 at 10:54 pm
Bugger me.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 10:57 pm
Connor Roberts and that Lewis bloke are quite small in real life. And a bit creepy. And likely to repel females, even of their species.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 11:04 pm
Have you seen how tall Len Brown is, I’ve seen parking meters taller than him.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 11:07 pm
Yes, he is short, and I have heard that Brown wears water-wings when he is around Andrew Williams. But who wouldn’t when the forecast is for torrential down-pours at 12.33am?
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 11:10 pm
Lack of ethics has never worried the Left. Lack of punishment is all they care about.
Clark’s theft went unpunished until after the election, so the theft paid off. Brown will be banking on the same.
Will a Labour cheat prosper once again?
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 11:15 pm
“Lack of ethics has never worried the Left.”
It’s a shame their supporters don’t seem to recognise that phenomena, isn’t it.
Lest they implode in a puff of logic, one may suppose.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 11:15 pm
“Will a Labour cheat prosper once again?”
With voter apathy in local body elections on their side and a bit of free KFC in South Auckland, I would have to say yes.
Vote:August 31st, 2010 at 11:25 pm
Look very carefully at Manukau City Council’s Mayoral fund over the next few months, inteneded for good community hardship purposes. It has quite a lot of money in it, but the rules seem pretty loose, Mayoral discretion et el. Just a heads up folks. Clark and Labour brazenly stole $800k and fixed it up afterwards. That is the precedent for the left to follow.
Vote:September 1st, 2010 at 6:02 am
Rich Prick said
Surely you’re not suggesting that David Lewis, former Chief Press Secretary for Clarkistan would be the common denominator here are you RP?
Personally speaking, I reckon that Brown’s PR thus far has been a disaster, and this won’t ease any of the pain.
Vote:September 1st, 2010 at 10:14 am
James, my issue with Blubber Boy is simply that if he is capable of running a sucessful blog, appearing in the media, defending himself in court, running for office, and managing his campaign, he is clearly capable of earning an honest living like the rest of us. If I have any sympathy for him, it is that he is a victim of the same syndrome that affects all long term dole bludgers who get too comfortable with spending other people’s money.
Vote:September 1st, 2010 at 10:36 am
Tom Gould 10.14 …. errrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, like Labour did in “spending other people’s money” on their Pledge Card?
Vote:September 1st, 2010 at 11:21 am
And where did you get your medical degrees from Tom? The back of Weetbix box?
Nice to see a pinko acknowledge the blog is successful though, I suspect you will be getting the memo shortly that you have breached the suppression of Whaleoil order from the left wing litteratti that control the media….yes Damien I’m talking about you, Tim Watkin and Russell.
Vote:September 1st, 2010 at 9:21 pm
hagues
I don’t consider Whaleoil a source to be trusted. I just don’t bother going there. It’s a madhouse, far, far, worse than here!
Vote:September 1st, 2010 at 11:34 pm
IV2: “Surely you’re not suggesting that David Lewis, former Chief Press Secretary for Clarkistan would be the common denominator here are you RP?”
I was trying to be really subtle so as not to rattle the lefties, but of course I would never suggest such a thing in this case
When I spot a thief, I usually yell thief. ………. THIEF! THIEF! THIEF! Like that.
Vote:September 1st, 2010 at 11:43 pm
The words are however forming, but lets see how Lewis and his mates treat the good public money of poor South Auckland.
Vote:September 3rd, 2010 at 6:30 am
The brilliance of the super city being imposed on Auckland is you get to choose between Brown or Banks. Rodney Hide does have a sense of humour
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