Jones back Taurima

The Herald reports:

Labour MP Shane Jones has gone into bat for Shane Taurima, saying his chances with Labour should not be written off because of one mistake.

Mr Taurima resigned from his job at TVNZ on Monday after leaked emails to 3 News showed a Labour Party meeting was held in the TVNZ offices last August and Mr Taurima had spoken about winning the Maori vote at another Labour meeting in Auckland in January.

It emerged Mr Taurima was also considering standing for Labour in Tamaki Makaurau despite earlier assurances he had abandoned his political ambitions after an unsuccessful bid for the Ikaroa-Rawhiti selection. Labour leader David Cunliffe described Mr Taurima’s actions as a “lapse in judgment” and refused to be drawn on whether he had any chance of being a candidate, saying that was up to the selectors.

It was not a lapse, but multiple lapses. Being an activist in a political party while in a senior editorial role at TVNZ was the first lapse.

The second lapse was hosting a party meeting at TVNZ.

The third lapse was running a session for Labour on how to increase their vote, while in his TVNZ role.

The fourth lapse was having his staff use work e-mail addresses to organise Labour Party events.

The fifth lapse was having told TVNZ he had no further political ambitions so they would hire him again, and then planning to stand for Labour again.

Some in Labour said the party could consider extending the deadline for nominations beyond next Friday to give Mr Taurima more time to decide whether to put his name forward. A review by TVNZ is expected to take two to three weeks, and extending it could also ensure the outcomes of that were known before the selection.

It’s an excellent idea that Labour should bend the rules for him. what better way could they signal that they approve of his actions.