Espiner on Glenn

Colin Espiner weighs in on the Owen Glenn scandal:

But eyebrows definitely were raised last week when Glenn, back in the country from his home in Monaco, let slip that he’d lent Labour $100K a couple of years ago to start a fundraising venture, interest-free. He was also reported as claiming that he’d been offered a Cabinet post by Clark, if he ever felt like entering politics on the Labour list.

 National’s Bill English has leapt upon this, demanding Labour come clean over the “murky saga” of Glenn’s financial assistance to Labour. This is the pot calling the kettle black, of course, given that National gets millions of dollars each campaign funnelled through secret trusts, and has never fronted up with the names of the donors who support them.

A fair point.  One reason why I have supported for around 18 months a law change to prevent anonymous (incl via trust) donations. Helen of course had no restrictions in her initial EFB, and the final version only partially restricts anon and trust donations – one could still give $250,000 a year anonymously if done the right way.

Clark’s response to all this has been interesting. She told The Herald last week the alleged conversation about a Cabinet post “didn’t happen”. Today, she told Breakfast telly that “any conversation would have been social, it would have been lighthearted, certainly not associated with money”.

Labour’s president Mike Williams has also had to correct himself, telling reporters in early January that Labour had not received any financial assistance from Glenn since the 05 election, and now admitting he had a conversation with the businessman in November 2006 at which the $100,000 loan was offered and accepted.  

OK, it’s not quite “Cash for Peerages” a la Britain’s Tony Blair, but Labour needs this like a hole in the head. It once again places the party on the back foot over campaign financing – an issue it once held the high moral ground on.

There is also a bad smell about this. The suggestion remains, however unjustified it might be, that Glenn was rewarded by Labour for helping it out – not once, but twice – in its hour of need.

Not a bad summary. The only thing Colin forgot was the special change to the EFB to allow Glenn to keep donating but ban other foreigners.