Rankin gone by Friday?

Minister questioned over Rankin appointment
The Government was challenged in Parliament today to say whether it would remove Christine Rankin from the Families Commission if it turned out she had been lying about rumours swirling around her private life. Labour leader Phil Goff and two of his MPs, Annette King and Ruth Dyson, raised questions about Ms Rankin's appointment to the commission. The appointment was announced a fortnight ago by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett. It was followed by reports in Sunday newspapers that Ms Rankin was involved in the break-up of the marriage between Wellington real estate agent Margo McAuley and Kim MacIntyre. Ms McAuley was found dead in October last year. Ms Rankin and Mr MacIntyre were married in January. Ms Rankin has publicly denied that she was having an affair with Mr MacIntyre at the time of Ms McAuley's death. Ms Bennett has said she heard about the rumours before the appointment, checked them out with Ms Rankin and was told they were baseless. Mr Goff asked Prime Minister John Key what he would do if assurances Ms Rankin had given proved to be untrue. Mr Key replied: "I can only accept people at their word and I accept the assurances that Christine Rankin gave to the New Zealand public at her word." Later, during a debate on the Families Commission, Ms Dyson put a question directly to Ms Bennett. "I want to give her an opportunity to answer this - will she remove Christine Rankin if it turns out that she has been lying over the last few weeks about allegations that had been made of her?"

Oh God, Labour have her don’t they? The second Christine said she was not having an affair on Sunday TVNZ last weekend, you knew she had walked into a trap, Any love email or love text message that surfaced after her denial would sink her and you just know by the questions Labour are lining up with Key and Bennett that Labour has that proof.

God it’s all so ugly isn’t it? I’ve stated my defense of Rankin, there are plenty of reasons why this woman is totally inappropriate for the Family’s Commission but her personal private life shouldn’t be one of them, but by going on the record about her personal life, she now allows her version of events to be challenged and the family of the woman who committed suicide would have access to any information that showed Rankin was having an affair well before she claimed she was. Much worse for National, it appears Labour have that evidence.

Rankin gone by Friday?