Banksy go bye-bye! Rodney go hi-hi?
John Banks chucking in the towel when he would have retired at the upcoming general election anyway has only brought forward the inevitable leadership crisis in Act.
That it all must end for Banks in a courtroom arguing that donations from businessmen that he negotiated (and where cheques were given to him in envelopes by those business figures) were somehow anonymous is an embarrassment rather than a shame - slack rather than shocking. Why? Because leaders from time to time don't have the instant Chinese Wall of a bag man to accept the money to shield them from what we all know has happened. Winston Peters was pinged for pretty much the same thing back in 2008 when the usual gentleman's agreement surrounding political donations fell to bits with an irked Owen Glenn going public. Without the plausible deniability of that intermediary bag man, and with the businessman (Kim Dotcom in Banks' case) blabbing the full gruesome, bunga-bunga-esque details of the solicitation of the donation it puts the politician in an exposed and untenable position. Oh sure, it's corrupt as, an utterly opaque practice designed to mislead the public - don't get me wrong - but this stuff is so routine I'm not really horrified or even offended by it anymore - just bemused that it has got to the point where someone (like Kim Dotcom) wants it to be public and the default position of politicians is to try to convince them to go along with concealing it anyway. Very few tears will be shed over that trial.
As for which tick from the parasite micro-party will be parachuted into the National Party's special reserved electorate of Epsom to continue the circus - who knows, or cares? Especially when the party for the last four years hovers well below the threshold to get even one additional member in off the list the rigmarole of a potential farce in Epsom may be just too much for the Nats to stomach. Rodney Hide?
NZ Herald:
--
Former Act leader Rodney Hide is being courted by supporters in the party to make a comeback in Epsom to replace outgoing leader John Banks, the Herald understands.[...]Several sources told the Herald Mr Hide had been approached recently and urged to consider a return to Act and to national politics.
One insider said Mr Hide would be nominated by Epsom party members whether he liked it or not. Mr Hide did not return calls yesterday.
--
Who else?
A replacement for Act on the right will be seriously considered by National and former Act members. It has to be because without a massive circuit-breaker of a new instantly recognisable and credible character as leader they are toast. Seriously burnt and inedible toast.
Apart from the tarnishing of the brand [it's a list that goes back more than just a few years that is too long to mention here] Act faces other hurdles that seem insurmountable less than a year out from an election. Like: what the hell are they doing in parliament if it is just to prop up National without being able to advance the libertarian side of the agenda. Might as well vote National, right?
So when a group (via David Farrar) starts up this year - the NZ Taxpayers Union - we see the displacement occurring. The original group that was set up twenty years ago with a similar rationale was called the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers: which became the Act Party.
That it all must end for Banks in a courtroom arguing that donations from businessmen that he negotiated (and where cheques were given to him in envelopes by those business figures) were somehow anonymous is an embarrassment rather than a shame - slack rather than shocking. Why? Because leaders from time to time don't have the instant Chinese Wall of a bag man to accept the money to shield them from what we all know has happened. Winston Peters was pinged for pretty much the same thing back in 2008 when the usual gentleman's agreement surrounding political donations fell to bits with an irked Owen Glenn going public. Without the plausible deniability of that intermediary bag man, and with the businessman (Kim Dotcom in Banks' case) blabbing the full gruesome, bunga-bunga-esque details of the solicitation of the donation it puts the politician in an exposed and untenable position. Oh sure, it's corrupt as, an utterly opaque practice designed to mislead the public - don't get me wrong - but this stuff is so routine I'm not really horrified or even offended by it anymore - just bemused that it has got to the point where someone (like Kim Dotcom) wants it to be public and the default position of politicians is to try to convince them to go along with concealing it anyway. Very few tears will be shed over that trial.
As for which tick from the parasite micro-party will be parachuted into the National Party's special reserved electorate of Epsom to continue the circus - who knows, or cares? Especially when the party for the last four years hovers well below the threshold to get even one additional member in off the list the rigmarole of a potential farce in Epsom may be just too much for the Nats to stomach. Rodney Hide?
NZ Herald:
--
Former Act leader Rodney Hide is being courted by supporters in the party to make a comeback in Epsom to replace outgoing leader John Banks, the Herald understands.[...]Several sources told the Herald Mr Hide had been approached recently and urged to consider a return to Act and to national politics.
One insider said Mr Hide would be nominated by Epsom party members whether he liked it or not. Mr Hide did not return calls yesterday.
--
Who else?
A replacement for Act on the right will be seriously considered by National and former Act members. It has to be because without a massive circuit-breaker of a new instantly recognisable and credible character as leader they are toast. Seriously burnt and inedible toast.
Apart from the tarnishing of the brand [it's a list that goes back more than just a few years that is too long to mention here] Act faces other hurdles that seem insurmountable less than a year out from an election. Like: what the hell are they doing in parliament if it is just to prop up National without being able to advance the libertarian side of the agenda. Might as well vote National, right?
So when a group (via David Farrar) starts up this year - the NZ Taxpayers Union - we see the displacement occurring. The original group that was set up twenty years ago with a similar rationale was called the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers: which became the Act Party.
posted by Tim Selwyn @ 3:02 pm
3 comments
3 Comments:
Okay, the Banks incidents are not the crimes of the century. The glory of episode though is in the ultimate Honest Man lying, being caught possum in the headlights. The robotic, rapid-fire smart arse answerer opening his mouth but no words volunteering to come out, knowing they should not be there.
Then at the resignation announcement the emotion, the schoolboy in the principal's office crying because it had caught up with him, he was exposed. The bully, emotional, recognising his invincibility had been punctured by his own stupidity in not living up to the code of truthfulness he flaunted. And all the while expecting me to accept "I'm a good man, I've done so much good" remembering the speed with which he put the boot in very loud, and very quick with condemnation of those who had stuffed up.
In this post you say that "the party for the last four years hovers well below the threshold to get even one additional member in of the list".
In the 2011 General Election the ACT party got 23,889 votes. The would have got another member in from the list if they had got 27,145 votes, a difference of 3245. I don't think that this can be fairly described as "well below the threshold". The Mana party were even closer on 24,168 votes.
Who cares a rats arse. Conservative party one electoral seat, and per centage of votes.
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