Written By: - Date published: 12:29 pm, June 12th, 2010 - 118 comments
Categories: accountability -
Tags: chris carter, gratuitous metallica-themed graphics, john key, murray mccully, phil goff, shane jones, tim groser
Shane Jones and Chris Carter are for the chop. Labour will lay down the gauntlet to John Key to apply those same standards to Murry McCully and Tim Groser. Key is desperate to avoid that, we know how lax his standards are.
There will be some who say that it is overly harsh on Jones (Carter on the other hand…). After all, the taxpayer isn’t out of pocket like we are having paid thousands for McCully and Groser’s late night drinking habits, or Bill English’s house. But Jones must know his fate in inevitable.
He can take solace, though, by looking across the debating chamber. There he will see on the government benches Maurice Williamson, who was once suspended from the National party caucus, John ‘Hone’ Carter, who was sacked as government whip after ringing John Banks’ talkshow pretending to be a workshy Maori, Bill English, who led his party to its worst ever defeat, Steven Joyce, who masterminded the strategy that lost National the unloseable election, and, of course, Phil Heatley. Jones will realise that rehabilitation is possible, in time.
He can even look at the speaker Lockwood Smith, who would now be a senior minister if he hadn’t told a reporter that Asians make good fruit workers because of their small hands and Polynesian seasonal workers don’t know how to use toilets, and remember that sometimes there are second prizes in life.
Labour’s going to need to clean up its act and some heads will roll. Expect Key to squirm as he refuses to hold his ministers to account, once again.
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well actually you can have it both ways, certain expenditure is public and certain is private hence why you given them a period to pay off any private expenses they may have incurred on their card. Simple really.
well actually you can have it both ways,
No this is one of those things that is a binary choice…like you can’t be a little bit pregnant.
given them a period to pay off any private expenses they may have incurred on their card.
Well in this case the period may have been a little longer than desirable …but it WAS paid off several years ago. And certainly while I agree with your suggestion around a tighter reconciliation regime, it’s wholly unreasonable to retrospectively apply it.
By your own logic the expense was private…and we the public had no legitimate right to know about it.
it was private on a public issued credit card utilising taxpayer money…I think thats something the public should know generally..if not paid back within an acceptable timeframe..
So now, you accept that the expense was private, but it all just comes down to whether you think the expense was repaid in an ‘acceptable timeframe’. We can of course relitigate history and retrospectively apply tighter rules we can dream up to our tiny little bloggers heart’s content…but in the end the putative repayment schedule was not was this was all about, was it?
What I’m seeing is a sensationalist, ethically challenged media running a cheap, gutter-press snigger-snigger story…simply because they could. A shame on them, and all those who’ve uncritically sucked it up.
well…the public gets what the public wants, and if there is profit to be had generally it will be taken
That’s ok, I’ll give full credit there for an honest answer.
If Goff gets tough on Jones and etc it can not help but stamp him as leader who will brook no nonsense from his Caucus. Key on the other hand by taking no or little action against McCully and etc shows that he has little control over his Minister and is weak in ethical standards as well. (what’s new?). I’m not too sure that Goff can gain traction on this but I note that Cunniliffe seems to have emerged unscathed.
Annette King has remained silent on this. Maybe a reshuffle with her might be a point to ponder on.
Annette King tends to work quietly in the background than the foreground, with some pretty results over the years.
I’m afraid that being a clotheshorses for the media is probably one of the lesser tasks for a politician. After all almost anyone can do that. Seems to be about the only thing that John Key is good at.
well annette king won’t be moving from where she is, she’s a old labour face that i think would stay even if Goff was shafted, I think Key knows how good those ministers are at their job and is willing to look the other way for the whole mini bar and drycleaning thing…frankly I’m fine with the drycleaning …the minibar…I think he could have paid himself unless sit was a one on one trade deal….: P (I’m joking!)