Curiouser and curiouser

Written By: - Date published: 10:13 am, May 19th, 2015 - 22 comments
Categories: Abuse of power, accountability, brand key, Dirty Politics, greens, john key, journalism, Minister for International Embarrassment, national - Tags:

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Creepy Key has dodged questions from the Green Party about any contact he may have had with the New Zealand Fox News Herald in the lead-up to Rachel Glucina’s hit job on the cafe worker who’s ponytail he pulled.

The Green Party asked a number of parliamentary questions of the Prime Minister about his, and his office’s contact with Ms Glucina personally, and with Ms Glucina’s PR company Pink PR on April 21, 22 and 23 this year.

“John Key confirmed he had not been in contact with Pink PR but refused to answer questions about his personal contact with Ms Glucina in those days, saying he didn’t disclose his conversations with the media,” Green Party Co- leader Metiria Turei said.

“My question is, did John Key help Ms Glucina stitch up the woman who complained that he’d pulled her hair? And the answer is, John Key won’t rule out he spoke with Glucina around the time of her hit job story.

“Rachel Glucina has boasted about her friendship with John Key, so it’s a legitimate question to ask what contact, if any John Key or his office had with the so-called “gossip queen” before she splashed [the worker’s] identity all over the front page of the New Zealand Herald.

While Creepy Key denied having any contact with Glucina’s PR company, Pink, he answered the the question: “What communication, if any, including, but not limited to, emails, phone calls, letters and text, has the Prime Minister’s office had with the New Zealand Herald on 21, 22 and 23 April 2015?”, with . . .

My office, in particular my media team, is in frequent contact with journalists from the New Zealand Herald, as well as those from Fairfax, TVNZ, TV3, RNZ, Radiolive, Newstalk ZB, etc. It would be unusual for a day to go by without contact as specified in the question. Contact over that time included calls, texts, emails as well as personal contact when members of my media team visited Press Gallery offices. It is not the practice of my media team nor myself to divulge details of the communications we have with journalists . . .

. . . usual fob off with the usual ducking of answering about his own personal involvement.

Also – is Martin Bradbury hinting that there might be another case?

John Key touching hair 002

22 comments on “Curiouser and curiouser ”

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  1. mac1 1
    19 May 2015 at 10:26 am

    To use John Key’s tactics against him, he was not discussing the Amanda Bailey case with a journalist but with a public relations consultant used by Ms Bailey’s employers to deal with the case.

    So, no confidential relationship between politician and journalist but between instead we had a conversation between a serial hair puller and a PR consultant.

    Was the serial hair puller there as the PM, husband, leader of the National Party, head of the PM’s office, the office itself or as a private coffee drinker who just happened to have police guards? Was Ms Glucina being consulted as a journalist/gossip columnist, as a personal friend of the PM as she claims to be, or as a PR consultant?

    I’m being partly sarcastic here, but the whole avoidance schtick that is constantly used by John Key, both in his loose use of language and his claim that he wears many hats, is a concern.

  2. ianmac 2
    19 May 2015 at 10:40 am

    Int: Mr Key did you touch the waitress’s hair?
    Key: I meet many waitresses in my job as PM and as a father and husband.
    Int: But did you touch her hair?
    Key: I am a very busy PM and cannot remember every interaction that I had with every person I meet. When I was working for NZ overseas I….
    Int: But did you touch the hair?
    Key: Perhaps she swished her hair against me as she passed but I cannot remember every waitress. Lots of people like to touch me as it is rumoured that I have great healing powers. Why just last week Prince Harry kept on getting close to me so that he would be in my photos. He…
    Int: But did you…
    Key: There are more important things to deal with you know. Barack Obama called me….

  3. Old Mickey 3
    19 May 2015 at 10:52 am

    “. . . usual fob off with the usual ducking of answering about his own personal involvement.”….pretty much the MO for current and past PM’s.

  4. weka 4
    19 May 2015 at 10:59 am

    “It is not the practice of my media team nor myself to divulge details of the communications we have with journalists . . .”

    Is that normal for the PM’s office? I don’t mean Key (who makes it up as he goes along), but NZ PMs in general. Why would a PM not be open and honest about their contacts with the media?

    It does look like Key has wised up to the fact that other people record contact with him, so he’s not going to outright lie any more.

    • ianmac 4.1
      19 May 2015 at 11:15 am

      Probably the question of PMs contact with journalists would not have been an issue before Key, but now the questions keep coming because of the dodgy dealings of Creepy Key. Trust him? Even his best friends would be uncertain I reckon.

      • Clemgeopin 4.1.1
        19 May 2015 at 11:38 am

        “Trust him?”

        What? No way! Who really can?
        I won’t be surprised if his friends now refer to him as ‘the creepy lying assassin’ rather than the ‘smiling’ one!

  5. Clemgeopin 5
    19 May 2015 at 11:19 am

    Here is a new flag image by ‘ropativ’ on MB in TV3 website.

    This pony-tail flag signifies that it is never OK to disrespect, demean or show any kind of despicable behaviour towards any woman, even if she is ‘underclass’ or in a lower status than yourself.

    Here is the symbolic flag:

    https://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/2060/8853/original.jpg?w=600&h

    Here is the TV3 article and comments:

  6. mpledger 6
    19 May 2015 at 11:22 am

    I thought the editor of the Herald said Glaucina did not work for a PR company. Is owning one different to working for one?

  7. dukeofurl 7
    19 May 2015 at 12:00 pm

    I notice in the stories about Keys social media manager, when he went into a twitter meltdown.

    The political stories written afterwards had background information that was written as fact, no reference to interviewing the “twit” involved , but we all know that Key is all ways available to background press gallery reporters.

  8. Colonial Rawshark 8
    19 May 2015 at 12:18 pm

    Unless something new and quite unexpected (read unpleasant) is revealed, I think this issue has run its course against Key. Only a small subset of politically oriented peeps care about it at this stage. Voters are still waiting for a real alternative vision and nation building proposal to that currently offered by National. And they don’t see it yet.

  9. Vaughan Little 9
    19 May 2015 at 1:02 pm

    plus calling a dude names, like creepy key, is puerile.

    • lyall evans 9.1
      19 May 2015 at 1:39 pm

      You mean like Angry Andy? Not sure the Right Honorable Mr (Soon to be Sir) John Key would appreciate being called puerile.

    • CnrJoe 9.2
      19 May 2015 at 1:39 pm

      Yeah Vaughan. Play the ball not the man. its just really keyreepy behaviour.

      http://johnkeytouchinghair.tumblr.com/

    • Tony 9.3
      19 May 2015 at 1:52 pm

      But a Prime Minister calling another ‘dude’ names like ‘Angry Andy’ IS ok?

      • Tom Gould 9.3.1
        19 May 2015 at 2:37 pm

        But fondling a stranger’s hair in a café, repeatedly, despite being asked to stop it, is creepy.

    • Anne 9.4
      19 May 2015 at 5:49 pm

      Oh and remember the right winger’s nickname for Cunliffe? Makes the word “creepy” sound almost gentlemanly eh?

      • felix 9.4.1
        19 May 2015 at 6:43 pm

        +1

        And remember the way they talked about Helen Clark?

        The right wing of NZ have no claim to any sort of high ground on name-calling.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 9.4.1.1
          19 May 2015 at 6:46 pm

          “but but but but Nnnnaaaatttttiiiooonnnaaaalllll…”

          😈

    • Tigger 9.5
      19 May 2015 at 11:17 pm

      It’s not mean if it’s true. Fondling the hair of little girls is creepy. Key did that. Ergo…

  10. felix 10
    19 May 2015 at 2:06 pm

    “Also – is Martin Bradbury hinting that there might be another case?”

    Oh dear. And in a govt department too, so it’s inconceivable that it was any of the other people who inhabit his body.

    Tick tock.

  11. McFlock 11
    19 May 2015 at 2:38 pm

    It must be nice for him, that the media keep his conversations with them secret…

  12. Tracey 12
    19 May 2015 at 5:14 pm

    Their mistake was suggesting glucina is a journalist