In for a penny

Written By: - Date published: 3:15 pm, February 8th, 2009 - 44 comments
Categories: john key, welfare - Tags:

Key’s old arm cast has sold for $18,500 on Trademe. The money will go to the Fred Hollows Foundation to help blind people in the Solomon Islands.

Great, a fair old dollop of money raised for a worthy cause. But let’s not stop there. A large number of people bid large amounts for two things of negligible intrinsic value – an old cast and morning tea. Clearly, these people were happy to pay far over the odds, as Key would say, because they wanted that money to go to a good cause (I discount the possibility they might be wanting to win for some personal notoriety).

So, given that there are all these non-successful bidders who were willing to give thousands of dollars to the Fred Hollows Foundation in return for what is essentially crap, why shouldn’t they still be willing to give that money in return for nothing?

The 14 highest unsuccessful bidders bid a total of $250,000, if they donate their highest bid amount to the Foundation or some other charity, rather than raising just $18,500, a quarter of a million could be raised.

So, how about it Mr Key? Why not call upon the unsuccessful bidders donate the money to a charity anyway, despite not winning the cast?

[Update: For reasons that, frankly, escape me, the resident righties seem to think I’m attacking Key in this post. I’m not. I think it’s great the money has been raised. I’m just asking Key to call on those who were willing to donate large amounts to a charity in return for a used arm cast to donate the money anyway. If you want to donate to the Fred Hollows Foundation you can here]

44 comments on “In for a penny ”

  1. Unbelievable post.

    At least we all know it was his cast.

    [lprent: but did he make it himself – I think not!!!! Cue a conspiracy theory.. Where is Wishart when you want a stupid theory promoted?]

  2. A smelly, stinky (probably full of germs) old thing fit for the dumpster.

  3. jaymam 3

    It would be worth more than $18,500 to NOT have to have morning tea with him 🙂

  4. StephenR 4

    Good post…I dunno, maybe a few bidders were investors…

    Saw someone in the comments section of the bid (I think) reckoned one of the bidders was Roger Douglas – then Key would have to talk to him at the morning tea haha!

  5. Felix 5

    jaymam,

    I would be happy to arrange that for you. Payment in advance, please.

  6. Johnty Rhodes 6

    As usual, the left telling people to put their own money where they suggest. They can always burn the cast like Helen’s forged painting. BTW Steve, do you Helen’s mobile no as well?

  7. rjs131 7

    Tags tory charity ?

    Wtf ?

  8. Jimbo 8

    Unbelievable post really. You have a number of people being prepared to offer extremely generous donations to a charity, and yet it is not “good enough” for you.

    My assumption is that most of these people already give large amounts to charity and will continue to do so. Its frankly none of your business who, what, where and when they choose to give and they certainly shouldn’t be “bullied” into giving away money by John Key or anyone else.

    Simple question – with the Fred Hollows Foundation receiving this extra publicity as a result of the auction, has it prompted YOU to cut them (or any other charity) a cheque recently?

  9. Adders 9

    “Simple question – with the Fred Hollows Foundation receiving this extra publicity as a result of the auction, has it prompted YOU to cut them (or any other charity) a cheque recently?”

    A: No.

    The post made a good case for raising more money for a worthy cause out of a political stunt.

  10. Jum 10

    A cynical right political stunt. All touchy feely – keeps Key in the news, continues to mention his arm break, offers tea to a National supporter

    Jimbo
    NZers won’t have money to donate to charity by the time NActM’s finished with them.

  11. mattyroo 11

    How much have you donated Clinton?

  12. higherstandard 12

    Jum

    “A cynical right political stunt”

    Ah no …. Key was asked to auction his cast by a Hollows supporter up in the Solomon’s a number of the leaders up there for the meeting kindly signed it and it’s now raised 18.5k for a great charity.

    The only think cynical about the issue is you……. and a number of the other poster on this site.

  13. mike 13

    Fancy people doing frivilous things with there own money. What a stupid post. The right must be doing very well for you to be scraping the bottle of the barrel like this.

  14. Adders 14

    Has the tea at taxpayer expense been cancelled?

  15. higherstandard 15

    Mike you’ve let the side down with your frivolous use of there !

  16. Over 18K has been raised for charity, this is a good thing.

  17. Felix 17

    Well done, Brett – you made it through the first 3 sentences of the post.

  18. burt 18

    Steve P.

    I think you are onto something. But why stop at the top 14?

    If everybody (not just people that bid) has a think about what their limit would have been to buy the cast and donate that amount of money then the mind boggles at how much the Fred Hollows Foundation will receive.

    I would have topped out at about $10 for the cast, interesting to own but not something I want, how about you – how much would you give the Fred Hollows Foundation?

  19. burt 19

    Steve P.

    Minimum online donation is $25, guess I was being unrealistic with $10. So I guess the point now is Steve, anybody who would have paid less than $25 was being unrealistic and should make an immediate $25 online donation. I did. Thanks for the post, I hope a few more people also put their money where their mouth (and sometimes their heart) is.

    It would be great to hear news of a sudden deluge of online donations, the Herald would break and exclusive on it.

  20. Tim Ellis 20

    What an excellent suggestion SP. I didn’t bid for the cast, but I’ll tell you what. I’ll give $5 to the Hollows Foundation for every dollar you give. How much should I send them?

  21. expat 21

    I fail to see what your problem is with this charity fund raising event Steve.

    You make zero sense in your ramblings past the first sentence.

    I contend that your Sir are the one grandstanding and looking for personal noteriety.

    Put your money where your mouth is and make a donation if you are so worried about the Holllows Foundation.

    [lprent: Makes as much sense to me as the fuss over ‘PainterGate’ – which I seem to remember you whinging about a while ago. That was also for charity. Perhaps what you are really advocating is different standards depending on peoples opinions, and if you like them. But then I’ve realized that you’re a classic hypocrite for a while now. Which is why you remain in the spam bin as the first default action.]

  22. CH 22

    Steve,

    Get a life. You need to spend more time outside partaking in manly persuits and healthy exercise.

    Clint.

  23. jbc 23

    lol SP. Care to reflect on the sale of non-genuine ‘artworks’ of negligible intrinsic value a few years back to raise some money for a good cause? That was obviously a hell of a lot more of a cynical ploy than Key’s recent effort.

    Are you just sore that the ‘artwork’ thing backfired and this cast thing didn’t turn out quite as shabby as you’d hoped?

  24. lprent 24

    jbc: You mean that it is OK for the right to act like sanctimonious gits about stunts to raise money for charity – but not the left? Remember that ‘paintergate’ was a stunt just like John Keys cast to raise money for charity.

    jbc: Would you care to explain your reasoning? Bear in mind that all it would do to change this into the same as Paintergate is for the recipient to say that they brought JK’s cast as an artwork (for its resale value). But were surprised to find out that he hadn’t made it himself. It’d make as much sense as the paintergate complaint.

    I’d love to meet the fool that laid the paintergate complaint. It’d be fun examining a living joke. A fine piece of art….

  25. Kerry 25

    oh yippy skip a stinking piece of crap has been purchased by some sucker…and they also purchased his cast!!!!!!!

  26. Tigger 26

    Adders – apparently not. We should write to Key and tell him to cancel the morning tea as its an unnecessary expenditure of government funds not to mention use of government money for a private charitable donation…

  27. higherstandard 27

    How about a link in the main post for people who would like to donate to the Hollows foundation…. and a closure to the comments section which is reaching new lows.

    http://www.hollows.org.nz/Donate/

  28. burt 28

    Steve P.

    Did you match my $25 donation ?

  29. I give about $25 a week to a few charities. So, I guess you need to put in $125 a week, Tim.

    CH. Re manly pursuits, I ran 30K and engaged in a few other, umm, manly pursuits yesterday (and because I’m a modern kind of joker I cooked us dinner too), as well as writing this post. cheers.

    expat. I don’t have a problem with the auction. where do I say i do?

    rjs131. It’s a joke tag. remember it was a leftie, Trevor Mallard, who used the term last year. It’s poking fun at him.

    You lot sure are a bit sensitive, eh? All I suggested was that people who were willing to donate should do it despite losing and you go off the deep end. Bizarre.

  30. randal 30

    HI SP
    I dont run anywhere, bike anywhere, or bid on trademe for anything
    I dont listen to tory creeps trying to manipulate my behaviour either
    I feel pretty good about life especially when I know that national is a one term party and cute little tricks wont make any difference

  31. vto 31

    Suggesting that all bidders donate their bids is the same as the often made suggestion that those who would like to see taxes increase actually go right ahead and pay the extra tax they want to.

    Great idea Mr Pierson – now, all of you who would like to see taxes increase start writing out some extra cheques to the IRD.

    That’s if you have any credibility of course.

  32. Talking about taxs and government spending, why do state schools have to rely on the donation from the parent so they obtain classroom necessities?

    No wonder we are gold medalists at child abuse. What a sick country.

  33. higherstandard 33

    SP

    Seems rather odd that you have chosen to single out some posters and not the others who make some rather telling commentary as to where there bias lies.

  34. Heinie Weinberg 34

    Schlong city.

  35. Sarah 35

    I can’t believe this was actually published.

    This blog seriously needs to look at what they’re trying to accomplish. I am actually appalled by the quality of writing in this post.

    This site will have zero credibility if it continues posting biased pieces of crap like the post above. Have some sort of integrity Clint, and try not to show your distate of John Key in every single post you write.

    Pfft. Next you’ll try and blame him for family violence.

    [I really don’t get it. I’m not attacking Key at all. I’m saying if people were prepared to donate so much to charity, Key should call on them to do it any,way despite not winning an old arm cast. SP]

  36. Steve – if you’re serious about helping the Fred Hollows Foundation, and you’re not just trying to make political capital, you could be like David Farrar and include a link to allow people to donate to the Foundation if that is what they want to do. At the moment, you come across as an arrogant opportunist who is quick to tell everyone else what to do.

  37. Sarah 37

    “So, how about it Mr Key? Why not call upon the unsuccessful bidders donate the money to a charity anyway, despite not winning the cast?”

    You’re indirectly trying to defame John’s efforts, by hinting at the fact that what he’s done is not enough of a help towards charity.

    You also know, that the action which you’re calling him to undertake would look unbelievaly stupid in the eyes of the public.

    [No I’m not and no I don’t. I actually think it would be great PR for Key. SP]

  38. Peter Johns - bigoted troll in jerkoff mode 38

    SP – it would not be great PR for JK. It is tantamount to telling people what they should do with their own money. This is what Labour were good at, telling people what to do.

  39. It’s just asking people to donate what they were willing to donate anyway.

    The inventiveness of you jokers in terms of the attack angles you dream up continues to surprise me. If only you could provide the intellectual punch to match these discussions would be really interesting.

  40. Pat 40

    Sarah’s right. You can’t hold a charity auction, and change the rules for bidding after the fact. Unsuccessful bidders shouldn’t get a guilt trip laid upon them, by calling for the bidders to make donations voluntarily.

    Throughout this whole broken arm incident Key has maintained his dignity and good humour. He blamed himself, did not complain or shirk appointments despite the pain, or when the two protesters were were tugging on it at Waitangi. He has not tried to take credit for the idea to auction the cast. The incident has shown us a lot about the character of the man.

  41. higherstandard 41

    “….or when the two protesters were were tugging on it at Waitangi. ”

    Aye Carumba that would have made headlines around the world !!

    Sorry Pat I couldn’t resist.

    Thanks for adding the donation link in the post Clint – hopefully some more people will put their money where their mouths/keypads are.

  42. vto 42

    intellectual punchment is unnecessary SP, such is the intellectual paunch of this thread and others.

    Show us your own intellectuosity first..

  43. Pat 43

    Your showing your age, HS. I don’t think it’s been called tugging for the past 20 years. The much (and unfairly) maligned generation Y have more eloquent phrases.

  44. jbc 44

    lp: “You mean that it is OK for the right to act like sanctimonious gits about stunts to raise money for charity – but not the left?”

    Neither really. And “sanctimonious git” is a little too strong for this post – more like “trying very hard to be unimpressed”. My feeling is that the publicity generated from this stunt will be worth much more than $18k to the Hollows Foundation.

    Personally I wouldn’t give these stunts much thought at all, no matter who is doing them (unless the action has some very significant enduring benefit). It’s next to impossible to determine whether they are good-natured or pure PR or some combination. There’s nothing noteworthy in good-natured PR and neither is it unique to this PM.

    With regards to “Paintergate” the less said the better. Since I obviously alluded to it in my comment I will elaborate. It was obviously a PR fund-raising stunt too. Any reasonable person comparing these two PR auctions would find that this one went smoother than the other. If someone can turn this into another “Paintergate” as easily as you suggest then I guess they will do so. My guess is that would backfire spectacularly.

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