Later Jami-Lee
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- Date published:
11:21 am, October 19th, 2020 - 43 comments
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Tags: jami lee ross, tova o'brien
The repercussions from the election result will percolate throughout this week. Two predictions that I will make are that Gerry Brownlee and Nick Smith will announce their retirements. National has this uncanny ability to make MPs stand down without a fuss. For legal reasons I will not say what the rumors are about how this is achieved.
One former MP who will not have to be persuaded is Jami-Lee Ross. His parliamentary career, which 2 years ago looked assured, is now over. And dumping all over a major party and then joining up with a bunch of conspiracy theorists is not the way to leave your mark.
For one final occasion, excluding news of his SFO trial, Jami was the subject of media attention. But not in a good way.
This interview of Ross by Tova O’Brien is jaw dropping.
Especially this question:
You have been part of a political movement which has been pedaling misinformation during the election campaign. Do you have any regrets?
O’Brien has been the go to person from National sources for some time and the allegations about Ross’s leaking makes you wonder if he was one of the leakers, although I am sure there is more than one. But clearly there is no love lost there.
The future of his party will be interesting. There is this weird arrangement between Advance New Zealand and Billy Te Kahika’s New Zealand Public Party where the latter party is not registered and not subject to various Electoral Act requirements like, for instance, not keeping donations in a tin under your bed, or taking money from US anti vaxer conspiracy theorists. But you should take as much notice of these allegations as you should have taken of Ross’s claim that Billy T was ahead in Te Tai Tokerau. He ended up with 988 votes compared to Kelvin Davis’s 11,699 votes.
Facebook has pulled the plug on Advance NZ’s page because it was spreading disinformation. Time will tell about what happens but I expect this particular movement to morph and try again.
But for Jami-Lee it is time to say goodbye.
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What a nice wee person ….
Maybe he might yet make a comeback – In a container unit at Spring Hill
Apparently this interview has played very well in the States – a good place for Tova – plenty of villains to chase.
Playing far too well with cultural leaders who do not know the full context for her anger..
https://twitter.com/Holliejsmith/status/1318020786423132162
Regardless of his motives, we owe him for what he did in his capacity as whistle-blower. He laid bare the National Party's dirty donation dealings and the soft corruption that went right to the very top. The country is a better place for it. Go well Jami-Lee.
Was anyone in the national party apart from JLR himself charged with anything?. I think you should reword you post and remove the word corruption.
That is just liable BS.
I am fine with Muttonbird's description. The partitioning of a donation to hide it from the public and the associated talk of a possible MP slot deserved attention.
Oh the irony….
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/cunliffe-apologises-for-using-trust/OWZGNZOSEZ6L3GB6YQTF3Y255Q/
Defending Jami-Lee Ross now? Fascinating.
Have you stopped abusing your wife ?
This is worthy of a report, surely.
At the very least it is proof you have zero argument and zero response to the historic success of the Labour and Green parties in 2020.
Grow up.
[I won’t ban him for abusing me but I agree, last warning SM. Argue your point without the personal abuse – MS]
Totally different situation. It was perfectly legal, unlike from the looks of this attempt this attempt, and DC came clean and said it was not a good thing to do. But arguing the details will not persuade you I suspect.
Of course JLR himself was in the National Party at the time of his offending and that is an important point. His offending was tacitly sanctioned by the top brass who only required donations be split according to the rules. This however still fell foul of the rules.
Proof?
and how to National 1 Chinese person is worth 2 Indians
Billy T's claiming the election was rigged.
He expected more than 21,000 votes?
Their candidates claimed 15% was coming their way.
Bless…
Gabby's claiming he's a fuckknuckle.
JLR and Billy T are both fucknuckles.
question need to be asked of the botany nat party. how was this person ever picked for the seat ? maybe the same reason that sthlnd nat party seems to pick losers. a very shallow talent puddle.? hints of funds behind them? possible connections?
We can thank him for exposing National's donations. However I do question his motives.
With all the extra Labour MP's I hope they manage to have a serious look at party donations. Maybe every single donation has to go through a central agency that keeps a confidential record of the donor. They could report on any possible influence.
Watched the interview and feeling I get from JLR is:
Actually, this one may better:
His main crime surely wasn't peddling misinformation in the campaign. Regardless of how insane the stuff was.
Misinformation peddled for scummy reasons is just that. Did Collins peddle misinformation? How about Woodhouse before the campaign?
Ross' main crime was being suspected of leaking Bridges' travel expenses.
Until then he was one of the Natz golden boys and all the stuff which Paula Bennett and others didn't know about until then, cough cough, was accepted. He was a core part of their great team then which assisted them to achieve the type of team they had going into the weekend just gone.
Um, I'd venture that his 'main crime' to Tova and colleagues is the way he treated women around parliament. Hence the very personal anger in that interview.
Paula Bennett wasn't aware of it until there was. caucus leak? I understand the anger form anyone and it being personal.
When things were happening though, the late unlamented Bennett held politics as more personal?
What does Bennett have to do with this? You may be thinking of other misconduct.
When the Ross situation came out in the open magically there was a mountain of information about his bad behaviour. None of it was known about before of course. Joke.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/jami-lee-ross-accused-of-inappropriate-behaviour-for-a-married-mp-paula-bennett/QBCCIFD3QJ2HLQAMOYUNIPK2HM/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/110169565/the-long-road-to-sarah-dowies-naming-in-jamilee-ross-saga
Two of the caucus were involved in an affair which no-on knew about? Yeah.
When the crap hit the fan Bennett suddenly was Camp Mother, Mother Superior, Little Miss Righteous.
Today she said "Right now is the time for National to take a damn good look at itself and I think that picking off individuals and trying to do blame that way is not going to be helpful for them at all."
I wouldn't be claiming Woodlouse or Codger was in any way morally superior to jlr.
The inquiry into the Boag leak was one of the worst cover ups in NZ politics.
Reckon. Open-and-shut criminal privacy breach swept under the carpet with the collusion of all political parties.
Regardless of his motives, we owe him for what he did in his capacity as whistle-blower. He laid bare the National Party's dirty donation dealings and the soft corruption that went right to the very top. The country is a better place for it. Go well Jami-Lee.
+1 -We owe Jami-Lee for that
Sorry but JLR did this for revenge and not some highly moral stance that he suddenly discovered. He’d been the willing bagman to that point.
What passes for credibility he shredded by hooking up with Billy T IMO and his treatment of women speaks to his character.
Does seem odd that the bagman gets charged while the beneficiaries are all like wot me? Nah guv, dunno nuffink.
That's what bagmen are for, so it's their dabs on the loot, not the guv's
And they are usually street-smart enough to stay quiet rather than marching into a police station.
That's one of the many strange things about the whole shambles, wonder how much slides out as it goes through the courts. He obviously didn't want to disappear quietly like bagmen are supposed to.
If JLR was bagman…who were the ideas people who set up the deals?
Judith standing for a chat and photo with one of the Chow brothers bothered me.
What is the old saying? "Birds of a feather flock together"
Do they ever, wherever oil tobacco and the underbelly of the economy is, using people and discarding them when scrutiny starts.
I agree TC. I also wouldn't worry too much about him. 80% gold plated super for the rest of his life will ease the pain.
The MP's superannuation rort ended ages ago – was 'bought out' with an increase in their annual pay packets.
The usual compensation for retiring Nats is a plush corporate gig but Ross kissed all that goodbye.
If 2017 special votes hadn't taken 2 seats off National, Bill English would have continued as PM. Ross and Bridges would have been in Cabinet together. And anyone who thinks that JLR would have blown the whistle and walked away from that is a fool. Principles are much easier to preach when you have no government job and salary to lose.
He has never been motivated by principle, not in the slightest.
Good observation, observer.