More National sleeze

Written By: - Date published: 8:58 am, August 19th, 2009 - 62 comments
Categories: corruption, crime, im/migration, national - Tags: ,

There’s been an attempt to force Peter Goodfellow, the brand new President of the National Party, to step down. The move came from the party’s board, worried that negative news around Goodfellow would damage the party if he hangs around. However, it looks like John Key has decided to back Goodfellow and that’s put the kibosh on attempts to roll him, for now.

For legal reasons, we can’t tell you what has sparked this (but you’ve all worked it out) and we can’t let you join the dots in the comments thread either. Once the full story can be told, this is going to hurt National seriously, especially now Key has thrown his lot in with him.

Meanwhile, more sleaziness from National’s MPs continues to come to light. Immigration officials have been investigating an alleged scam involving Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi and have decided there’s enough to the case to pass it on to Police. The Herald has a helpful timeline:

  • September: Indian couple complain that then-National Party candidate Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi made them a false job offer as part of immigration scam.
  • March: Immigration NZ closes investigation. Mr Bakshi says he is cleared.
  • May: Investigation report obtained by the Herald reveals the case was closed because of insufficient evidence, and an Immigration NZ staffer suspected the complainants may have been paid off.
  • July: Immigration NZ restarts investigations, refers new information to police.

The way I hear it, Bakshi is up to his eyeballs in all kinds of dodginess but the Nats overlooked that in favour of tokenism.

62 comments on “More National sleeze ”

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  1. Tim Ellis 1
    19 August 2009 at 9:04 am

    I would be very careful about making allegations of dodginess if I were you, Eddie.

    There are rumours that the immigration service is investigating Mr Sio’s office as well. Would you say that Labour “has overlooked this in favour of tokenism” too?

    • Eddie 1.1
      19 August 2009 at 9:21 am

      If there is dodginess, I will be extremely pissed off, but no, it won’t be tokenism because Labour has a long history of Pacific Islanders as candidates and MPs. National decided it needed a browner (and more feminine) face this election.

      Remember how it was nearly all white males in the first 30 on the List and they had clumped the non-Pakeha/non-Maori together low on the list but high enough to get in (positions 34-38 I think it was)? that’s tokenism.

  2. ghostwhowalks 2
    19 August 2009 at 9:14 am

    The reason why Key wont force Goodfellow out, even for unknown reasons since he has done it before, might be his desire to avoid a by election for a new electorate MP.

    • Rob A 2.1
      19 August 2009 at 9:27 am

      Goodfellow isn’t an MP is he

      • Tigger 2.1.1
        19 August 2009 at 10:10 am

        No, but perhaps there is someone who has something to do with him that is an MP (is that obtuse enough to avoid any charges of defamation and slander?).

        • Sam 2.1.1.1
          19 August 2009 at 10:23 am

          Actually, I think Ghost is thinking of Jo Goodhew in Rangitata

          • Sam 2.1.1.1.1
            19 August 2009 at 10:27 am

            Who, I should point out, has absolutely nothing to do with the current story and is (as far as I am aware) completely scandal-free

            • Tigger 2.1.1.1.1.1
              19 August 2009 at 10:31 am

              I’m glad someone is thinking of her Sam, I had to Google her to find out who the hell she is!

          • ghostwhowalks 2.1.1.1.2
            19 August 2009 at 2:45 pm

            No Im not thinking of Ms Goodhew, and obviously Goodfellow isnt an MP.
            I cant say anymore but Key may have to look at this possibility if an MP resigns for any reason.

        • Lanthanide 2.1.1.2
          19 August 2009 at 10:37 am

          Well that clinches the guessing-game for me, thanks Tigger.

          • Tigger 2.1.1.2.1
            19 August 2009 at 10:52 am

            You’re…welcome? Um, so you think Goodfellow is secretly living in English’s house while renting out his place and pretending to be a beneficiary so he can rort the Working For Families scheme too? I mean, that’s what I meant…

    • Bright Red 2.2
      19 August 2009 at 10:20 am

      hmm. that plot thickens.

      A new National electorate MP. Female (one presumes), if I catch your drift gww. Likely to be single, Auckland-based.

      Who is Nikki Kaye?

      • mickysavage 2.2.1
        19 August 2009 at 10:25 am

        Warning warning

        A possible breach of the supression order has been detected.

        Protective measures will now be engaged.

        Unless it was [identity deleted on the basis of legal advice]

        • Rex Widerstrom 2.2.1.1
          19 August 2009 at 3:34 pm

          An entire rock opera based on Lost in Space just popped into my head then, starring mickey as the robot and John Key as Dr Smith: “Silence, you metallic mendicant! I wasn’t about to jettison Mr Goodhew through the airlock, I was simply making sure the doors worked…”

      • Tim Ellis 2.2.2
        19 August 2009 at 11:13 am

        Well BR I think you’re running very close to the wind there in terms of breaching suppression orders. There doesn’t seem to be any link to a national MP, but nice to see you’re happy to throw around baseless innuendo, which was obviously eddie’s intention with this post.

      • ghostwhowalks 2.2.3
        19 August 2009 at 2:53 pm

        Ms Kay was on Closup last week , as part of the promo for Tom Scotts film Separation City.
        http://tvnz.co.nz/close-up/separation-city-fact-fiction-2889418
        Her comments are about 3 min in on the replay.
        Interesting to hear her views on current events

  3. bilbo 3
    19 August 2009 at 9:34 am

    I think that all Mr Bakshi is guilty of is trying to help people.

    Paaaaaaaarp !!

  4. The Voice of Reason 4
    19 August 2009 at 9:38 am

    English tainted, Worth terminated, Lee terminal. And now Goodfellow and Baksheesh in the firing line. Is this the Curse of Key or is Mr Floppy really King Midas in reverse? Turning everything and everyone he touches in to shit.

  5. marty mars 5
    19 August 2009 at 10:05 am

    midas in reverse is sad Im and that pretty well sums up bendykey

  6. Julie Fairey 6
    19 August 2009 at 10:05 am

    Goodfellow is not an MP.

    • Derek 6.1
      19 August 2009 at 10:15 am

      There’s more to this story than is in the media.

    • Daveski 6.2
      19 August 2009 at 10:17 am

      I would expect that the Standard writers would know that Goodfellow is not an MP – eddie has been known on occasions to demonstrate some knowledge of facts 🙂

      I also suspect that the comment is about drawing lines between the various dots, particularly the media reports.

      Given eddie’s completely rewrite of events around Taito, it’s real laugh out loud hypocrisy to then taint the Nats for sleaze but I wouldn’t expect any different.

      In terms of a more constructive comment, I think it’s fair to say that just like the sociopaths who climb the ladder in work environments, the same characteristics that help people climb the ladder in politics are the same that allow some – not all – to take advantage of others. In this light, it’s not something that is representative of any particular party, regardless of what eddie would have us believe.

      • Bright Red 6.2.1
        19 August 2009 at 10:27 am

        No one has suggested that Goodfellow is an MP

        • Tim Ellis 6.2.1.1
          19 August 2009 at 11:12 am

          I believe Ghost suggested that BR.

          • The Voice of Reason 6.2.1.1.1
            19 August 2009 at 12:15 pm

            That’s one way of reading Ghost’s post, Tim. Another might be that whatever is going on with whoever these people are involves a third party who may be an MP. And if Worth was sacked for having dubious morality and Key is consistant he will have to … Oh what am I saying? Mr Floppy consistant? Naaaaah.

            • Tim Ellis 6.2.1.1.1.1
              19 August 2009 at 12:23 pm

              Even if there were a third party who is an MP, TVOR (and there’s no evidence apart from scurrilous innuendo by a couple of Labour activists on here), then there’s no evidence of wrong-doing by a third party.

              I don’t know that Labour really want to engage in this subterranean sleaze into politicians private lives. The use of Mrs Choudary didn’t enhance Mr Goff’s mana either in the short or medium term.

          • Bright Red 6.2.1.1.2
            19 August 2009 at 12:33 pm

            Tim. I believe we know something you don’t know but we can’t say, that’s why none of us thought ghost was talking about Goodfellow when he referred to an electorate MP.

            • mickysavage 6.2.1.1.2.1
              19 August 2009 at 12:53 pm

              Timmy

              “Even if there were a third party who is an MP, TVOR (and there’s no evidence apart from scurrilous innuendo by a couple of Labour activists on here)”

              Go and read a number of posts and comments at http://www.whaleoil.co.nz

              I would hardly categorise Slater as a Labour activist.

            • Tim Ellis 6.2.1.1.2.2
              19 August 2009 at 12:54 pm

              BR, I believe you don’t know anything, but you’re using the murkiness to spread malicious gossip against a sitting National MP for no other reason than that she is popular in her electorate.

            • Bright Red 6.2.1.1.2.3
              19 August 2009 at 1:09 pm

              No, Tim, I know something that ghost knows too but we can’t talk about at the moment (surely, you know someone in the loop who can fill you in).

              As for which new female National electorate MP in particular is involved? I’m not sure but there’s only two brand new ones i can think of – Nikki Kaye and Amy Adams, and Amy Adams seems less likely.

            • Tigger 6.2.1.1.2.4
              19 August 2009 at 1:45 pm

              Amy Adams, the actress from Enchanted and Julie and Julia? 🙂

            • Tim Ellis 6.2.1.1.2.5
              23 August 2009 at 8:58 am

              Okay, so this morning Bright Red, ghost and outofbed are proven to be liars for repeating what they knew to be baseless innuendo that Nikki Kaye was one of the people involved in this saga.

              Very desperate stuff, guys.

          • ghostwhowalks 6.2.1.1.3
            19 August 2009 at 3:21 pm

            No I did not. We all know Mr G is the President

      • Chris 6.2.2
        19 August 2009 at 2:12 pm

        I think it completely fair to make the observation that sociopaths and pyschopaths exist in both the workplace and in governments of all levels.

        I have experience of several in local government, and it’s not a pretty sight.

        I think that there is something about large organisations and the popular expression “Shit rises to the top, gold sinks”, although I should qualify that to say that there are more than a few people of integrity at the top; the pyschopaths ruin it for them unfortunately.

  7. Adolf Fiinkensein 7
    19 August 2009 at 10:33 am

    I’ll come along to your Contempt of Court hearing chaps and live blog it.

    • Bright Red 7.1
      19 August 2009 at 1:01 pm

      Contempt of Court for what Adolf? No-one’s mentioned any court case or circumstances relating to any court case, except you.

      captcha: concerns

      • Inventory2 7.1.1
        19 August 2009 at 2:53 pm

        Bright Red – your devotion to the cause is better than your reading:

        “#
        mickysavage
        August 19, 2009 at 10:25 am

        Warning warning

        A possible breach of the supression order has been detected.

        Protective measures will now be engaged.

        Unless it was [identity deleted on the basis of legal advice]
        Reply
        #
        Tim Ellis
        August 19, 2009 at 11:13 am

        Well BR I think you’re running very close to the wind there in terms of breaching suppression orders. There doesn’t seem to be any link to a national MP, but nice to see you’re happy to throw around baseless innuendo, which was obviously eddie’s intention with this post.
        .

        • mickysavage 7.1.1.1
          19 August 2009 at 3:48 pm

          Bright red is fine.

          I was referring to the use of a supression order for quelling discussion of anything, even identities of persons who are not (as far as we know) a party to any Family Court proceedings.

          Besides there have been at least a few prior comments at Whaleoil hinting at who the third party is and it seems that most of the membership of a party that cannot be named know who the person who some think others cannot name is.

          Does that make sense?

    • ghostwhowalks 7.2
      19 August 2009 at 3:25 pm

      What has that got to do with the topic.
      I hope you arent connecting dots, its a no no

  8. Geo 8
    19 August 2009 at 11:43 am

    It seems strange to me that rumors can be placed in the public domain and innuendo in the media but a substantive fact cannot.Name and shame has been called from Collins re Police information about Drunk drivers but in this case we are all gagged.
    Even the right wing blogs are up in arms about this issue.Mr Goodfellow stay if you wish and Mr Key support him if you so desire, but don’t fool yourselves into believing that this is a small thing .It is not.

  9. Ianmac 9
    19 August 2009 at 12:08 pm

    Is anyone else having go-slow problems? It takes dial-up speed to post or change threads or even open Standard. Seems to be only here and other sites are as normal.

  10. Frank Macskasy 10
    19 August 2009 at 12:12 pm

    John Key seems to be on some merry little crusade to weed out middle class New Zealand families, who he accuses of rorting the Working For Families allowance. He states that “wealthy people who are legally manipulating their financial affairs to ensure they benefit from Working for Families are “rorting the system” in a way that is unfair on other taxpayers ” and that “”If someone is using tax structuring as a way to receive Working for Families when they are, in fact, very well off, they’re really taking taxpayers’ money off the rest of New Zealand. I don’t think that’s fair and if we can find a way through that, it would be my preference.””.

    Perhaps Mr Key could look a bit closer to home and address the issue of his own Minister of Finance, Bill English, who arranged his own personal affairs, by way of a cosy little Family Trust, so as to be eligible for $900 a week of taxpayers’ money, to live in his own home – as he had done so for the last ten years.

    Or those MPs who rent out their own homes in Wellington; rent another flat for themselves; and then claim accomdation allowance PLUS the rental from their own property.

    Or MPs who use our taxes to pay for personal holidays overseas.

    Or… but the list is lengthy.

    If Key is aiming for a one-term National Government, he is going the right way about it.

  11. Frank Macskasy 11
    19 August 2009 at 12:15 pm

    Ianmac, yes, slow for me as well. And the anti-spam word wasn’t appearing on the page properly.

  12. tsmithfield 12
    19 August 2009 at 12:44 pm

    Without being specific about particular cases, I think people should be cautious about claims reported in the family court from either side in a relationship breakup.

    I used to work in the courts as a court registrar and used to hear a lot of domestic cases. When either side is giving their story, the impression gained is that the other party is the devil incarnate. This is not to say there is no basis in fact with respect to their claims. Rather, each side has their perspective and puts their own slant which can result in a distortion of the facts.

  13. gobsmacked 13
    19 August 2009 at 1:28 pm

    It has been publicly reported in the media that the President of the National Party has come under pressure from within the party, to step down.

    So there is no legal danger in repeating that fact.

    Surprisingly dumb politics from Key here. 99% of voters don’t know or care who Peter Goodfellow is. Yet.

    Better to ditch him now, costing nothing, than be forced to later, when he’s become the lead story.

  14. Walter 14
    19 August 2009 at 2:21 pm

    I was thinking I must be as slow as The Standard is to load,

    (“but you’ve all worked it out”) – not me, then ahhh…….the penny has just dropped.

  15. bill brown 15
    19 August 2009 at 2:35 pm

    It’s not the voters Key’s beholden to

  16. gobsmacked 16
    19 August 2009 at 3:09 pm

    Audrey Young, Herald:

    “The National Party is rife with speculation that recently elected president Peter Goodfellow may resign.”

    I doubt that comments on the Standard are going to seal his fate.

    Statement preparation under way:

    “Years of service … very grateful … interests of the party …. support John Key … spend time with family …”

    Where’s Wira Gardner? We’re so sorry, please come back!

  17. Irascible 17
    19 August 2009 at 7:48 pm

    The NACT government is rapidly presenting itself as the government based on ineptitude, sleaze and rorting.. Lee, Worth, Bennett, English, Bakshi, … helped by slater & co.. and now the Party President. What more can one say?

  18. RedLogix 18
    19 August 2009 at 8:03 pm

    What more can one say?

    Probably as little as possible.

    Middle NZ is in love with John Key, and doesn’t want to know just now. Worse still if the left insists on being too uppity about passing on the message it will only keep on getting shot.

    • The Voice of Reason 18.1
      19 August 2009 at 8:42 pm

      You may be right that middle NZ is still enamoured with Key, Red, but so what? Ten years ago middle NZ was in love with Winston Peters and he’s history now.

      Key has established some distance from the Government he leads and at the moment he doesn’t appear to be directly linked to the buffoonery around him, at least in the public perception. Reagan used to do the same sort of ‘what me worry?’ schtick but he was trained actor and in the American system it is very much the leader that gets elected, not the party.

      But what happens here if Key remains popular but his Government falls apart around him?

  19. gingercrush 19
    19 August 2009 at 10:33 pm

    Why is Hodgson doing the work? I couldn’t even understand where he was going during the General Debate. I’m finding things even more blurred than they were before. I just don’t think he’s a very good communicator in the house or with the media. Is he still part of Labour’s strategy/communication team?

    —-

    It will certainly be interesting to see how Key manages this Maori seat issue. The last thing National needs is to lose a coalition partner.

  20. outofbed 20
    20 August 2009 at 11:06 pm

    As seen on kiwiblog
    for he’s a jolly Goodfellow
    for he’s a jolly Goodfellow
    for he’s a jolly Goodfell ow
    and so say er em Nikki Kay???

  21. outofbed 21
    21 August 2009 at 2:38 pm

    Wow that hit a spot
    the post was removed and the guy was given 100 demerits all in 10 mins

    • Tim Ellis 21.1
      21 August 2009 at 3:19 pm

      oob I know you’re very disappointed still that Nikki Kaye won the seat that labour held for almost a century without national ever holding it, and I know you are desperate to dig some dirt on her, but this kind of bottom-of-the-barrel stuff is pretty disgusting even for you.

      Expect to be reminded of it when you’re proven wrong.

  22. outofbed 22
    21 August 2009 at 3:30 pm

    Yeah sorry Timbo I was just Tory baiting

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