Conservative columnist Frank Shizenhausen cuts through the crap
This Maurice Williamson business stinks. Why should a good hard-working minister have to resign over such a minor thing? All he did was put a little pressure on the police. Where’s the harm in that? Isn’t that what we pay our MPs for? To look after our interests and help us when we get into bother?
If I gave a pile of cash to a political party I’d expect at least one get-out-of-jail-free card.
If I threw thousands of dollars at a political party and then found my company was having difficulties with Chinese customs officials, I’d want to know there was a minister ready and willing to intervene on my behalf.
If I gave $22,000 to the National Party I’d want more than a mere “thank you very much”. I can get a handjob on K Road for a hundy, so twenty-two grand would have to get me something fairly spectacular.
Wasn’t Maurice Williamson simply providing the service his party was paid to perform?
Mr Liu invested a lot of money with the National Party. Isn’t he entitled to see a return on his investment?
... 
Mr Dot Com didn’t.
Yes, and he clearly expected it. Why would he expect it? Is there some unwritten rule? What is that unwritten rule?
Quite clearly there is no longer any room in the New Zealand democratic system for private donations to any political parties.
The time has come to end this.
time for an Election Donation Register of New Zealand ?
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-10012014/#comment-755610
there is simply no reason for the Parties who receive the money to know where it comes from.
To argue they should know, ignores the reality that the big donors will simply tell whoever it is they donated to anyway.
Williamson’s call of “I just wanted to help” could be called horse shit, but stinks a lot more.
If he just wanted to help, why mention the money the offender brought into NZ?
If it was about apparent “language difficulties”, why not let Liu’s interpreter handle the call?
The interpreter that Williamson himself mentioned this very morning on RNZ!
If it was about “helping a constituent”, it might hold more water if the offender was actually in Williamson’s electorate.
Then there is this from NZH March 14
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11219251
“Mr Williamson, the MP for Pakuranga, said he did not comment on “constituency matters”
except to the Police obviously
Listening to Williamson this morning, the impression I had was of a certain kind of man who’s only just found out that you can no longer use the old boys network when you are an MP. I agree the constituent thing is bogus, but I also think that what Williamson has done is fudging boundaries and could quite believe that he doesn’t quite consider Liu to be a ‘friend’, and so justifies his behaviour based on that.
On the other hand, I reckon he was pretty well briefed by someone before the interview this morning, so who knows what really happened?
‘
Heh . . .
^^^ Russel Norman sees the parallels too. It really has come down to the “business” of government under this John Key-led National Ltd™ Party. I mean, what’s next . . . their own big-business double-agent executives being groomed in the Parliamentary backoffice for a position in the New Zealand legislature . . . oh, shit, hang on!!!
http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10005716/Maurice-Williamson-can-stand-as-an-MP-Key-says
Key clearly has his eye on the money. He can’t ditch Williamson as it implies this was serious rather than just a minor error of judgement.
In the video here Williamson claims to have been ‘advocating’ for years, including to the police. So what other cases did he pressure them on? For who. And why? Ask those questions MSM. OIA for them.
You realise you can submit your own request under the OIA? Why are you waiting for the media to do it?
I assume this post is satirical. People who donate to the National Party are entitled to zero special treatment. I have seen no evidence that any caucus member thinks otherwise.
True but the problem seems to be that they’re getting it anyway.
Of course you haven’t – that’s called having your blinders on.
That’s because you are the blind monkey in the set of three. A perfect paid shill for the 0.1%, your paymasters.