Rodney Hide – stupid, corrupt or both?

60 comments on “Rodney Hide – stupid, corrupt or both? ”

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1. MARY_A 1

   24 April 2016 at 11:43 am

   Obviously Rodney Hide is under instruction from devious FJK and his murky government, to promote the corrupt deal in the best light possible!

   So who better, than NatzKEY sycophant Hide to do it!

   Squeaky clean … indeed!!!! Anything within spitting distance of “honest” John, the shameless purveyor of slime, sleaze and outright corruption, is about as questionable as you can get!

   I read Hide’s article this morning. As far as I’m concerned, it’s another chance to denigrate Labour and Andrew Little, who I feel is doing a good job as opposition leader here, by asking some pertinent questions.

   More to the point though, shame on NZH for allowing this kind of rubbish to be published at all! It’s an unintelligent, pathetic attempt at blatant manipulation of the public’s thought processes, to believe all is open, honest and upfront on the morally depraved NatzKEY front, when in actual fact we know otherwise!

   Thank goodness the majority of ordinary Kiwis aren’t so stupid to be sucked in by Hide’s embarrassing nonsense!
   • Chuck 1.1

     25 April 2016 at 8:42 pm

     Sorry to say Mary _A the majority of ordinary Kiwis don’t agree with you…fact look at the last election results. Fact look at recent polls. Fact don’t think because your circle of friends agree with you that it means the rest of NZ does. Sorry to be blunt…

     Hides piece is a pretty good summary of Little’s disaster on trying to get some political points out of this.

     Comments below about Hides hatred of Winston Peters is another story…Peters has more skeletons than most MP’s combined have.
   • Anno1701 1.2

     26 April 2016 at 12:01 pm

     “More to the point though, shame on NZH for allowing this kind of rubbish to be published at all! ”

     NZ is a small place, they have a VERY limited pool of “talent” to work with, Basically they have to take what they can get

     same reason our best journalists all bugger off to work overseas
2. Bill 2

   24 April 2016 at 12:01 pm

   Dovetails nicely with the potential next president of the USA claiming that taking money from various business interests means diddly squat in terms of future policy.

   Parliamentary politics has always been tainted (revolving doors since forever). Probably not a surprise for anyone to hear me suggest that it’s time to throw out the bathwater. And if the baby goes too – no loss.

   Alternatively, I guess people could (probably will) hang on in there, waiting for that person who’s scrabbling for power (itself a corruption) to reveal themselves as both uncorrupted and uncorruptable.

   Ain’t going to happen.

   But then, sitting back and waiting for the messiah is so much easier than standing up and getting down to business, yes? Oh, and as a bonus, we get to sit on our chuffs and revel in a type of dissociated state characterised by finger pointing at the supposedly a-typical venality of those in power; them being the ones who are really to blame for society’s ills.

   It’s all got nothing to do with us and our defence and support of economic and political systems that encourage and reward those very behaviours in people that we then condemn people in power for exhibiting. Pass the novocaine, will you? – Cheers.
   • One Two 2.1

     24 April 2016 at 1:09 pm

     Well said, Bill

     Watching, waiting and voting for a system which protects the positions of those who own it, to turn against those who own it, is foohardy

     Political systems want human beings dead, or entrapped in a prison

     It will never be changed
3. Sabine 3

   24 April 2016 at 12:05 pm

   ahh seriously what is not to like,

   a government by big business, financed by big business for big business, run by big buisness.

   after all plebs are only needed to work, and when they are done they can die. there are 6.99 billion people on this planet that will work for a bowl of rice or a pot of soup. who cares about what they have to say.

   ACT because we are in it for you!
4. srylands 4

   24 April 2016 at 12:07 pm

   When you state “Hide reckons the board are all lovely people, and I’m sure they are. But this isn’t about the board, they did nothing wrong in applying for a contract. “…

   .. which “board” are you referring to? The “board” that Hide refers to in his article is the board of Matavai Niue Limited (MNL), responsible for the resort’s operation – Ian Fitzgerald (chair), Bill Wilkinson, Toke Talagi (Premier of Niue) and John Ingram. This board did not apply for the contract.

   So if you are referring to some other ‘board’ it would be helpful if you could make that clear. Otherwise your story is nonsensical.

   As for this, MARY_A:

   “Thank goodness the majority of ordinary Kiwis aren’t so stupid to be sucked in by Hide’s embarrassing nonsense!”

   Do you have any evidence for this statement? You think this allegation will cause National to take a hit in the polls? How do you think the ‘majority if ordinary kiwis’ will express their dismay?

   Most ordinary Kiwis are laughing, and shaking their heads. And not in the way yiu think.
   • Stuart Munro 4.1

     24 April 2016 at 12:16 pm

     Most ordinary kiwis pay no attention to Rodney Hide one way or the other. This demonstrates a healthy, almost Taoist, pragmatism.
   • Pat 4.2

     24 April 2016 at 7:31 pm

     “Most ordinary Kiwis are laughing, and shaking their heads. And not in the way yiu think.”

     Assume that means you have commissioned a poll asking that and the results are back?

     All the conversation Ive heard around this ranges from they are guilty and should strung up to they probably did it but so what….with a reasonable cohort of who cares, not interested….oddly enough I have heard no one suggest there is nothing to it at all…..not scientific but certainly different than your assertion
   • AmaKiwi 4.3

     24 April 2016 at 8:30 pm

     “Hide reckons the board are all lovely people, and I’m sure they are.”

     Me, too. This about actions, not personalities. There is good in all of us . Bad things happen because good people sometimes do bad things. (This is a theological opinion from the Sunday school class I taught today.)

     Keep the focus on actions, not personalities. John Key and Rodney Hide are good people. However, I frequently disagree with what they do and say. Attacking Andrew Little instead of dealing with the issues is wrong.

     I will discuss this Hide/Little example with the ten year olds in my Sunday school class next Sunday. Should I invite along the editors of the Herald?
5. dv 5

   24 April 2016 at 12:40 pm

   Most ordinary Kiwis are laughing, and shaking their heads. And not in the way yiu think.

   So any evidence for this comment S
6. whispering kate 6

   24 April 2016 at 1:26 pm

   This morning I was listening to a programme called “Listening Post” which is on Aljazeera and it was about how the MSM in the States is run by the corporations and there is “subtle” pressure on journalists to not write about or praise the opposition – Clinton and Trump were monopolizing the papers because they were either the Status Quo with Clinton or with Trump making shock jock headlines. Rodney Hide comes to mind with his deliberately provocative rubbish, our MSM is highjacked as well and its useless to try and get a fair reading/listening. Listening Post is each Sunday and repeated throughout the day for folks who can access it. It is about anything to do with media and how it operates, mainly to the detriment of democracy. This programme today also highlighted the ap “Adblock” which is successfully being put to use by users to block off ads which come up on the screen all the time. The producers of these programmes doing the advertising are now threatening and in some cases making people either subscribe for the download they want or to put up with the ads. Again very interesting.

   There is also another programme called “Rebel Geeks” which is great for electronic geeks, how intelligent geeksget to expose electronic spying etc. Freeview channel 16 Aljazeera in Auckland for those lucky people who can get the channel.

   http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2016/04/york-primaries-politics-press-160423063822752.html
   • Colonial Viper 6.1

     24 April 2016 at 4:15 pm

     Bill Clinton signed the legislation which allowed the US news media to be consolidated under just 6 or 7 huge corporations.

     And a couple of years ago Obama OK’d the use of media propaganda on the American people, a practice which had formerly only been approved for foreign countries.
7. Psycho Milt 7

   24 April 2016 at 1:26 pm

   “Thank goodness the majority of ordinary Kiwis aren’t so stupid to be sucked in by Hide’s embarrassing nonsense!”

   Do you have any evidence for this statement?

   You mean, evidence beyond the 0 – 1% support for his political party? He presided over that descent to 1% in the polls, which is pretty strong evidence that the majority aren’t sucked in by his embarrassing nonsense.
   • framu 7.1

     26 April 2016 at 8:10 am

     and lets not forget that act have the highest % of criminals as members/ex memebrs
8. Paul 8

   24 April 2016 at 1:38 pm

   …or compromised?
   Wonder if someone has something on him?
9. Policy Parrot 9

   24 April 2016 at 1:41 pm

   Do the media understand what qualifies as corruption any more? Too busy bashing Andrew Little to see beyond the end of the own noses. It surely stinks to high heaven and yet apparently, the whistleblower is the villain. In their eyes, the Watergate security guard would have been jailed, and Nixon would have never resigned.

   The need for uncommercial media has never been more obvious.
   • MARY_A 9.1

     24 April 2016 at 2:46 pm

     @ Policy Parrot (9) … Re your comment on media’s response – ” It surely stinks to high heaven and yet apparently, the whistleblower is the villain .”

     Spot on there.

     History also recalls another event. The ponytail saga, in which the victim was branded a stirrer, condemned and sullied by msm, while the perpetrator got away scot free, whiter than white!

     Lack of an open msm, acting as the people’s proxy, seems to be the reason NatzKEY is still there, cranking up the mechanisms of dirt and corruption!

     Interesting to note that FJK is never far from where the muck is! Wouldn’t mind betting he’s been pulling McCully’s strings over the Hagaman/Niue deal! Hence the ‘orrible ‘ide’s compliant piece in today’s NZH!
10. simonm 10

    24 April 2016 at 2:19 pm

    I wouldn’t expect anything less from a self-appointed “perk-buster” who tried to sneak off quietly on a business-class trip to Hawaii with his mistress, compliments of the New Zealand taxpayer.
11. RedLogix 11

    24 April 2016 at 3:20 pm

    Rodney Hide’s loathsome antics over the past decade or more,from his lies over Public access,to his knowing lies on climate change, to his deliberate lies when he tried to destroy Winston Peters are all part of pattern here.

    If Hide says this deal is ‘squeaky clean’ this is conclusive evidence it is total filth.
    • Incognito 11.1

      24 April 2016 at 4:13 pm

      Hide has zero credibility and his opinion is irrelevant as is the man himself.
    • Anne 11.2

      24 April 2016 at 6:01 pm

      It all dates back to the the Wine Box saga RL. I knew him once and his hatred of Peters – and to a lesser extent Labour – was bordering on pathological. Everything he has done in politics since is coloured by that obsessional hatred.
      • RedLogix 11.2.1

        25 April 2016 at 10:28 am

        Thank you Anne; I always value your insights. Whereas I’ve always seen Key as product of his background and the people he identifies with, Hide by contrast always seemed the negation of them. He’s educated and very smart, and he could have contributed so much, indeed he’s come close to it in his early days. But as you say something derailed him.

        He’s the one person in NZ politics who I regard as malicious, beyond the usual stupidity, snobbery and duplicity.
    • Matthew Whitehead 11.3

      25 April 2016 at 9:33 am

      Hide doesn’t, and never has, understood that it is not enough to merely not be corrupt, but rather, an MP and especially a minister must not be perceived as corrupt. He never got either of those things right on this issue so even if he weren’t a microparty political irrelevance who retired in shame, he would have zero credibility on this issue.
12. Nick K 12

    24 April 2016 at 3:25 pm

    Who knew about the donations, when did they know, and were they involved in awarding the contract?

    Let’s start at the end.

    The trustees of the Niue Tourism Property Trust awarded the management contract to Scenic Group.

    Did they know about the Hagaman donation? Not unless they peruse the Electoral Commission website (even if it was there). So I’d say almost certainly the didn’t know. If they knew, you seem to imply that it is a serious question as to whether these trustees awarded a contract under influence (i.e. they acted in breach of trust). Maybe the Government of Niue (the beneficiary of the trust) can sue them?

    Who knew? The National Party president and probably the party secretary and maybe a couple of others. I am sure the trustees aren’t in any of this lot.

    I hope this clears that muddled head of yours.
    • Steve 12.1

      25 April 2016 at 4:58 am

      Amazingly naive.

      Perhaps someone in the National Party told them! Very simple really.
      • James 12.1.1

        25 April 2016 at 9:18 am

        Since you state this as a fact – could you back it up?

        All these people involved and not one person able or willing to “whistleblow” and this is why little seems like he is making this up.
        • Steve 12.1.1.1

          26 April 2016 at 5:55 am

          Not claiming a fact…just helping those of little imagination (or a wilful blindness) see how easy it is for what’s alleged to be true to be true.

          Now set your mind free and think around this…rather than dogmatically and automatically saying “it couldn’t happen here”. Of course it could!
13. Cricklewood 13

    24 April 2016 at 3:31 pm

    I doubt that anyone involved in the analysis of the tenders and awarding of the contract did anything untoward at all and in fact the will be squeaky clean as Rodney says.

    What Rodney doesnt address is the far more interesting aspect which I haven’t heard much about. Which was whether it was an open tender or by invatation only.

    If it was invitation only there would be opportunity for the deck to be stacked in one companies favour by hand picking it’s competition. (This approach is rife in the nz construction industry.)

    Anyhow the donation in question will have been made or at least the cheque cashed well after tenders were issued etc to avoid the direct appearance of a donation for an invite to tender but it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that there was a direct correlation between donations and invites for tenders such as this.
    • Incognito 13.1

      24 April 2016 at 4:25 pm

      Your question about the tender process is interesting.

      I could not find any reference to it using the New Zealand Government Electronic Tenders Service (GETS) but I may have been looking in the wrong place. There were three other tenders listed in Niue.
    • Graeme 13.2

      25 April 2016 at 9:11 pm

      I hope there’s a thorough investigation of this, you would hope that something like this was put out to reasonably wide tender. Even if only to prove that they did actually get it right.

      But like you say, restricted or “negotiated” tendering is becoming commonplace. However it does have the advantage of getting a competent operator who’s unlikely to go tits up. That’s the downside of open tenders.

      It gets trickier from the perception perspective with Hagaman making sizeable donations to National Party on one hand, and his company, Scenic Circle being very competent hoteliers, and probably the best option going for this contract on the other. They are very good at running good hotels in out of the way places. But there are others who are as good.

      You would think the defence would be to trot out the whole tender process and analysis, proving there was a robust process, rather than trumpeting the calibre of the board who approved the selected tenderer. This just reinforces the perception that something smells a bit off…
      • Cricklewood 13.2.1

        25 April 2016 at 10:08 pm

        No doubt that Senic Circle are completely suitable for the role and will have had the most attractive tender.
        I guess the question that arises is who the competing tenderers were, how they were selected and by whom. (I’m assuming an invitation based process given the sparse info available)
        and whether they were obvious/strong competition or patsy candidates chosen to make the selection process straightforward.
        I’m guessing it would be subject to oia and the most likely place to find any malfeasance if it did indeed occur.
        • Graeme 13.2.1.1

          26 April 2016 at 7:24 am

          It still comes back to woeful political management.

          I’m inclined to give Hagaman a bit of leeway, he does not a thing or two about making hotels sing and SC would be ideal for the job.

          I can’t believe that McCully didn’t know they were awarding a contract to a major National party donor and to dress the thing accordingly, and, that the PM’s office didn’t have procedures to pick up things like this and manage them appropriately. They should have seen this coming long before the contract was awarded and had solid responses ready to go. Wouldn’t have been hard and McCully & Co would have come out with halos polished.

          So, what happened?

          – McCully & Co are a pack of muppets and stuffed it up totally?
          – Someone flicked above a hospital pass and stepped back waiting for the excreta to hit the air circulating device
14. srylands 14

    24 April 2016 at 4:30 pm

    ” who tried to sneak off quietly on a business-class trip to Hawaii with his mistress, compliments of the New Zealand taxpayer.”
    _______________

    I think you will find he traveled with Louise Crome, his then girlfriend, now wife.

    Can you provide any evidence that Rodney Hide had a mistress, or that he tried to “sneak off” to Hawaii? If I recall correctly the trip was to London, with a side trip to Canada.

    So you got the destination wrong, the travelling companion wrong. Perhaps it is completely wrong. In other words you are simply defaming Rodney Hide with lies.
    • Incognito 14.1

      24 April 2016 at 4:41 pm

      Google and Wikipedia are your friends: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Hide#Perk_busting
    • Colonial Viper 14.2

      24 April 2016 at 4:43 pm

      Trying to distract from the fact that perk buster Hide was off on a fun tax payer funded jaunt with his woman?
    • North 14.3

      24 April 2016 at 5:17 pm

      That’s right SSLands. It never did happen. That’s why Love Perks reimbursed Parliamentary Services or whichever department paid for the girlfriend’s ticket. But no it never happened. God you’re a sick puppy !
      • Paul 14.3.1

        24 April 2016 at 8:46 pm

        The SSLands tag hit a raw nerve for our resident troll.
15. Colonial Viper 15

    24 April 2016 at 4:46 pm

    ACT should naturally be a 3% to 4% political party. After their takeover by National and subsequent venal blind subservience, they are now nothing.
    • Lanthanide 15.1

      24 April 2016 at 10:35 pm

      +1
    • DoublePlusGood 15.2

      25 April 2016 at 12:50 pm

      They only really work for the 0.1%, so polling 0.1% seems about right.
      • Colonial Viper 15.2.1

        25 April 2016 at 12:54 pm

        Traditional libertarian principles freeing the people from the rule of an elite self appointed class would garner far more votes from that.
        • Anno1701 15.2.1.1

          26 April 2016 at 12:29 pm

          libertarian are really just conservatives who like to take drugs IMO
16. tc 16

    24 April 2016 at 6:13 pm

    Granny wheels out rortney in a continued attempt to herd the sheeple.

    The machine seems to be on autopilot currently.
17. International Rescue 17

    24 April 2016 at 8:10 pm

    Once again Rodney Hide exposes Little for what he is. A vocal loose cannon. I can’t wait for the law suit, and for the reaction from Jacinda ta their next caucus meeting.
    • In Vino 17.1

      24 April 2016 at 9:06 pm

      If you can’t wait, I suggest that you hold your breath.
18. srylands 18

    24 April 2016 at 8:22 pm

    “That’s right SSLands. It never did happen. That’s why Love Perks reimbursed Parliamentary Services or whichever department paid for the girlfriend’s ticket. But no it never happened. God you’re a sick puppy !”
    _____________

    What is this SSLands? I take offence at that term. I suggest you stop being childish and refer to me as “srylands”.

    Can you please provide any evidence that Rodney Hide acted unlawfully?

    The business trip to London and Canada was paid for by his Parliamentary entitlement. He never reimbursed the cost of that trip for his fiance.

    The author of this post got everything wrong. Accusing Hon Hide of having a ‘mistress’ is defaming him.
    • Paul 18.1

      24 April 2016 at 8:44 pm

      Srylands
      Stupid, corrupt or both?
    • Gangnam Style 18.2

      24 April 2016 at 8:53 pm

      Legal threats from Hyde? Like the legal threats coming from the Hagamans? Do they dare? Lets expose the truth once & for all in a court of law, if not, why not?
    • Tricledrown 18.3

      24 April 2016 at 9:21 pm

      Sslylands Rodney Hide paid back the $11,952 dollars once again you have got your facts wrong.
      Back to troll school Spylands
    • Nick K 18.4

      25 April 2016 at 12:49 pm

      He never reimbursed the cost of that trip for his fiance.

      Actually, he did reimburse the cost of the trip out of his own pocket.
    • framu 18.5

      26 April 2016 at 8:14 am

      “I suggest you stop being childish and refer to me as “srylands”.”

      i always liked sly hands – but i struggle to understand why you goad people into experimenting with your name by responding like this

      youve heard of the streisand effect?
      • SimonM 18.5.1

        26 April 2016 at 7:46 pm

        “Sly-hands” huh? Isn’t that what Mike Sabin’s known as these days?
19. Doogs 19

    24 April 2016 at 9:43 pm

    Hmmm . . . I went to el heraldo and read it. God help us. The self-satisfied and smug-ugly portrait at the top of his column actually says it all. No need to read the article.

    That sort of shit-stirring untruthfulness should not see the light of day, and the fact that the Herald has printed it says something of its own deep dysfunctionality.
    • Rolfcopter 19.1

      25 April 2016 at 8:44 am

      The self-satisfied and smug-ugly portrait at the top of his column actually says it all. No need to read the article.

      If you judge an article based on a photo of someone, being a fucktard is the least of your problems.
    • leftie 19.2

      25 April 2016 at 12:40 pm

      +10000 Doogs “el heraldo” Very clever rofl
20. whispering kate 20

    25 April 2016 at 8:26 am

    He’s paid to be a shock jock, nothing more to it – give up your subscription to the Herald, believe me its good for your health. I received it in the mail for forty years and gave it up three years ago have never missed it for a day.
    • Rodel 20.1

      25 April 2016 at 7:27 pm

      With respect to the Richards and Richies of this world I think the term ‘shock dick’ is more appropriate for the Hon Hide and a few others in radio/Tv world.
21. Pat 21

    25 April 2016 at 7:55 pm

    Both
22. ropata 22

    25 April 2016 at 11:09 pm

    My parents were subscribers to the Herald for 40+ years but had a gutsful of its #dirtypolitics bullshit and transparent ACToid leanings, now they enjoy the Advocate. Fewer pages, but a lot more actual news

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