Why do right wing politicians like stealing dead babies identities?

Written By: - Date published: 9:37 am, August 14th, 2016 - 15 comments
Categories: auckland supercity, local body elections, local government, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, you couldn't make this shit up - Tags: , ,

This may be the start of a pattern.  First there was David Garrett, list MP for ACT and former legal adviser to the Sensible Sentencing Trust who stole the identity of a dead baby admittedly years ago, was then convicted of assault in Tonga and lied about it so that he could receive a discharge without conviction.

As said by Eddie at the time:

There’s no passing this off as youthful indiscretions and skeletons in closets. It wasn’t Garrett’s “foolish actions 26 years ago” that sealed his fate, it was the confirmation that even to this day he is still a liar, a criminal and the worst kind of hypocrite.

And the disclosure or the failure to do so ended Rodney Hide’s tenure as leader of ACT.

At least the governing board of ACT had the excuse that they did not know of Garrett’s indiscretions because they were never told, even though Hide knew.

Fast forward to today and another right wing candidate is having difficulties because in the past he also stole the identity of a dead baby.

From the Herald:

A man standing for office in the upcoming local elections stole the identities of dead babies to obtain fraudulent passports.

Savea Peseta Al Harrington Lavea – who is standing on a ticket to make the community “safe and prosperous” – was convicted along with his younger brother Romney Lavea of stealing the identities of seven dead children in 2008. The pair admitted seven charges of forgery and another seven of using a forged document, relating to offences that stretched back to the late 1990s. Lavea, then a community advisor in Papatoetoe, was sentenced to six months’ home detention and ordered to pay $5000 for reparation for emotional harm.

Now he is standing as candidate on the Auckland Future ticket for a seat on the Whau Local Board.

His indiscretion was well known amongst the Samoan community.  This was the suboptimal vetting that I referred to yesterday.  But this did not stop him from trying to deny what had happened.  Again from the Herald:

But when asked if he was the same person convicted of stealing a dead child’s identity he said: “Ah no, no I don’t think so. What are you talking about?” He then hung up. A man answering the phone in later calls said he was not Lavea.

It appears that he had disclosed his conviction to the selection panel and they had decided to give him a chance.  Fair enough.  Mercy and redemption are important human characteristics.  But the first rule should be to own up to it when asked about it publicly.

And you have to ask didn’t they have candidates with less problematic backgrounds?

15 comments on “Why do right wing politicians like stealing dead babies identities? ”

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  1. save nz 1
    14 August 2016 at 10:00 am

    Shocking. Any type of fraud or criminal activity should automatically have to be declared to the public on all their advertising campaigns.

    • Matthew Whitehead 1.1
      14 August 2016 at 12:15 pm

      If we’re going that far, we might as well just ban them from running for office instead.

      • Draco T Bastard 1.1.1
        14 August 2016 at 5:07 pm

        Well, a conviction that has a maximum of 2 years in jail does prevent anyone from being an MP so why not councillors?

        How long was the maximum time for the offence that he was convicted of?

        • Andrew Geddis 1.1.1.1
          14 August 2016 at 6:18 pm

          No, it doesn’t.

          An MP’s seat is vacated if she/he is convicted while in office of an offence carrying a potential jail sentence of more than 2 years. Same goes for local body politicians. But past convictions do not formally prevent a person standing as a candidate.

      • Huginn 1.1.2
        15 August 2016 at 9:23 am

        That would have disqualified Peter Fraser, Harry Holland, Bob Semple and Paddy Webb who did time for sedition, which is a much more serious crime than setting up a fraudulent identity.

        It would also have disqualified John A Lee who did time for stealing stuff as a young man.

        It would have disqualified Sue Bradford and probably many MP’s from across the House who have worked hard over the years for their constituencies.

        • Matthew Whitehead 1.1.2.1
          15 August 2016 at 7:14 pm

          Yeah, those are the criticisms I am implicitly making in my post, lol. I just decided not to spell it out for once. 😉

          As a side note, it’s really good that sedition has been repealed. It was a pretty worrying charge to have on the books.

  2. Sanctary 2
    14 August 2016 at 1:32 pm

    The story is the denial, not the crime.

  3. James 3
    14 August 2016 at 3:52 pm

    What a disgusting thing to do – in all cases.

    Glad its come out and people can choose to vote accordingly.

    Im a righty and I wouldn’t ever vote for someone that did that.

  4. maninthemiddle 4
    14 August 2016 at 8:18 pm

    “But the first rule should be to own up to it when asked about it publicly.”

    Totally agree. Which makes this whole thing the more bizarre. He had declared this indiscretion to the selection panel, why the dishonesty at this later stage? Sounds like yet another local body politician we are better off without.

    • In Vino 4.1
      14 August 2016 at 8:22 pm

      Oh! Such delicate tenderness of conscience from 2 right-wing trolls! Perhaps we can all move forwards into the broad, sunlit uplands… But I somehow doubt it.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 4.2
      15 August 2016 at 8:59 am

      Reflexive dishonesty makes you unfit for office? How many Tranzrail shares was it again?

      Right wingers: paying lip service to ethics whenever it suits them since forever.