Why does Jason Ede still have Beehive access?

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, August 18th, 2014 - 37 comments
Categories: john key, national, uncategorized - Tags: , , ,

The first group of people who will have been incensed by the disclosures made in Dirty Politics are reporters who have seen Slater given preferential access to information from their OIA requests and who was then allowed to release the information and apply his own particular type of spin to the information.  I suspect that reporters will from now give this Government a really hard time and I do not blame them.  The cynical degree of manipulation involved should have the main stream media seething.

We are already seeing the signs.  John Armstrong’s column in Saturday’s Herald was a stunningly good one.  I have been hard on him in the past.  It appears that he is abiding by the highest standards of journalism and calling it as he sees it.  All power to him.

And another reporter who should take a bow is Guyon Espiner.  His interview with John Key this morning was exceptionally good.  He did not allow Key to waffle off and laughed at Key’s attempt to theorise about left wing bloggers hacking websites when there was a perfectly good example of a right wing blogger doing so.   And his question whether Key was going to tolerate Collins’s behaviour in leaking the details of a public servant to Slater was put repeatedly but unanswered.

Andrea Vance, a reporter whose subtlety escapes many, has posted a perfectly factual article concerning John Key that has that so many hidden barbs in it that I do not know where to start.

The article presented Key’s response to news that Jason Ede had recently had swipe card access to Parliament despite the fact that he now works for the National Party and not for Government in any form.  What it does though is completely undermine Key’s denials of anything inappropriate by setting out his responses in full.  Essentially Key said that he can’t explain why Jason Ede still has a staff access card to Parliament even though he is now a National Party employee as opposed to a Parliamentary or Ministerial employee.  Key’s various denials included the following:

“I don’t know, you’d have to ask whoever is responsible for that. But it’s not me,” Key said.

“He works for the National party now, that’s all I know.”

Key didn’t know why Ede was at Parliament and he wasn’t visiting his office.

“You’d have to ask him. He hasn’t been in my [physical] office for years… He was originally a press secretary years and years ago. Again Hager’s got it wrong, he’s not two doors down from me. I hardly ever talk to him. Most of the work he did in research and communications was either with backbenchers or other people.”

Key said he doesn’t know what Ede’s role with National was now.

As can be seen there was a whole lot of don’t knows going on.

Key was also asked about why no action was being taken against Judith Collins for passing the name of a public servant to Slater and causing a vicious online attack on the public servant.  He used the defence that you know is at the end of defences that Key will use and that was that Labour does it too.

At the end of the day, should people pass names, I don’t know… Labour does that too,” Key said.

It is a strange test of morality to adopt to let your opponent choose your minimum standard of morality.  And if Key can point out one occasion where Labour has caused a witch hunt by the leaking of someone’s details I would be pleased to see it.

It is noticeable that Key is now downplaying his links to Slater.  I am not surprised.

“If I have a particular reason to call him, I will. It’s three or four times a year. I might call the mainstream media three or four times a day.”

Finally Key denied knowing which National Party staff member accessed Labour’s membership database in 2011 saying “I don’t have that information”.  Couldn’t he just ask?

It really does make you wonder.  How can a guy who is so lacking in information maintain that Hager’s allegations are wrong?

Meanwhile National is trying to create the impression that it is the innocent victim of a massive left wing conspiracy.  The random theft of laptops and phones over an extended period of time is alleged to be evidence of this.  One of the incidents is the burglary of Mark Mitchell’s Parliamentary Office in September last year.  As pointed out by Danyl McLaughlan given the exceptional security around Parliament an outside party’s involvement is unlikely.  The only people with access to the area are  National’s MPs and staffers.  Maybe they should be questioned.

37 comments on “Why does Jason Ede still have Beehive access? ”

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  1. Tracey 1
    18 August 2014 at 8:42 am

    If Key is telling the truth, MSM need to stop taking his calls because he doesn’t know anything about anything which is fine, if you are not PM.

    Key has learned his lines well, but flounders when they are not just swallowed

    This one has featured in all his interviews

    “force of nature into himself” about slater

    and if he says “at the end of the day…” one more time I may scream

  2. vto 2
    18 August 2014 at 8:48 am

    If Key doesn’t know anything about anything then how on earth can he judge the claims in the book?

    • Tracey 2.1
      18 August 2014 at 8:54 am

      I assume he has read it now? You know, to have any legitimate opinion on it?

      he seems to be prepared to take Judith at her word, despite not talking to her and her “word” being that she did give over the name of an innocent employee of the Government to a man unlikely to send him flowers….

      I guess it depends on how much coverage it gets.

      Anecdote

      last night I was at a birthday dinner at which a very good friend of mine and National supporter said ” I need to try to find some people to vote national, after this Greens tax of 40% for those earning 140,000 or more”.

      I corrected him slightly, that it kicks in at that point.

      He said ” it’s like we’re being punished for doing well and it doesnt encourage others to work harder”

      I said ” It’s only 3% of the pop that earn more than $140k, so it’s not really a big hardship is it?”

      We dont usually talk politics, but I asked him what he meant about needing to find more people to vote national. He said everyone he was coming across through his work and private dealings are saying they are not voting national. Like me, he is in the Epsom electorate.

      It’s just an anecdote, but surprised me, given the two kinds of folks he works with are ordinary fellow kiwi employees and very high level corporate types

  3. vto 3
    18 August 2014 at 8:52 am

    You’re right mr micky that Andrea Vance’s column hits hard. She has pretty much just listed Key’s lies and fobs and let them do the talking ……

    … which is stunning in its originality for a columnist and in its highlighting of the actual issue i.e. Key’s lies and fobs. So much is written by writing so little.

    • Tracey 3.1
      18 August 2014 at 8:59 am

      Yeah but read Matthew Blackhouse’s which the Herald just put up online. It has very much cherrypicked Key’s interview by Espiner and, IMO, not represented it well at all. Repeated his allegation that Labour gives stuff to left wing blogs and

      “He again said he did not plan to look further into the book’s central claims that his former staffer Jason Ede covertly accessed Labour’s IT systems or that Justice Minister Judith Collins abused her position to pass on information to Slater to fuel his attacks on political opponents.”.

      “Mr Key this morning denied Slater’s Official Information Act request about the briefing had come across his desk.

      He said he would have known about it, but he had not signed off on it.

      “They always sign off on things on their own timetable. We’ve got slightly better processes now, so they’ll tell me.”

      What does he mean they have slightly better processes now? Is he suggesting he knew it had been done ages ago and tidied it up, but didn’t tell anyone… he once said, while imploring Clark to hold her Ministers to higher standards and to sack Peters, that he would answer questions journalists forgot to ask… so why did he need to clean up the SIS processes around OIA’s

    • Peter 3.2
      18 August 2014 at 9:33 am

      Way back when Key was first elected one of his former corporate collegues was quoted as saying that Key had “great antennae but no compass”. Now it seems he has also lost his antennae so there is not much left. Deflating isn’t it?

  4. Sable 4
    18 August 2014 at 8:58 am

    Who’s to say what Key knows or does not know. One thing is for sure, he wants this to go away and quickly. A fact that, in itself, raises all manner of questions which will probably never be properly answered.

    • Tracey 4.1
      18 August 2014 at 9:02 am

      “Who’s to say what Key knows or does not know.”

      Well Key says Sable. He seemed pretty clear to Espiner this morning that he knows little about lots of things, nothing about others, and has no intention of asking questions to find out.

      • Sable 4.1.1
        18 August 2014 at 9:13 am

        I guess the real question is not what Keys knows or does not know but whether there is a “will” to actually find out. That’s my point.

        Its my opinion that National is like Teflon when it comes to scandal and the MSM.

  5. dv 5
    18 August 2014 at 9:08 am

    How come some paid so much knows so little about his job.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 5.1
      18 August 2014 at 9:11 am

      He employs people to make sure he never knows the details. Plausible deniability: an essential aspect of modern day rat-fucking.

      • adam 5.1.1
        18 August 2014 at 10:05 am

        But you can call people on plausible denial.

        For example – PM if you want plausible denial about Mr Hager’s books, why do you feel so confident to critique it? — Follow up– then you either have read it, or your just trying to for plausible denial, which is of course I’m sure you wouldn’t do, as why would a PM want to create confusion for the voting public?

    • Tracey 5.2
      18 August 2014 at 9:16 am

      especially compared to how sharp and intelligent he was in his career until he hit Parliament.

  6. Tracey 6
    18 August 2014 at 9:10 am

    Oh yes I know exactly what you are saying here. Do you see what I am saying?

  7. Lanthanide 7
    18 August 2014 at 9:29 am

    ““If I have a particular reason to call him, I will. It’s three or four times a year.”

    Which is funny, because on the morning of Wednesday, before the book was public, he gave an interview in which he said he would txt Slater once every month or two.

    So taking both at their minimum it’s 3 or 6 times a year, and both at their maximum, 4 or 12 times a year. Pretty big differences.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10392394/In-the-swing-of-things

    • pollywog 7.1
      18 August 2014 at 9:34 am

      What constitutes a particular reason why the PM would want to call a ratfucker like Slater, unless he’s got some rats that need fucking 4 times a year ?

    • Tracey 7.2
      18 August 2014 at 11:28 am

      and that is just texts…

  8. pollywog 8
    18 August 2014 at 9:32 am

    Can’t go wrong if you just smile and wave.

  9. Craig Glen Eden 9
    18 August 2014 at 9:34 am

    Thanks for posting Guyons interview Micky seems like some in the media are not happy as they realise they have been played for fools for about 7 years. Nice to see them finally waking up but they have been sedated for a very long time now with the blue pill.

  10. repateet 10
    18 August 2014 at 10:03 am

    “Key said he doesn’t know what Ede’s role with National was now.”

    John Key is a fucken liar.

  11. coolas 11
    18 August 2014 at 10:49 am

    Armstrong, Vance, now Espiner, all turning the screws on Key. At last they too see through the veneer of carefully crafted sound bite spin. The truth about dirty player Key is so far from his jolly good chap image. Let’s hope the MSM savage him this week. Then we can get on with debating the issues and vote in a Labour/Greens/Internet-Mana coalition.

  12. Bill 12
    18 August 2014 at 11:15 am

    I’ve said similar on Karol’s post, and sure, it’s just speculation on my part. But, National’s ‘black ops’ dug dirt on some journalists and arguably ensured a degree of acquiescence. I’ve no doubt that was fairly widely known about in journalistic circles. But now that Hager has effectively neutralised any threats there may have been, the journalistic community can get even for their mates who were unfairly compromised.

    And that means that Key and National cannot and will not survive this.

    I’ll be interested to mark the tone of various journalists over coming days. 😉

    • KJS0ne 12.1
      18 August 2014 at 11:49 am

      I think you might be right. And I would add that to me (speculation to follow) it seems like Journalists have a heard mentality. None are really willing to take the first step into the great unknown, lest the flock not follow and they are left out there on their own for the wolves to prey on. But all it takes sometimes is for one or two to be fearless, to charge forward unscathed, and the rest will gladly follow.

      It seems like Hager has set in motion something that should have happened a long time ago. Journalists no longer feel beholden to Key and Co. they sense that their master whom they have grudgingly served is no longer capable of destroying them should they speak out, and so the flood gates have been opened. Espiner has taken leadership on this, other journalists will follow his example and hopefully continue to hold Key’s feet to the flame.

    • yeshe 12.2
      18 August 2014 at 12:00 pm

      Yes Bill .. my thoughts are the same. One, if they have just discovered their colleagues were being blackmailed, they will be pissed. Likewise, now at the very least, Slater’s perceived power is diminished, if not gone, and they can get on with their work.

      I want them to explore as hard as possible what Collins has over Key. It must be big. And let’s remember, as Minister of Justice, she is in charge of our upcoming election. This makes me feel sick, even more than Nicky’s book.

    • Weepus beard 12.3
      18 August 2014 at 4:22 pm

      Add to this the idea that the black ops employed by Eagleson and Ede up till now, a method of blackmail once relied upon by them to get what they wanted, cannot be used any further. If they do indulge in this further then it only serves to prove they used the practice all along.

  14. Travis 14
    18 August 2014 at 12:28 pm

    The most telling part of that article for me was the reference to when Slater was being villafied for his comments to the grieving mother by the entire country, JK called to him to offer support. Out of touch? But then according to Cameron she was described as “that fucking feral bitch”. I know you read this prime minister, did you really refer to another New Zealander like this?

  15. tricledrown 15
    18 August 2014 at 12:57 pm

    Jason Ede is hoping Key can dig some more dirt using GSCB and SIS!

  16. tricledrown 16
    18 August 2014 at 1:04 pm

    Hero Hacker going to release new information Today AT Whaledump!
    Key and collaboraters must be arrested and interviewed the Police must act now this is so serious we need an inquiry into Keys Corruption very much like Merrill Lynches style of corruption!
    Key and Cronies must leave politics NOW and Forever>
    Key said all this spying was to protect our Democracy he has used it to deny Democracy !
    Nixon!
    Bainimarama!
    Berlusconi!
    Key!
    That how Key will be judged in HisTory!

  17. tricledrown 17
    18 August 2014 at 1:08 pm

    Key is a treasonous traitor

  18. Draco T Bastard 18
    18 August 2014 at 3:34 pm

    It is a strange test of morality to adopt to let your opponent choose your minimum standard of morality.

    Key’s not doing that though – he’s implying that Labour are just as unscrupulous as National.

    How can a guy who is so lacking in information maintain that Hager’s allegations are wrong?

    I’m wondering how anybody with so little information can call themselves a leader…

    Oh, wait, he’s lying.

  19. NZJester 19
    18 August 2014 at 8:41 pm

    If Ede used a staff card to access parliament when he was not entitle to, that must be a breach of parliamentary security and the process of canceling cards should be looked at to prevent further breaches like that in the future. This is surly as bad if not worse than a certain politician bypassing airport security.
    While he was there did he use any items that are paid for by tax payers for use only by parliamentary staff and politicians? If he did then He or the National party as his employer should reimburse the NZ Tax payer for them or their use.
    I doubt John Key will read the book and will avoid looking at any excerpts in the media so he can keep claiming to have no knowledge and accept what the accused parties have told him when asked direct questions by the media. He as the PM should by now have actually investigated these allegations looking at all the evidence including the book if he was doing the job we have been paying him for. The fact he has not shows he is a bad employee that refuses to do his job. His employment contract with us is due for renewal September 20th NZ Taxpayers, lets vote to sack him and replace him with a better qualified candidate that will attempt to do the job to the fullest and hold their people to account if they do something wrong!