Will Jami Lee spill the beans on National’s donations?
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7:36 am, July 29th, 2020 - 45 comments
Categories: China, election 2020, election funding, elections, national, same old national -
Tags: jami-lee ross
Believe me I lived through the Labour years of 2008 to 2014. I know what disunity looks like.
This term has been a complete shambles for National. And the shambles shows no sign of abating. Because Jami-Lee Ross is threatening to table National’s list of 2017 campaign donations in Parliament.
From Jason Walls at the Herald:
National’s president is playing down threats by ex-National MP Jami-Lee Ross to make public the party’s 2017 donation records in the House tomorrow.
But Peter Goodfellow could not say with 100 per cent certainty that National had not received donations linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as alleged by Ross.
He did say, however, National had done its due diligence and “that leads me to believe we don’t have those connections”.
It is very likely that National will object to the document being tabled. But the question is what happens next?
And Goodfellow’s comments are somewhat bizarre. Which President of a major party would not check after the threat of the disclosure of the party’s donation list then you know there is a problem.
Goodfellow is adopting the “I see nothing” defence. Which is understandable for a party leader but shouldn’t the party president be on top of the detail?
The article focuses on Goodfellow’s response to allegations that some donations came from the Chinese Communist Party. From the article:
“I’m not aware of anything at the moment, nothing has been drawn to my attention,” he said when asked about the alleged donations from CCP.
He said the party has records of “tens of thousands” of donations and he was not sure what Ross was referring to.
Asked again if any were linked to the CCP, he asked for further advice on specific donations.
He then added that: “We always check to see that we’ve got New Zealanders who have donated, and [if they are] all within the usual disclosure requirements – that’s what we’ve been looking for”.
He said if Ross did table the information in the House, “we would take a look at it … very promptly, as we have in the past”.
“I would feel very concerned … we would take a look at the information if it got tabled.
“We have had a look at our information, but for some reason, he might believe something different, or whatever. Let’s see what he’s got.”
I wonder if Jian Yang’s decision to spend more time with his family is related. Today could be an interesting day.
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It's the plausible deniability defense. It works if you use middlemen who aren't identifiable as conduits from the regime funding outlet to the National Party inlet.
Problem is, JLR operating as whistleblower, testifying as arranger of the arrangement, makes the Nats look guilty. Perception is the key to voterland, not reality.
Bluster from the Nats along the lines of "well, we dotted each i and crossed each t necessary to make the conduit legal" will not persuade centrist voters to shift back to National.
Lovely evasion.
Oh well, it is Jami-Lee’s turn to deliver, or more likely not, Mr Ross…This is your “moment of truth”…
So, this is kinda his valedictory speech then?
Goodfellow may be about to bring public judgment on his party – and for the public 'not guilty' is by no means synonymous with innocent.
Good luck today, Jamie Lee!
Go Jamie !
The dirty politics just keeps on rolling. This time the Nats are getting undone by their own
Happy to see National exposed, but anyone who thinks JLR is somebody to admire really hasn't been paying attention.
Are we applauding the extreme right now? FFS.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/politics/jami-lee-ross-hitches-wagon-to-conspiracy-theorists
Is doing the right thing for the wrong reason(s) still the right thing to do?
My enemies enemy is my friend?
I view it the same way as the various books and leaks by ex-Trump Republicans.
We can enjoy the revelations and be grateful they've told us how bad it is, without changing our views on their unchanged right-wing views.
As a volunteer canvassing in my own city, I can't begin to imagine the impact all this is having on the motivation levels of similar National volunteers.
I occasionally get a swift (and not always polite) "no thanks" while door knocking, those guys will be needing thick skins of rhinoceros proportions.
I still don't get this bloke.
If there was anything dodgy, wasn't he the one actually organising it?
He might have been the go-between of various descriptions but anyone can see it was under instruction – yes he was looking for kudos & an advantage that never came but what exactly was the "benefit" to him that he would take the course taken. The SFO charges cover two years it was an accepted procedure for the National Party
I am not sure, but the bloke has always come across as a bit of a narcissist to me in my purely personal opinion, given his history, so probably kudos.
Mod's if this post is bad for some reason, it is purely my speculation before you ban me for a week, am willing to retract.
Well as my memory serves me it was as much, if not more, the $20k (I think) on offer from Bridges that he didn't get – kudos was just part of the platform https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12152876
I don't think anyone's disputing that JLR is a self-serving muppet, but watching him knife his former compatriots with their own bloody cleaver is poetry in motion. As far as I'm concerned, the more muck expunged from the open sewer that is the National Party and brought before the gaze of the soon-to-be-voting public, the better. Let us see them for what they really are. Cockroaches in expensive suits.
Yeah, that was his job. Nats are okay with dodgy as long as it's a legal dodge. So he got advice from the party secretary on how to do it.
An interesting aspect is if confidentiality applies. If he was contracted to obey party rules, breaking confidentiality in parliament could be illegal? Just guessing. How many lawyers can dance on the head of a pin? 😎
Do you really want to get into a conversation about which NZ parties have done dodgy things?
Because I doubt it would end well for your bias
Of course not. Whataboutism is puerile. What bias are you guessing at anyway?? If Labour did the same dodge I'd adopt the same stance…
What's not to get? Confession is good for the soul.
National have <2 months to dig themselves out of the 'liabilty avalanche‘ they’re buried under – Collins isn’t the ‘leader‘ to do that. Nek minute – ‘liabilty overdrive‘.
"National have <2 months to dig themselves out of the 'liabilty avalanche‘ they’re buried under "
Given the chances of Ardern not winning the election with Covid, are so close to zero it is not worth considering, I think it is just trying to find some news out of nothing personally.
There is more than one case going on atm.
One is just not really being covered much in the media
Ah!
HUBRIS
(in Greek tragedy) excessive pride towards or defiance of the gods, leading to nemesis.
That could prove to be 'the story'.
It seemed a bit odd that Yang changed his mind about standing weeks out from an election because he suddenly decided he wanted to spend more time with his family.
“spending more time with the missus and kids” is surely accepted code for politicians about to take a tumble…
Our glorious ex leader Mr Key, despite several hundred documented “miss speaks”, Dirty Politics, the pony tail pulling and coming collapse of his Offshore Trust scam, was all set for a fourth term…then…what? rumours persist it was an internal matter, very close to his office. Key of course was never busier after finishing as PM-directorships and various duties serving international finance.
So it will be interesting to see what Mr Yang gets up to.
It is amazing to me that Goodfellow has survived Ede Jaimie Lee-Ross Boag and all.
Nothing in writing? Never use your own phone?
Incidentally, was there ever a man with a more unsuitable name than Peter Goodfellow?
The priest had a raised eyebrow when he christened him.
Go for JLR. I'm sure if he is unable to table this information in the House, then no doubt he has other ways of getting it out into the public domain, as long as he has the evidence. Leaks have been known to occur.
Jamie had his opportunity in Parliament today, he stated he was the recipient of the leaked files from Nationals donations records.
Jamie stated that he had been threatened this morning with court action if he tried to table the contents of the leaked files.
He bought up the issue of Foreign donations through donations being funneled through companies in NZ.
He was quite clear that many of the donations were from the CCP.
Just Is — Please, where in Parliament did this take place today ? Many thx.
[If you use your old/previous e-mail address your comments will display your unique avatar. Please let me know if you like me to change it in this comment – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 1:06 PM.
Thx Incognito .. Vodafone closed their email service and my original email address .. be kind if you can restore my previous avatar .. 🙂
I can ‘restore’ them by manually changing each of your comments, e.g. as I’ve done in the comment I’m replying to. If you want to use your previous avatar all you have to do is to enter your old e-mail address because the avatar is linked to that. I don’t know if and how you can transfer/associate an avatar to/with a different e-mail address.
Thx Incognito …
Yeah, I thought the courts were not allowed anywhere near parliament business.
It sounded like National party funded legal threat prior to Ross's arrival in the house.
Hi Greywarshark (managed to decipher the code..)
I watched live on Parliament TV today, Jamie only had one segment to put his questions forward, Little agreed with him about the donations, Jamie said he was provided the leaked docs and that it listed 100s of thousands of dollars of donations, many from overseas donors.
Two videos of JLR today (5 mins, 1min):
https://ondemand.parliament.nz/parliament-tv-on-demand/?itemId=214872 (key part = 3m08)
https://ondemand.parliament.nz/parliament-tv-on-demand/?itemId=214878
Little's reply was very good – he's got a good head for the issue and his responsibilities.
Thanks Sacha
So he backed down. I am interested in what the lawyer said to him.
Having the big pile of papers on his desk was certainly an interesting visual. It looks like he is trying to scare National.
Hi Just Is .. if by 'deciphering code' you have concluded I am Greywarshark, 'tis not true … though our names enjoyed identical genesis at the same time as Dirty Politics v.01 but I have not been here posting for a very long time. And thanks for the info .. will watch the links 🙂