Labour muckracking explodes in Helen's face

I didn't think the backlash to Labours baseless lie spread about John Key yesterday would come back to bite them so quickly but the very paper that was going to blow the lid off the story today, the NZ Herald, seems to have turned on Labour.

Leaking of documents to the Herald trawled through by Labour Party President Mike Williams in Melbourne last week were supposed to incriminate John Key in some sort of currency scam from the 1980s but the best that the Herald can do is that Key was unsure about when he left a company that he worked at more than 20 years ago when interviewed about it by the Herald last year-he was out by a few months, from his own memory, on the spot.

Within days, though, court documents proved that what would have been the campaign's most explosive allegation was wrong. The January 11 cheque was actually signed by an Australian-based executive of the firm Mr Key worked for.

Mr Key said last night he had nothing to hide and accused Labour of a smear campaign.

Prime Minister Helen Clark distanced herself, saying: "This is not a story I am handling at all." More

The curious thing to me is that the Herald seems to have set up Labour for a big fall, publishing a teaser yesterday and then pulling the rug this morning.

Helen Clark denying involvement is another lie. Mike Williams, who dug the dirt, is a close friend and in constant contact with Clark and she is informed of everything political he does.

The baseless muck racking by Labour is merely a symptom of their leaders style and it infiltrates her government and the bureaucrats that she presides over.

When cornered and on the ropes Clark always reaches for the lowest common denominator and she is true to form once again. Its desperate stuff, from a dying government.

Its time the politics of lies, cheating and corruption came to an end and this latest nonsense in a long string of filth may well bring it to an end November 2008.



c Political Animal 2008

Labour's baseless attack on John Key could well bite come polling day

"It should not need to be said that John Key was completely innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever," Mr Sturt said.

"For any politician to hint or suggest otherwise would be absolute rubbish and pure mischief-making." Chas Sturt, former Serious Fraud Office director 

As I mentioned yesterday when writing about Helen Clark's involvement in the Owen Glenn/Peters scandal it wont be long before Labour releases irrelevant insubstantial "dirt" dug up by Labour Party hacks.

Little did we know it would be so soon, so irrelevant, so insubstantial and dug up by chief mud flinger Mike Williams, Labour Party President.

The accusation dates back more than 20 years, is being made by Labour and fed to the New Zealand Herald by party hacks.

John Key faces accusations of misleading the public about his knowledge of one of New Zealand's most notorious white collar crimes.

The allegations centre around the so-called H-Fee - two payments totalling A$66.5 million to Equiticorp funnelled via sham foreign exchange transactions in 1988 - and an interview Mr Key gave the Herald last year. More

Unfortunately for Labour a serious fraud investigation cleared any involvement by John Key and his reputation is clear. From Charles Sturt:

The former Serious Fraud Office (SFO) director, Charles Sturt, said on August 25, 2007, that Mr Key was not involved in the H-Fee scam.

The SFO interviewed Mr Key about it, and Mr Sturt said he was one of many innocent people in a massive fact-gathering exercise.

"It should not need to be said that John Key was completely innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever," Mr Sturt said.

"For any politician to hint or suggest otherwise would be absolute rubbish and pure mischief-making." More

He refutes completely about any involvement in a foreign exchange scam here.

Unfortunately for Key mud does stick and the filthy way Labour are running their election campaign must mean they have done some inside polling of their own and have found they are on a hiding to nothing come election day.

This Key nonsense is nothing but a media beat up and stories with way more importance and gravitas have been so far buried. Recent revelations uncovered by Ian Wishart that Labour have been involved in donations to their party from a Chinese underworld figure, in exchange for passports, Clark's involvement in the Owen Glenn saga and her blatant, irrelevant, use of the race card twice last week have largely been swept under the rug by our left loving media.

If that is the best Clark has she and her cabal are going to have to dig even deeper and they probably will.

Unfortunately for Labour though, this sort of filthy baseless mud-slinging may well come back to bite them on election day.



c Political Animal 2008

Labour begs for more!

Owen Glenn really is the gift that keeps on giving. At least the Labour Party think so because they are asking him for more money!

In the wake of The Winston Peters donation scandal, over secret money from Glenn and other sources, Labour Party President Mike Williams has had the temerity to meet with Glenn within the past few months, and beg for more money for the upcoming election.

Most Kiwis would be a little confused by all this though.

Why would you ask for more money from a donor that you have publicly ridiculed on more than one occasion, and had two of your ministers, Michael Cullen and Winston Peters, question Glenn's honesty?

The simple answer is that Labour are desperate. Only desperate and out of control individuals or groups would stoop this low.

Labour were embroiled in an Owen Glenn funding saga of their own earlier this year. That revolved around when certain money was given by Glenn to Labour, how much it was and whether it was a gift or a loan.

They pretty much had done their dough with Glenn at that point because they dissed him in a highly public arena just after the scandal broke out and for Mike Williams to get on his knees to Glenn again shows a double lack of respect for the man.

Considering Labour passed their anti democratic and poorly drafted Electoral Finance Act in December 2007, in Helen Clark's infamous words, "to stop big money from buying elections", to keep going back to a billionaire to fund your election campaign is highly hypocritical to say the least and highly desperate again if I am to be fully accurate with my choice of words.

Given that Helen Clark knew that Owen Glenn had given money to Winston Peters and Peters had lied about it, it isn't beyond the realms of possibility to think that Ms Clark told Mike Williams that Peters had received money from the billionaire but asked Glenn for more money under these highly suspect circumstances anyway.

Helen Clark meanwhile has been backward in coming forward about dispensing with Peters services, because she needed his votes to pass fraudulent legislation and she has gone to ground over that issue and today's revelation.

You can bet she knew about Mike Williams plea from Owen Glenn for more money but she will not speak to the media.

Meanwhile, Winston Peters has been "stood down" or "stood himself down" from his portfolios and the Serious Fraud Office is investigating the multifaceted inaccuracies of his donations web.

Peters has employed well known ambulance chaser Peter Williams QC, whose main claim to fame is a penchant for advocating for those whose personalities who have acquired the "victim hood mentality" and whipping up media coverage. Winnie clearly fits that description to a tee.

Kiwis have had a gutsful of Labour's duplicity and lies over the Glenn scandal, theirs and Winston Peters.

We all now need a chance to either vindicate the present Government or elect a new one.

Lets get it on!





c Political Animal 2008

Labour gets tangled in Peter's lies

The New Zealand public all know Winston Peters has got where he has today by stretching the truth. For goodness sake he is a lawyer /politician, it is ingrained in him to lie.

The latest truth expansion lies in the big story of the week, Peter's secret donations from Owen Glenn and his denial that he got these donations, after it was revealed in the NZ Herald over the weekend, in leaked emails from NZ First PR man to Owen Glenn, that they keep secret the money given to Peters by Glenn.

Winston Peters is in a very important position in the Labour Government, as Foreign Minister. If the New Zealand public cant get the truth about the Owen Glenn donations to NZ First then we cant trust him on important issues surrounding his position as part of the Labour Government.

Helen Clark's position is a tenuous one at best. Her party relies upon support from NZ First to stay in power. If one of her "insiders", in Peter's, has an issue over honesty, then what remains of her integrity(sorry to use the "I" word) is sorely stretched to breaking point.

Now we have seen the Prime Minister lie many times before, after all she has made it the centre piece of her Labour Party administration for the last 9 years. To allow Peters to drift in the wind(to Fiji this week) over the secret donations made to NZ First by Owen Glenn simply smacks of hypocrisy and is morally corrupt at best.

Considering Ms Clark and her Party passed their Electoral Finance Act last year to stop what they said were secret large foreign money donations "buying elections" then Clark must make her move on the top poddle and its party.

Clark does have a wee problem on the Glenn front though. Their Party accepted donations from him before and after the 2005 election and their party president Mike Williams lied about it earlier this year.

We deserve the truth from our Prime Minister and Winston Peters. We are simply not getting it.

Related Political Animal Reading

Leaked Glenn Email
Winston got secret donations from Owen Glenn
Labour Party Election funding murky at best
Electoral Finance Bill: The purpose is clear
The Owen Glenn Story: Singing the same tune but hitting a bum note

c Political Animal 2008