Conflicted Interests

Further to my piece about John Key's share disclosures this week and his former holdings in Tranzrail apparently making his position as an MP a conflict of interest, there comes info on a more pressing and real conflict of interest 

Jeanette Fitzsimons and her conflicts over shareholdings in several companies associated with her Party the Greens and the Labour Party passing "green" based legislation.   

From The Hive comes this gem:

Remember the $1 billion in funding, in part to subsidise home insulation, negotiated by the Green Party as part of the agreement to vote for the ETS?

Guess who owns shares in the company that makes this product????

This really stinks. Of course it would be too much to hope for One News to pick this up.

A comment on the Hive's post reveals the following:

Jeanette FITZSIMONS (Green, List)

1 Company directorships and controlling interests
Aeolian Property Company Limited – property management
Green Circle Farm Limited – farming
2 Interests (such as shares and bonds) in companies and business entities
Fletcher Building Limited – building materials and products
Cavalier Corporation Limited – wool scouring, carpets
Fisher & Paykel Appliances Holdings Limited – appliance manufacture

REGISTER OF PECUNIARY INTERESTS OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT: SUMMARY OF ANNUAL RETURNS J. 7
23
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Limited – healthcare equipment
Scott Technology Limited – technology
6 Real property
Family home (jointly owned), Kauaeranga Valley, Thames
One-fifth share in relative’s home near Kawhia
7 Superannuation schemes
Green Futures Superannuation Trust
MFL Property Fund

Nothing wrong with owning assets, but holding shares in Fletcher Building (DISCLOSURE: I OWN FBU shares!!) and advocating for the Emissions Trading Tax fraud law is a clear conflict of interest and as The Hive rightly states, mainstream media seem as blind as Stevie Wonder when it comes to its reportage, along the lines of the non event of John Key and his Tranzrail shares.

There is also confusion over whether she still owns Windflow Technology shares and conflicts about over holding shares in that company and Jeanette's pushing to advantage the wacky backy Windmill industry.

Go figure.

c Political Animal 2008

Helen Clark and Jenette Fitzsimon's in conflict with business

Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, continues to have a problem with separation of her job from conflicts of interest and possible conflicts of interest.

Apart from the numerous personality, and socio-political conflicts she has in her day to day activities the topic up for discussion here is her and her Government's numerous conflicts of interest with the business world.

We have had recently Clark herself, Micheal Cullen and other Government Ministers interfering in Air New Zealand by making public statements that have affected the share price of the airline, likewise she and her Ministers erred again in 2006 when making inappropriate comments, on several occasions, about Telecom New Zealand that lost shareholders 100s of millions of dollars.

Most recently we have had Winston Peters, a Labour Government partner and lapdog making inappropriate comments in the media about influences they could use to stop the Auckland International Airport from being sold.

The most glaring example and probably least known, is the conflict that arises from Jeanette Fitzsimons from the Green Party and her major shareholding in the listed NZ windfarm owner , manufacturer and developer, Windflow Technologies.

Fitzsimons is a partner to the Labour Government and drives Labour's "Green Agenda" for them. Fitzsimons has been responsible for passing law and changing rules to give companies like hers an advantage over competitors and as a result she has financially benefited directly from her activities in Parliament. Jenette has a knack of forgetting to mention her large shareholding in Windflow Technology when dealing with such matters when doing Parliamentary business.

You cant get more corrupt and conflicted than that but she has a good role model for her modus operandi in Al Gore, but that is another story.

If we get back to Clark's role in this though, not only is her Government culpable in the conflict of interest by allowing Fitzsimons to feather her own nest but she has also been directly championing the company with financial, moral and media support for Windflow Tech.

Helen Clark with Windflow Technology
head Geoff Henderson,centre, and Derek Walker,
chairman of NZ Windfarms, at the commissioning
of NZ Windfarms' turbines near Palmerston North.

This sort of Parliamentary, legislative and Prime ministerial support for Windflow Tech is clearly a huge conflict of interest that shouldn't be allowed to continue, although we shouldn't be surprised by this sort of conflict as it is apparent at most of our listed companies: Tim Saunders at Contact Energy, Lloyd Morrison at Auckland Airport and a host of other rapscallions and rascals at a whole host of other listed companies.

The shareholders at Windflow Tech should be worried too.

Government interference, as outlined above, can also change to the negative at a whim, should policy, Government or thinking change.

We have to remember, as shareholders in companies, however small or large our holding maybe, it is our personal property rights that are at issue here. Interference from individuals, entities, whether Government or private have no more rights than you or me and their influence shouldn't be able to be subscribed to the extent that they can change laws to suit their own agendas and line their own pockets.


C Political Animal 2007

Helen Clark and Jenette Fitzsimons knee deep in Windflow Technology conflict

Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, continues to have a problem with separation of her job from conflicts of interest and possible conflicts of interest.

Apart from the numerous personality, and socio-political conflicts she has in her day to day activities the topic up for discussion here is her and her Government's numerous conflicts of interest with the business world.

We have had recently Clark herself, Micheal Cullen and other Government Ministers interfering in Air New Zealand by making public statements that have affected the share price of the airline, likewise she and her Ministers erred again in 2006 when making inappropriate comments, on several occasions, about Telecom New Zealand that lost shareholders 100s of millions of dollars.

Most recently we have had Winston Peters, a Labour Government partner and lapdog making inappropriate comments in the media about influences they could use to stop the Auckland International Airport from being sold.

The most glaring example and probably least known, is the conflict that arises from Jeanette Fitzsimons from the Green Party and her major shareholding in the listed NZ windfarm owner , manufacturer and developer, Windflow Technologies.

Fitzsimons is a partner to the Labour Government and drives Labour's "Green Agenda" for them. Fitzsimons has been responsible for passing law and changing rules to give companies like hers an advantage over competitors and as a result she has financially benefited directly from her activities in Parliament. Jenette has a knack of forgetting to mention her large shareholding in Windflow Technology when dealing with such matters when doing Parliamentary business.

You cant get more corrupt and conflicted than that but she has a good role model for her modus operandi in Al Gore, but that is another story.

If we get back to Clark's role in this though, not only is her Government culpable in the conflict of interest by allowing Fitzsimons to feather her own nest but she has also been directly championing the company with financial, moral and media support for Windflow Tech.

Helen Clark with Windflow Technology
head Geoff Henderson,centre, and Derek Walker,
chairman of NZ Windfarms, at the commissioning
of NZ Windfarms' turbines near Palmerston North.

This sort of Parliamentary, legislative and Prime ministerial support for Windflow Tech is clearly a huge conflict of interest that shouldn't be allowed to continue, although we shouldn't be surprised by this sort of conflict as it is apparent at most of our listed companies: Tim Saunders at Contact Energy, Lloyd Morrison at Auckland Airport and a host of other rapscallions and rascals at a whole host of other listed companies.

The shareholders at Windflow Tech should be worried too.

Government interference, as outlined above, can also change to the negative at a whim, should policy, Government or thinking change.

We have to remember, as shareholders in companies, however small or large our holding maybe, it is our personal property rights that are at issue here. Interference from individuals, entities, whether Government or private have no more rights than you or me and their influence shouldn't be able to be subscribed to the extent that they can change laws to suit their own agendas and line their own pockets.


C Share Investor 2007

Conflicting Emotions

I was prompted to write this piece after having a discussion with someone in the real world-offline that is-about this blog, my reasons for writing and how I could possibly write about companies that I have a financial interest in.

What I would argue, is how can you write about a company with any authority and conviction without having some of your own moola on the line.

Of course one of the biggest arguments against writing and having a pecuniary interest in your subject is that your output may be tainted and that of course you have a financial imperative to spin your story to make it positive and fluffy.

That is true of some but you are bound to get caught out eventually if all that you commit to the PC is unmitigated candy floss.

I prefer to write about what is happening in the company from day to day, good or bad.

Of course I may put my own "slant" on things but it is unintentional and is purely my own style of writing.

Once you get to know how I write then I guess you may be able to see right through the crap!

Clearly I bought the companies that I sometimes write about so I do see them as good buys and I am bound to accentuate the positive when things are going well. On the other hand if anything is going wrong, I will be one of the first to point it out.

If anything, when I have a financial interest in my subject I tend to be more critical than if I had no money invested. My passion for the subject allows me to explore the negative aspects of a company even if individuals reading it get the wrong idea and perhaps decide they wouldn't want to buy shares in a company because I may have have written something disparaging about it.

Every company goes through bad patches and I will talk about those as well as the good times, I will leave it up to broking houses, brokers and some mainstream commentators to give the market the spin.

In the end it is up to the reader and individual investor to accept or reject the screeds of comment about some companies and make up their own mind.


c Share Investor 2007