Posts by Craig Ranapia
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hard News: The Letter, in reply to Kumara Republic,
The next thing Cunliffe needs to say is, “Evidence please, otherwise you’re making shit up.”
You know what, he probably needs to outsource that line considering Tim Barnett is now extremely reluctant to go on the record either confirming or denying anything Liu has said. Which, when you get right down to it, is the problem right there. I get pretty much everyone else around here is willing to extend Labour the benefit of the doubt, and write Liu off as a pathological liar. I'm just saying we should have to take "just trust me now, and move along" from anyone.
-
Hard News: Radio New Zealand: changing…, in reply to Ianmac,
Hope that doesn't mean that news programs like Morning Report slip into frothy stuff to appeal to frothy people who love to hear about the Royal family doings and what celebrities eat, in order to widen the audience.
That's just ever so slightly condescending there, Ianmac. For one, I didn't exactly notice National Radio going light on Willkat (and George too!) stories and I really hope whoever ends up running the show (and regardless of the job title on their cards) thinks a little harder and deeper about who they're meant to serve. The British Broadcasting Corporation, for all its flaws, manages to turn out plenty of not-at-all-dumbed down content (YES! I used the other c-word, deal with it) that is aimed at a slightly broader audience than upper-middle class middle-aged white people. And I've got absolutely no problems with Wallace Chapman not following Chris Laidlaw's determination to turn Sunday morning into aural ketamine.
-
Hard News: The Big Chill, in reply to Russell Brown,
What if a wealthy celebrity gets mad and tries to get hold of a biographer’s research via the Privacy Act? That’d be new and interesting.
Well, I'd love to know whether Joe Atkinson would even consider a commission to write a political biography from Auckland University Press under this standard. His experience with David Lange at his most litigious sure seems to have put him off print media political commentary.
But marginally let facetiously, why would any publisher (or reputable biographer) expose themselves to even the risk of years of flat out legal harassment and intimidation? Simple answer: A lot won't, and I don't see who wins from that.
-
Hard News: The Letter, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
Certainly is. There seems to be one donation in 2007 of 150 thou. Undisclosed. That may be Donghua but Labour still wouldn’t know if it was him.
I'm sorry again, Sofie, but... oh, really I just give up. Let's cut through the Rumsfeldian "known unknowns" for legal purposes, I find it impossible to believe anyone could ever have handed over a five or six figure sum to any political party with everyone blissfully unawares. What I do find most plausible is that every party would use every means necessary to keep their more... potentially embarrassing funders well under wraps. Or at least so fog-bound most people lose interest and move on.
-
Hard News: The Letter, in reply to Russell Brown,
But if it was, as Barker says, a big dinner on a riverboat one night, what are you reporting to the register?
Hey, as I understand the rules - nothing. Which is a problem in itself. Something is better than nothing, but I'm just cynical enough to think it's no accident the rules are *cough* all too often strategically ambiguous and MPs and Ministers who "just forget" to declare things don't even get the proverbial slap on the wrist with a moist HOP card.
-
Hard News: The Letter, in reply to Russell Brown,
Given the big-noting from the PM and various National Party activists about the claimed donations, it’s evident that National at the least was aware of the statement. So they had this and the electorate letter in early May.
So, are you saying The Herald should give up a source, because you think that source is a bad faith actor? Or that Liu is just lying?
-
Adding that to the claimed donation and presenting it as Businessman gifts $150k to Labour Party, as the Herald did yesterday, is extremely misleading.
Well, Russell, don’t you think the real takeaway from this is it’s time to give the Register of Pecuniary Interests real teeth and bring in full, prompt and public first-dollar disclosure of donations and interactions with lobbyists?
Sorry, but I find it really hard to feel much sympathy for politicians and their when the very system they’ve carefully constructed to throw up a thick fog around their activities comes back to bite them in the arse. It’s all very nice to say “trust me, now!” but they don’t exactly make it easy.
Mr Barker, who was Minister of Internal Affairs at the time, added: “Had $100,000 been paid for a bottle of wine at a fundraiser that I was not at, I am certain I would have been told about it and I haven’t. That figure for one item is considerably more than most fundraisers got in total.”
But wait a moment, I thought the party line was that politicians never know where the money is coming from, the party does -- even though they really seem to have not-that-great record keeping? It's so hard to keep the stories straight...
Look, in the end I agree with you. There's nothing intrinsically sinister about Barker (or Collins) having dinner in China. But damn, it's a little precious to pretend nobody should raise an eyebrow at the convenient memory loss (and partial recovery), the records that can't be found, until they are, and get lost again; the "corrections" that get made to pecuniary interest registers and the Electoral Commission as soon as the media start asking questions.
-
Hard News: The Letter, in reply to Kumara Republic,
McCully sounds like he’s still umming & ahhing about it, but he’ll maintain a lot of respect among his long-time constituents if he doesn’t give in to the temptation to forfeit his seat to Craig
Having been through the whole Wellington Central flustercluck, I think it would maintain a lot more than "respect" if they didn't decide to be so smart it's dumb. I've talked to a LOT of Nats on the Shore (and not just in East Coast Bays proper) who aren't interested in being my Vile Namesake's tame bitches. They're certainly not going to reach for the stout walking shoes or the check books for that.
-
Hard News: The Big Chill, in reply to Matthew Poole,
There's also the small matter that if you write a book with institutional support or public money, I don't think it's entirely unreasonable they'd want some evidence you didn't just interview your laptop between trips to the liquor store.
-
Hard News: The Letter, in reply to Matthew Poole,
The plot thickens further:
[Labour Party President Moira Coatsworth says] while the Herald on Sunday had reported the fundraiser at which Liu bought the wine was on June 3 2007, “[Labour] have found no record of any fundraiser held on that date’’.
At the moment, I think we could be justified in seeking independent verification if Moira Coatsworth and Peter Goodfellow issued a joint press release claiming fire is hot, water is wet and shit stinks.