Taxpayer Funded Parliamentary Staff

Labour’s continuing insistence it has in no way done anything wrong, ever, with its taxpayer funded pledge card, is to now try and equivalise parliamantary staff with their pledge card. It’s a ridicolous distraction which would have some rationality to it, if for example said staff were going around door knocking between 9 am and 5 pm soliciting votes. But of course they are not.

Anyway let’s look at the Labour spin around Bryan Sinclair. First of all we had Mike Williams on Agenda declare Bryan wouldn’t cross the Tasman for less than a million dollars a year. This is just insane stuff. Why don’t media challenge such statements and ask for some proof. As it happens the last time Bryan flew over to assist Don, he did it for free as a friend.

Next you have Pete Hodgson declaring that Don Brash brought Bryan Sinclair to New Zealand for the sole purpose of winning the election. Now you would think Bryan was someone who jetted in just for the election campaign. In fact Bryan joined the Leader’s Office, if I recall correctly, around two years before the election.

Then you have Pete inventing roles and titles for Bryan. He is called at different times an election strategist, an election spin doctor (never mind he had no role in speaking to the media, which is what a spin doctor does), and then get this the “top campaign aide”. The top campaign aide is the Party’s campaign director who is funded 100% by the party.

So Labour have invented his salary, misled over the timing of his appointment, and invented titles and roles for him.

The fact of the matter is the Auditor-General is the person who decideds (subject to court review) what expenditure is legal and is not. Pete Hodgson inventing salaries and roles, and then declaring them illegal is not the same thing.