Dom Post on Consequences

The Dom Post editorial is on consequences.  One segment I’ll repeat:

Perhaps those with the most to ponder in relation to unintended consequences, however, are Prime Minister Helen Clark, chief of staff Heather Simpson and anyone else responsible for the Electoral Finance Act. It comes into effect in eight days’ time and will curtail the rights of those wanting to spend their own money in election year trying to gain a particular outcome, be it the return of a Labour-led Government or its ousting.

None of its architects could have expected the unholy row their intransigence has created; Labour goes into 2008 uncomfortably far behind in opinion polls. If Miss Clark cannot turn that around, Labour’s downfall will be at least partly down to her inability to tolerate dissent.