Cullen ruled election advertisement for National

The Dim-Post reports that the Chief Electoral Office has ruled that Michael Cullen needs to be authorised by the National Party as an election advertisement:

Chief Electoral Officer Robert Peden has warned the National Party that they are in breach of the Electoral Finance Act for failing to register Finance Minister Michael Cullen as an election advertisement.

‘Anything seen to be encouraging voters to support a particular party or individual counts as advertising,’ Peden stated in his ruling. ‘In this regard Dr Cullen is clearly a National Party advertisement.’

National are also in trouble for allowing Cullen to appear in public without prominently displaying the name and address of the party’s financial agent. …

The best satire has that element of truth to it, and this one so hits the mark.