Anderton’s arrogance

The Herald reports:

Mr Anderton said his staff were yesterday unable to locate evidence the expense was repaid but had contacted Ministerial Services and hoped to locate the documentation today. He rejected the suggestion there was anything improper about paying for personal items on his ministerial cards.

“Be sensible about this – these corporate cards pay for the hotel and all the things attached to them.

It’s just silly to think you’re going to carry a number of cards and pay for this on one and that on another.”

As a Minister Jim Anderton would have signed a form promising not to use it for personal use. Ministerial Services had explicit policy that this was the case. So what we see is the typical Anderton arrogance is that the rules don’t apply to him. He says so long as the items are reimbursed, there is no issue.

What he calls “silly” is exactly what you should do. I’ve often split the bill when staying at a hotel.

When I worked at Parliament, I probably travelled domestically more than most staffers, as I had to go around every MPs electorate office to do training. Now before people get excited, you won’t find five star hotels on my bills, but more typically a motel in Matamata costing $70 and a meal costing $15.

It was quite common that only the room would be charged back to Parliament, and any personal extras (no not movies) you’d pay for on your own card.

What Jim Anderton doesn’t get is that he does not get to decide the rules. If the rules said that Ministers can charge personal expenses to their cards, so long as they reimburse them within 20 days, then that would be fine. But the rules don’t say that. They were explicit that you should not do this, and Anderton just chose to ignore it. At least other Ministers offered excuses or admited they were wrong. Anderton is genetically incapable of doing so.