Arthur Taylor on the Helensville Electoral Petition

Arthur Taylor comments (via e-mail proxy) on my blog post on the striking down of his Helensville electoral petition.

In furtherance of freedom of expression , I hope you’ll post my following comments on the Judgement in the Helensville electoral petition case . It was the subject of  comments on your blog on 17 April .

As the Court said in paras. 9, 55, 65 , 83 , 88, 91 & 92 , it decided I did not have standing as a “did not reside in helensville for electoral purposes” , so it did not go on to consider the merits of the case .  However , it  noted at para 92 that most of the matters  were “under active consideration elsewhere” . So JK is by no means out of the woods .  This is definitely not an exoneration of him  or  the lawfulness of the  prisoner voting ban .

My case was entirely  funded by me . Not a cent of taxpayer’s money . I even put up  security for costs prior to the  case .

While the case  was primarily to protect prisoners’  voting rights , it was to protect  democracy in general  that I took the case .  (In Court , I made the point that  if prisoners  votes could be removed in this way , what  was there to stop anyone’s right to vote being removed by a temporary Parliamentary majority ?

Prisoners are liable to  exactly the same taxes as anyone else . I pay  considerable taxes myself .

I thought the rallying cry for all Tories was “No taxation without representation” !

I have never  asked for all prisoners to have the right to vote – only for those yet to be convicted                 ( remands )  and for those who have completed the punishment or deterrent part of their sentences . See para 73 of the Decision . Correspondents of yours such as David Garrett know full well that even though I may not prevail in a case , the Court  invariably notes the proceedings were not vexatious , that is they were well founded.  

Do you think the “politburo” and bureaucratic mandarins , who I take  on , haven’t had their microscopes out looking for grounds for such an application ?

For the edification of some of your commenters , I have always earned far more legally than illegally –  a point  on which even the Police  agree . There are a lot of people in prison who  would  earn very high incomes if they were allowed and encouraged in that direction . That is society’s loss , too .

 Best regards

 Arthur Taylor
A Block
Auckland Prison

I’m always happy to publish a right of reply.

Also happy to see Mr Taylor pays taxes on his income. I would note that I suspect the cost of his imprisonment probably consumes more tax money than he pays!