Lester’s campaign being run from Parliament?

Several weeks ago I heard from multiple people that Justin Lester’s campaign for Wellington Mayor was being run out of Parliament. This has been confirmed by this e-mail, leaked to the Taxpayers’ Union.

It was sent by a taxpayer funded Labour staffer, during work hours and clearly refers to “We have produced an awesome campaign video for Justin Lester”.

The Taxpayers’ Union comments:

The Taxpayers’ Union has been leaked an email from a senior Labour Party insider which appears to reveal that the Labour Party have used taxpayer money to produce a promotional video of Wellington’s controversial Deputy Mayor, and mayoral candidate, Justin Lester.

The email suggests that Labour’s Whip’s Office, which is funded via the Parliamentary Service, produced a promotional video for Mr Lester and his campaign.

It appears that the Labour Party is using taxpayer funded Parliamentary resources to further the political aspirations of one of their Party’s local body candidates. That money is meant for serving parliamentary constituents, not to be used as a local body political slush fund.

No doubt Labour will claim the staffer was a volunteer, did it all in his own time etc.