McCarten won’t be campaigning in Auckland – yeah right!

The Herald reports:

Labour leader Andrew Little says his adviser Matt McCarten’s taxpayer-funded salary is within the rules because McCarten will be doing “outreach” work for Little rather than campaign work.

This is like saying “I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewisnky” as it is about choosing a favourable definition.

That office was on a lease taken out by the Labour Party but Little’s Parliamentary budget was paying for some of it at market rates under a sublease agreement.

Staff would be a mix of party workers and those, including McCarten, whose salaries were paid out of Little’s Parliamentary budget.

So the taxpayer will pay Labour for the office space, and there will be party workers in there also, yet McCarten will not be doing any Labour Party work!

Little said McCarten’s work was not campaigning but “outreach” for Little such as organising events and meetings when Little was in Auckland.

Organizing events and meetings is something normally done by a mid level non political staffer.

He denied he was trying to use taxpayer funds for campaign-related work, saying party work would be done by party workers in the same office rather than McCarten and other Parliamentary-funded staff.

And who will be directing those party workers and staff? I could guess.