Hard News: Barclay and arrogance
226 Responses
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Value for taxpayer money? Nah.
Of course one would have to worry that National might have already had promotional election material printed with Barclay featured, c'est dommage...
That'll come out of their own coffers, or 'coughers' in 'Big Baccy' Barclay's case -
Missing-in-action Todd Barclay has finally raised his head above the parapet, but only to chuck insults at the Clutha District Council. He reckons the Council should have sent a representative to a meeting he had organised with Paula Bennett in late June -- even though Barclay himself failed to turn up at that meeting.
Clutha District mayor Bryan Cadogan responded: "I bet you Todd is not as disappointed in us as we are in him."
"Why his only foray into politics for weeks had to be an unjustified attack on us beats me."
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Puff Daddy...
Missing-in-action Todd Barclay
Why a young man of his qualities and propensities may do well to pursue prospects overseas, such as...
Africa
and
America
even
Washington DC
soon there'll be Mars... -
The Nat's dirty tricks team has swung in behind Barclay, with both the PM's office and and Parliamentary Services accusing Fairfax reporters of "intimidating and threatening behaviour" at the Gore electorate office.
...it was alleged Kelly and her cameraman "barged" into Barclay's office and harassed and intimidated staff - even pursuing them to the back of the office, leaving the staff feeling threatened and under siege.
Heavy handed journalism? Nah. Just a straight up lie from the National Party. And Fairfax have the whole thing on video to prove it.
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Katharine Moody, in reply to
How could anyone vote for these scum? Here's hoping the party faithful in the electorate give them the same treatment they did in Northland.
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While (one of) National's former tobacco lobbyists maintains he's working hard for his electorate, a Stuff investigation tells a completely different story.
Our reporters on the ground have documented Barclay's electorate work since June 21. He has not returned to Parliament, he did not turn up to the National Party conference, he has not turned up to any of his scheduled public events in Southland, he has not been sighted at any of his three offices in the large electorate, he has cancelled his local newspaper columns, and he has spoken publicly only three times – each time through a spokeswoman or by text message.
Towards the end of the story under a subheading "Where's Toddy?", the Stuff team provide a day by day account of Barclay's known movements, and details the numerous scheduled meetings Barclay has missed. Nice work if you can get it.
In fact the only verified sighting of Barclay has him at the Pig & Whistle one lunchtime. While that suggests that there may be some substance to the electorate office's claims of sex and parties, I guess we can all breath easier knowing that at least Barclay doesn't need to drink & drive.
Because the taxpayer is still covering the costs of his taxi rides back and forth between Queenstown and Arrowtown, plus the full costs of any flights and accomodation he runs up between now and the election.
The National Party should be ashamed. They have a lazy and errant MP who appears to have broken the law, but instead of sending him on his way they've turned him into some sort of super-beneficiary. Paula Benefit must be proud of young Todd.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
but instead of sending him on his way they’ve turned him into some sort of super-beneficiary. Paula Benefit must be proud of young Todd.
meditators need mediators…
Well Bennett is too busy opening gun clubs in rural idylls – though she describes it as a business – albeit one on a lifestyle block in a valley near a meditation centre of long standing. Bastards!!
the story has been ongoing for sometime – but the deputy prime minister gave it her blessing and it looks like she is now an honorary member – judging by her facebook page – Though I think Newsroom has it round the wrong way in their heading "Silent meditators at war with the neighbours"
the Vipassana centre has been there for 30 years the Auckland Gun club are the warring new comers who have snuck in via some planning Trojan Horse.
I know people who done this course and they cant imagine what it would be like to do it with the smell of cordite hanging low over the valley and the felt compressions and repercussions constantly occurring.
Sadly, Bennett looks like she’s in her element, though… -
why do these Hobbits plague me so…?
An aside: I have to say that Barclay is not a great ad for the Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Law alumni...
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Amazingly, the Independent Police Conduct Authority has decided not to pursue a complaint into the Barclay affair "after being satisfied there was no misconduct or neglect by police."
That means we'll never find out whether there was any political interference involved in the Police's apparent inability to locate Barclay for 18 months. Silly them. Did they not think about looking inside the Pig & Whistle?
Meanwhile Fairfax have put up a little counter which chronicles Todd Barclay's cost to taxpayers since he gave up any pretence of being a working MP. The total is just over thirteen grand to date.
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Winnie is questioning the independence of the Independent Police Conduct Authority following their decision not to pursue a complaint about the Todd Barclay investigation.
"There's not one law for the National Party and one for everyone else."
"Don't forget the principal word in their name is independent," he said
Hmmm.
Who was the investigating officer? And what connections (if any) does he/she have with the National Party? Two months out from an election, I'm surprised that Labour hasn't taken more advantage of this National Party own goal.
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Dennis Frank, in reply to
Could just be incompetence, but don't forget Labour is part of our establishment. They've spent a century co-creating our governance structure with National. Their traditional function makes them part of the problem, not part of the solution.
I suspect the PCA supported the police decision on the basis that there was no available evidence to charge the MP with committing the crime. That's only credible if they both decided his confession could not be used in court as evidence. If their legal advisors gave them this opinion, fair enough eh?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but all these public servants are not contracted to serve the public. They serve the government, who don't want the offender to be made into a criminal by the system. That he confessed to committing the crime is irrelevant. Voters are mostly too thick to link cause & effect, so our sham democracy will persist. The moral corruptions spans the political divide. If this were not the truth, political parties would adopt a policy proposing public servants to be contracted to serve the public interest.
It's in our common interests for public servants to be constrained to make ethical decisions. So a clause in their employment contract that binds them into doing so also seems a good idea.
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Alfie, in reply to
I suspect the PCA supported the police decision on the basis that there was no available evidence to charge the MP with committing the crime. That's only credible if they both decided his confession could not be used in court as evidence. If their legal advisors gave them this opinion, fair enough eh?
Which sort of ignores the sworn statement provided by the Prime Minister, doesn't it. I would have thought that might carry just a little more weight with the investigation team.
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nzlemming, in reply to
I suspect the PCA supported the police decision on the basis that there was no available evidence to charge the MP with committing the crime. That's only credible if they both decided his confession could not be used in court as evidence. If their legal advisors gave them this opinion, fair enough eh?
At the time that the investigation was discontinued with, Barclay had not confessed anything and was emphatically denying the charges. That is the investigation that the IPCA looked at, not the current investigation. There's still a question of why they did not execute search warrants to determine whether or not there was any evidence, as they did in the Bradley Ambrose case.
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Sacha, in reply to
Which sort of ignores the sworn statement provided by the Prime Minister, doesn't it.
English carefully avoided saying that Barclay was not present in the office at the time of the recordings, so his statement does not prove all the elements of the crime were present and chargeable.
As you say, a search warrant may have helped, but perhaps the plod thought they did not have enough to get one of those.
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nzlemming, in reply to
Braunias is a national treasure
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Guess who just got back today
the boy is back in town!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/95070348/todd-barclays-arrived-at-work-nice-and-early-on-his-first-day-back-at-parliament
and an unrelated aside:
Every now and then Parliament should have random workplace drug tests, they are, after all, operating the 'heavy machinery' of governance...
...and perhaps they should keep log-books of hours spent, and on what - like truck drivers. -
andin, in reply to
One of those attached to the wall breathalysers perhaps in the little boys room.
Ya know for after those long lunches at Bellamy's.
They'd be more piss than pot. -
The discredited Dipton II is heading off to the UK, where nobody will recognise him. The Herald reports that he's "seeking employment opportunities".
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Todd Barclay has got away with it again. By turning it into a he said/she said situation? Or maybe by offering a reasonable alibi? Nope. By simply refusing to talk to the cops. Again.
Police have now closed the case as they have insufficient evidence. No warrants were executed and Barclay again refused to be interviewed.
Can other criminals use that tactic to avoid prosecution or do you have to be a National Party MP?
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I think he got away with it because he refused to talk to the cops, and the cops likely felt that because of his connections they couldn't force the issue - then of course he pissed off overseas
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“Blimey, thought Kelvin, what an eye-to-face ratio. When you want to say something delicate, you don't want that eye-to-face ratio staring up at you. Big eyes, like a child's or a baby seal's; the physiognomy of innocence--looking at Archie Jones is like looking at something that expects to be clubbed round the head any second.”
― Zadie Smith, White TeethBarclay's got it, so has Max Key. It'll be recognized as a bona fide syndrome one day.
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The arrogant Barclay is back in Queenstown. That'll finally give the cops a chance to interview him over those charges which we must remember carry a penalty of more than two years in jail. I'm sure he'll be doing the right thing and fronting up to the QT Police station shortly.
Hmmm... Millbrook... jobs for the boys. Those Nats sure do look after their own. Even the criminals amongst them, eh Judith.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
international business affairs secretary for the .Too Corporation
he'll fit in well at their subsidiary Tools Int'l
they specialize in feats of clay...
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