Posts by Pete George
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Hard News: Never mind the quality ..., in reply to Lucy Telfar Barnard,
and that the PM’s office was apparently involved in advising Slater on just how to ask to get them;
That is speculation only isn't it? Slater has just given his version of what happened.
I watched Phil Goff on TV slam into the SIS about not being briefed about the situation with Israeli tourists. I thought to myself…that can’t be right, he is the Leader of the Opposition he must have been briefed. So I decided to write an OIA.
In the meantime several sources, none of which work in the PM’s or any other Minister’s office or indeed any National MPs office contacted me, about the very same thing.
When politicians dump on civil servants who cannot speak for themselves then sometimes they get pushed too far.
I put in the OIA and within hours I was being pressured by the PM’s office and others senior in the government to withdraw the request. I refused. I was told that people wouldn’t speak to me etc. I said so what. I won’t be told what to do by anyone. About the only person who can even try to tell me what to do passed away two years ago.
So I waited, and I waited. I was then phoned to be told that the release was coming and that It was being posted to me, it was also being released to other media the same day by post…I was livid. I was the first one to put in an OIA. Selwyn Manning was a couple of days behind me I’m told. I was livid because it was being posted…and being in Auckland I was at a distinct disadvantage.
I received the letter the next day and scanned it and rang TV3, they agreed to a joint release and at 6pm that night the story broke.
Far from the mad conspiracy theories of Phil Goff, the government actually tried to stop me asking the OIA.
I am happy to swear under oath what happened, and then I expect a personal apology in writing for publication on the blog from Phil Goff for lying about me.
I haven’t seen anything yet that contradicts this.
While it’s possible the SIS leaked to him or someone in the Prime Minister’s office leaked to him (John Key emphasised that was an imprisonable offence it’s quite feasible that someone outside of those with experience of OIA and perhaps the SIS gave him advice on the best way to request the information.
This possibility should at least be considered seriously.
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Perhaps coincidental but the 'diry parties' - National, Labour and NZ First all went down in the latest NZ Herald poll.
The 'clean' parties - Greens in p[articular, Conservatives, Maori Party, Act and United Future - all went up in the poll.
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Hard News: Never mind the quality ..., in reply to WH,
Phil Goff blatantly lied to Campbell.
Campbell: Can I ask you a question? You were a leader of the Labour Party, up against and extraordinarily popular Prime Minister John Key.
Did you ever seek to do what you’re accusing him of doing, or use your office to do it, which is to get really dirty behind the scenes, arms length?
Goff: No no not at all…
Campbell: Never, not once?
Goff: No, no, because fundamentally to me the integrity of our political system is important.
Goff has a history of misleading and leaking and accusing others of lying. He has been involved in:
– Leaking and misleading over the Don Brash ‘gone by lunchtime’ statement in 2004.
– His office leaks from MFAT in 2012 which led to a fight through the courts to hide the identity of the Labour associated leaker.
– A Goff office leak led to the forced resignation of National MP Richard Worth in 2009.
– Goff “appears to have broken the law by releasing pages from a suppressed Court of Inquiry report into the death of a Kiwi soldier in Afghanistan” in 2013.
– Accused SIS director Warren Tucker of lying about briefing him in 2011.http://yournz.org/2014/08/22/goff-blatantly-lies-about-dirty-politics/
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Hard News: We can do better than this, in reply to Russell Brown,
The book gives no indication that Farrar was part of the disgusting rape conversation in the book, even if he ran the parties. And I really don’t think he would have been. He can be faulted for being matey with these guys, but I do not think he would be part of that kind of talk.
DPF has updated his post on making improvements at Kiwiblog:
UPDATE: The home of mainly anonymous bloggers, The Standard, has a go at my decision to have even more transparency than I currently do. And what is hilarious, is the post is anonymous.
Also they print an extract from the book which is totally factually wrong. The party they cite was not organised by me, and I did not even invite anyone to attend. I went to a party in Palmerston North. Around 30 to 40 people attended the party, and they can all attest I was not the organiser. It’s just a smear.
The anonymous author at The Standard has in turn responded to that:
[Update: For the record, I note that Farrar now denies the allegation in Dirty Politics that he organised the "Princess Party", though he did attend. As to why writers sometimes choose to remain anonymous, such as me on this occasion, look no further than the climate of intimidation created by the Nats' attack politics machine. Who needs that kind of filth, I don't.]
Who indeed.
And Scotty and Kracklite - I make no apology for holding The Standard to account where I see fit. I think they do more damage than good to their cause - and they've banned me for telling them that. Just as I've held Kiwiblog, Farrar and Slater to account for crap things (in my opinion) they've done. Slater tried to dump on me big time a month ago in his usual vindictive fashion - just after I was banned for posting a different opinion to his on Tania Billingsley and rape issues.
So get stuffed with your petty personal diversions.
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Hard News: We can do better than this, in reply to Kracklite,
Very funny Scotty and Kracklite. The law is actually like this:
The longer an online discussion goes on with me involved, the greater the probability that numpties will try to divert it and make it about me rather than the topic - and blame that diversion on me.
Have either of you got anything to say about the topic? In case you hadn't noticed - "We can do better than this". Can you try?
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Hard News: We can do better than this, in reply to Lucy Telfar Barnard,
Graeme Edgeler has pointed out that strike offences are only counted once the warning is given. Key has squirmed out of decisive action on that technicality.
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Hard News: We can do better than this, in reply to Carol Stewart,
It’s over to you, Pete, to identify a left-leaning blogger with even a tenth of the venality and vindictiveness of WhaleOil.
Why?
Why shouldn't I confront any level of venality and vindictiveness? We should be prepared to confront dirt at any level, surely?
Russell's post is titled "We can do better than this." Quibbling about whether it is as extreme as Slater or not and doing nothing if it's not is a part of the problem. 'We' won't do any better than this if we excuse most of the dirtiness for whatever excuse we can think of.
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Hard News: We can do better than this, in reply to ,
Keir - have you read that thread? Two comments allege much more than what you're claiming.
Dismissing dirt as 'not as dirty as Slater' sets an awfully poor standard - especially alongside another post there today titled Left wing blogs aren’t “the same” - if they want to criticise some else's standards they should try having some of their own.
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Hard News: We can do better than this, in reply to Keir Leslie,
Because blog comments like that are an insidious part of dirty politics. No one so far has challenged it. And the blog lets them go while being draconian on other far less serious things - that makes the blog as dirty as any.
Maybe the moderators are busy but I've seen plenty of dirt allowed to keep running.
You couldn't get much a much worse accusation or insinuation than that - you would understand if you were on the receiving end.
And it's old too - "That rumour’s been circulating Wellington for a long time, but I can’t substantiate it." Dirty politics.
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Hard News: We can do better than this, in reply to Keir Leslie,
I think Collins is heading for the exits, but I don’t know if that’s enough now.
Better late than never but there's significant damage been done in the meantime. As far as enough goes, Ede should have already been dealt to publicly as well.