Matthew Hooton speaks out about Sabin and Key.

Nicky Hager

 This is a straight reproduction of a blog published by the NBR...remember Matthew Hooton is a big fan of and ex-employee of the National Party... In his report he states clearly what is the view of many, many followers of the NZ Political scene.

After reading this you may like to attend the visit of Investigative Journalist and author Nicky Hager at Te Manawa at 6.30 pm on Monday the 30th of March...   

Matthew Hooton wrote:

Matthew Hooton

Of course, National might still win.
Year after year, John Carter’s Northland electorate won internal party plaudits for its huge membership.  For this weekend’s by-election, no less than the economic development, regulatory reform, science and innovation, tertiary education, skills and employment and associate finance minister took full personal control of the campaign.  Pretty much the whole cabinet was whisked in by ministerial limo.
The Public Finance Act was assaulted with election bribes.  John Key cut short his state visit to Japan to hit the mean streets of Moerewa.  Dark stories were told about the risk to Tim Groser’s free-trade agreement with Korea if National were to need the support of UnitedFuture’s Peter Dunne.
Luckily for National, the Labour candidate’s name remains on the ballot paper.  Maybe there’s some methodological flaw in Wednesday’s TV3 Reid Research poll that gave the edge to Winston Peters.

Sigh of relief

Ex-cop Mike Sabin

At the time of writing, National had also been spared the full story becoming public about the resignation of former MP Mike Sabin.  Those close to Mr Peters suggested he would return to Wellington before the by-election to reveal all under parliamentary privilege.  Instead, the NZ First leader elected to stay in Northland talking about his proposal to expand the port at Marsden Point, a referendum on cannabis and his forthcoming bill to remove name suppression from alleged paedophiles if victims say they don’t want it and to launch a register for parents to check there are no sex offenders in their neighbourhood.
No doubt there was a sigh of relief at National Party Headquarters.  But that may be short-sighted.
Arguably it would be better for National had the full Sabin story become known well before by-election day.
Fragments are on the public record: that Mr Sabin has been under police investigation since August, that Mr Key was “happy” for him to remain chairman of the law and order select committee overseeing the police budget while that investigation was under way, and that Mr Sabin resigned “due to personal issues … best dealt with outside Parliament.”
Mr Sabin himself is no longer that important: the police and any other relevant arms of government will now deal with him as they see fit. 
But Mr Key’s government stands accused of somehow covering up after Mr Sabin, with Labour leader Andrew Little going so far as to say he believes Mr Key is lying.
That is not entirely implausible.  Although NBR has been unable to substantiate allegations the National Party top brass knew all about Mr Sabin as far back as before the 2011 election, police commissioner Mike Bush has made clear that he and his officers did not “drop the ball” when it came to informing the Beehive about the Sabin investigation in August.
Mr Bush has not commented further.

Anne Tolley

The Beehive line is that Mr Bush told police minister Anne Tolley about the investigation in August – and her successor Michael Woodhouse after the election – but didn’t name the MP concerned. Nor, we are meant to believe, did Ms Tolley or Mr Woodhouse ask.
The Beehive will not answer questions about whether or not either passed this information to Mr Key or his office. Answering such questions, according to chief of staff Wayne Eagleson, would violate the privacy of natural persons.
Public duties
If the Beehive’s account of the Sabin matter is true, then Mr Key’s government has become deeply dysfunctional.  Reflect on the type of conversation we are being asked to believe happened, just weeks before a general election:
“Minister,” says Mr Bush, “you need to know that we’re investigating an MP for assault.”
“Cheers,” says Ms Tolley. “Thanks for letting me know.”
Given the proximity to the election, Ms Tolley in fact had a public duty to ask the commissioner who was involved.  Was it Mr Key or David Cunliffe, the candidates for prime minister?  Was it Bill English, David Parker or Russel Norman, the candidates for finance minister?  Or Murray McCully, David Shearer or Mr Peters, the candidates for foreign minister?  Maybe Judith Collins or Mr Little, the candidates for justice minister?
Even if Ms Tolley neglected her duties to the public, is it plausible her political duty to the prime minister didn’t lead her to inquire?  “Please god, let it be Cunliffe!” she would surely have thought.
Mr Woodhouse’s story is just as odd. When briefed by Mr Bush after the election, we’re told he too ignored his public and political duties to inquire further.
Perhaps even more incredible is Mr Eagleson’s claim that, when he was contacted on November 26 by Labour’s chief of staff Matt McCarten about the Sabin situation – which he says he already knew about from others – he waited until the following week to mention it to the prime minister, who remained, he claims, utterly ignorant until December 1.
“Prime Minister,” the Beehive says Mr Eagleson or his underlings never said, “we have a problem.  We’ve just been called by the opposition, which has some serious dirt on Sabin, and it’s all around town because we’ve heard about it from others a while ago.  You might be asked questions about it as soon as today.”
Are such calls from the opposition really so routine they don’t get escalated?
The risk for Mr Key is that if the full Sabin story becomes known in a week, a month, six months or a year, it will look as if his government covered it up not just through a general election campaign but then again through the by-election as well.  The clock keeps ticking.

An hour in the life of Nathan Guy.

“Hi Nathan have you got a minute”, asked John Key.

“Sure, for you boss I’ve got an hour”, said the Guy named Nathan.

“Oh, I don’t want an hour, I haven’t got time for an hour Nathan, and an hour with you is simply too long for what I’ve got to say, as you know Nathan baby I’m quick off the block, I flash in one direction then like a flash I reverse direction and charge forward at a rapid rate of knots…into the unknown, especially unknown by the media and in particular that God Damned TV 3 big head John Campbell, now there is a rat-bag if ever- there- was- one”, said John [Motor-mouth] key all in one breath.

“You flash! You are a flasher”, said Nathan absolutely shocked, he knew Key was a little bit strange, but a flasher, is that why he spends so much time in Hawaii, I wonder if he has flashed in front of Hekia Parata, Paula Bennett or Judith Collins he thought to himself, maybe even Louise Upston, she was not called the chief whip for nothing.

“What’s that Nathan, speak up and speed up, you’re so slow, and is it true that you suffered a serious head injury during your rugby playing days? Key asked completely forgetting what ever it was that Nathan had said. He must remember to listen more, but listening is so boring, and most people who talk to me are idiots…not Steven Joyce, Obama, and my wife…they are OK because they always agree with me.

“At least I’m not a flasher”, said Nathan thinking how low in the food chain flashers were, absolutely disgusting, flashing their thing-a-bob, yuck. A millionaire flasher…gee whiz…another NZ first for Key and Merrill Lynch@rich.com.

“Now Nathan what’s all this I hear about you limiting the Snapper catch from nine to three for recreational fishers, that’s a bit mean isn’t it? John Key asked, hoping for quick agreement.

“Don’t you remember Mr. PM what you asked me to do”, said Nathan.

“I asked you to do something, why the hell would I do that, are you sure you’ve never had a head injury playing rugby, you were in the front-row were you not”, said the flasher better known these days as the Prime Minister.

You said I was to create a diversion for when the heat went on the GCSB stuff up, well we had the Fonterra cock up, and you told me that you’d try the old ‘change the flag’ thing first and if that failed then the snapper catch was to be used…and as far as I know, your flag crap was washed down the drain. I followed your orders word for word”. Said Nathan Guy Minister in the Key Cabinet who had developed a powerful feeling that he was about to be asked to fall on his sword. And that’s really messy, all that blood…yuck it’s like playing for the All-Blacks…against South Africa.

“Right Nathan, I know you’ve done your very best, but I need a spot in the cabinet for a deal I did, you know a willing buyer, a willing seller…”, muttered John Key.

“You’re not going to have ‘Shampoo’ Dunne back in the cabinet…no way…he’s an eel, slippery beyond belief…shouted a Nathan named Guy, while stamping his feet. I mean really John at least I don’t make heaps of calls to… what’s her name, Andrea Vance and spend half my time leaking secrets to the media and Steven Joyce’s radio stations. So why me I’ve been loyal, kept my boots clean, I’ve even learned a bit about computers and Fonterra why me John?

John handed Nathan a tissue to wipe the tears from his cheeks, and then he said, “This is bigger than just you Nathan, its for Queen and country, Obama and freedom, for Fonterra, Hollywood, Sir Peter Jackson, for 100% clean and green, the GCSB, Sky City Casino, Ian Fletcher and his many relations but mostly its for me, the worlds most important leader. Resigning is the right thing to do”, said flasher Key as he adjusted his tie.

There was total silence you could have heard a ten dollar note land on the carpet, Key was awaiting Nathan’s capitulation, his meek acceptance of his forced resignation, his demotion and move to the back bench. The silent assassin had struck again, removed an impediment to his insatiable ambition…A victory for Merrill Lynch style management, for power over honesty, hate over love. God bless America he muttered.

The silence was broken by a clearly pronounced word, a word so powerful that it could bring down a government, and put the elected national party representative of Otaki on the front pages of the nations main stream media…The word was NO.

Nathan Guy suddenly felt human again, the word NO echoed around the room, Key called for his security GCSB guard to bring him a class of gin and tonic. But Nathan gained new invigorating energy and said…I resign and since I am an elected member I will remain in Parliament and if Hone Harawira will have me I’ll join the Mana Movement, because I now know that his opinion about you John was and is correct…

Go and flash on your own…and I hope that one day you’ll get caught with your pants down by TV 3’s John Campbell show…    



Waitangi, facts vs. Fiction.

Waitangi Day has come and gone but the debate about things Maori continues. It is really strange that those who oppose the Treaty often like to create the picture that the Treaty process somehow bestows on Maori ‘special privileges’ that others don’t receive.

Don Esslemont a broadcaster on AccessManawatu Radio constantly refers to Maori as Part-Maori and also constantly reminds us that he believes in ‘one law for all’. Sometimes I think that he does protest too much. But be that as it may Don of course fails to comprehend the difference between rights and privileges, the rights in the case of Maori were bestowed when the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between 40 Maori leaders and one Englishman on behalf of the Queen. Later the English ignored those rights. Only the rich or royalty have privileges and the rest have rights when they can get them that is.

In spite of the English betrayal, the Maori people and the new [Settlers], for the most part, lived in peace, they intermarried. They fought in all the Wars that NZ entered on behalf of the British Crown and died in their thousands to keep their betrayers in power here and around the world.

Yet after all this they still didn’t demand ‘Special Privileges’, privileges like being able to speak their language in public schools, being able to vote individually on land issues rather than collectively.

As the British racist policy of divide and rule, as practiced throughout their captured territories, decreased and once NZ citizens took control over their own now independent behaviours, NZ as a Nation via its democratic process decided to honour the Treaty between Maori and the British Crown.

The Waitangi Tribunal was the pathway for making progress in that direction; the British apartheid system was at last dead in the water here but remained in South Africa and Australia. In fact the effect of the shift from injustice to justice has been dynamic and even today Scotland is moving to independence from British rule using a similar process. And thousands if not millions of part-Scots are looking forward to a taste of real democracy.

Don in his discussions with himself likes to suggest that those alive today should not be held responsible for the past behaviour and there is some truth in that when dealing with individuals. But the bad behaviour lies and theft was not simply carried out by individuals but by the Crown or the State in its name.

The treaty was signed between two States one Maori and the other British, therefore wrongs can be corrected. There is nothing privileged about that because the States still exists, it hasn’t changed.

Just imagine if this process was followed throughout the British Isles, Canada, and The USA what a fairer and more equal world we would live in.

On the same subject having Grant Miller of the Manawatu Standard [Monday 6^th of February 2012] lecturing us on the word Mana was a bit like being taught honesty by Richard Nixon or intelligence by George W Bush or even financial wizardry by an Italian named Ponzi. Grants request for Hone Harawira to control his nephew Wi Popata is also rather strange. Should I hold Grant Miller’s father or uncle responsible for Grants penmanship? Once again Grant creates the impression that Maori are asking for special treatment…they are not, they are simply asking for justice. When have they ever received justice or anything for that matter, without having to protest and fight for it. The PM knew the protest was coming in fact he encouraged it and as we have now seen the main stream media obliged as did the protesters, and to suggest that the protesters are 'less classy citizens' sure proves to me who is racist. Still his item was just an opinion and we are all allowed our opinion, no matter how farfetched.

Grant should read http://tumeke.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/on-waitangi-day.html to get a greater perspective on just what Waitangi means I’m sure it would help his education over this subject more that simply reading John Keys press releases…

Mathew Hooten that ex-national party employee and right wing blogger suggests there is no real problem between the Nat’s and the Maori Party and that it’s all the fault of the Unite Union and the Mana Party and that John Key was simply worn out after his lengthy holiday in Hawaii [poor fellow] and that’s the reason why he is not grinning [smirking] lately.

VICTORY, PM CAVES IN...

The power of the people has been demonstrated, John Key has caved in because over six thousand people put the pressure on...it proves that he is popularity driven and lacks any real backbone. Here is the good news...thanks to all involved..

Dear Peter,

Incredible news. Moments ago John Key’s government got directly in touch with the Auckland Sexual Abuse Crisis Centre, committing to “continued funding for the next 6 months” and pledging to work with them to ensure “a sustainable service for the future”.

It’s an extraordinary victory -- for you and everyone else who has been part of the explosion of support for Kirsty McCully’s Change.org petition to save the centre.

Just a few short days ago things weren’t looking good. Funding was running desperately low, staff were about to be laid off and almost no one in the public or media was paying attention to the plight of the centre. No one in government was admitting they had responsibility -- in fact no one would even return the centre’s desperate calls.

Kirsty McCully used to work at the centre as a researcher into the prevention of sexual violence in Auckland. She worked alongside what she described as “tireless and committed crisis line counselling staff” and saw how they “are there for people when no one else is, and when no one else understands”.

Kirsty could not accept the closure of this critical service -- so she started a Change.org petition to John Key, and worked overtime to contact friends, family, staff and anyone she could think of to get involved. Support for her campaign exploded across the country, as thousands joined her in an urgent call to save the centre.

More than seven thousand people signed Kirsty’s petition on Change.org, hundreds posted messages directly to John Key on his Facebook wall, and media attention took off. In fact, PM Key was even questioned about his plans for the centre at a press conference today.

It’s an extraordinary example of people power, and a testament to the power of anyone, anywhere to start, join and win campaigns about issues they care about.

Thank you -- for being a part of saving this critical service, for the sexual abuse survivors who will now have somewhere to turn at their darkest moments, and for the staff who can now continue focusing on their important front line work.

Nick, Suzanne, Bobbi, Tony, Nathan and the Change.org team.

P.S. Kirsty has won an incredible victory today -- but if there’s something else that you’re passionate about changing in your community, you can start your own Change.org petition at any time. Click here to get started.

P.P.S. If you want to sign up to hear ongoing updates about Auckland Sexual Abuse Help Centre, or become an ongoing supporter, you can sign up to their email list here.

John Key smiling assassin or hero? You decide...



John Key The smiling Assassin

Looking at the History of John Key in relation to his financial abilities here are some facts and figures regarding his major employer Merrill Lynch and their general performance…

·         Key's first job was in 1982, as an auditor at McCulloch Menzies, and he then moved to be a project manager at Christchurch-based clothing manufacturer Lane Walker Rudkin for two years.

·         Key began working as a foreign exchange dealer at Elders Finance in Wellington, and rose to the position of head foreign exchange trader two years later, then moved to Auckland-based Bankers Trust in 1988.

·         In 1995, he joined Merrill Lynch as head of Asian foreign exchange in Singapore. That same year he was promoted to Merrill's global head of foreign exchange, based in London, where he may have earned around US$2.25 million a year including bonuses, which is about NZ$5 million at 2001 exchange rates. Some co-workers called him "the smiling assassin" for maintaining his usual cheerfulness while sacking dozens (some say hundreds) of staff after heavy losses from the 1998 Russian financial crisis. He was a member of the Foreign Exchange Committee of the New York Federal Reserve Bank from 1999 to 2001.

·         In 2001, he headed back to New Zealand to fulfill a long held ambition to stand for Parliament for the National Party.

It was fortunate that he did because Merrill Lynch went into free-fall:

·         In 2002, Merrill Lynch settled for a fine of $100 million for publishing misleading research. As part of the agreement with the New York attorney general and other state securities regulators, Merrill Lynch agreed to increase research disclosure and work to decouple research from investment banking. A well known analyst at Merrill Lynch named Henry Blodget wrote in company e-mails in which Blodget gave assessments about stocks which conflicted with what was publicly published by Merrill. In 2003, he was charged with civil securities fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He settled without admitting or denying the allegations and was subsequently barred from the securities industry for life. He paid a $2 million fine and $2 million disgorgement. The CEO at that time, David Komansky, said, "I want...to publicly apologize to our clients, our shareholders, and our employees," for the company falling short of its professional standards in research.

·         In 2004 convictions of Merrill executives marked the only instance in the Enron investigation where the government criminally charged any officials from the banks and securities firms that allegedly helped the energy giant execute its accounting fraud. The case revolved around a 1999 transaction involving Merrill, Enron and the sale of some electricity-producing barges off the coast of Nigeria. The charges surrounded the 1999 sale of an interest in Nigerian energy barges by an Enron entity to Merrill Lynch was a sham that allowed Enron to illegally book about $12 million in pretax profit, when in fact there was no real sale and no real profit. Four former Merrill top executives and two former midlevel Enron officials faced conspiracy and fraud charges. Merrill cut its own deal, firing bankers and agreeing to the outside oversight of its structured-finance transactions. It also settled civil fraud charges brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, without admitting or denying fault.

·         In 2002 Merrill Lynch settled for 10 million civil penalties as a result of improper activities that took place out of the firm's Fort Lee New Jersey office. Three financial advisors, and a fourth who was involved to a lesser degree, placed 12,457 trades for a client Millennium Partners in at least 521 mutual funds and 63 mutual fund sub-accounts of at least 40 variable annuities. Millennium made profits in over half of the funds and fund sub-accounts. In those funds where Millennium made profits, its gains totaled about $60 million. Merrill Lynch failed to reasonably supervise these financial advisers, whose market timing siphoned short-term profits out of mutual funds and harmed long-term investors.

More recent Controversies with Key as PM were:

·         During the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, Key was a proponent of Hosni Mubarak's government, citing his support of Israel and refusing to call for his resignation. When asked if Mubarak should step down, he said "no".

·         In 2011, Key was caught up in a controversy over the purchase of government limousines which he denied knowledge of initially but later reports surfaced his office was aware. He was accused of being dishonest and eventually apologised, calling the deal sloppy.

·         In October 2011, Key made a statement where he claimed Standard and Poor's had said at a meeting in the prior month that "if there was a change of Government, that downgrade would be much more likely", this claim was contradicted by S&P after Key's credibility had been called into question.  

Epsom Cafe Tea Cup reading revealed






Banks & Key and magic black bag.

 

NEWS FLASH; CONTENT OF TAPE RELEASED VIA EAVESDROPPER.

An Eavesdropper friend at the Herald on Sunday sent me this transcript of John Key’s and John Bank’s conversation at a local café in Epsom;

JK “Tea’s nice”.

JB “Yes I agree”

JK “It’s good to kiss baddies, sorry I mean babies”

JB “I agree”

JK “It’s good to see so many of the media here”

JB “I agree”

JK “Is there anything you don’t agree with”

JB “Only if you say it’s OK to disagree”

JK “Brash is a bit of a twit”

JB “I agree”

JK “I doubt I’ll need the Act Party next term”

JB “I agree”

JK “You agree! Are you sure?

JB “Well, you have not told me not to, and orders must be obeyed”

JK “So if you are elected and you bring Don Brash as baggage and since he is your leader you’ll have to obey his orders, is that correct?

JB “I don’t know how to answer that, but I’d sooner obey your orders”.

JK “That’s nice to know”

JB “I agree”.

The rest of the tape is un-publishable because it contains swear words and language of an adult nature, such as the buying of Italian and Greek shares etc from the sale of our assets…and Banks becoming Minister of Nothingness assisting Steven Joyce…etc etc