Guilty 2: Taito Philip Field
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A jury in the long running Taito Phillip Field trial has found him guilty of most of the corruption and obstruction charges laid against him.
He has been found guilty of eleven corruption charges and not guilty of one other corruption charge.
The former MP was also convicted of 26 bribery and obstruction charges out of 35 put to him.
43 Responses
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DPF,
My take on it is here - http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2009/08/fields_guilt_and_labours_shame.html
Dr Cullen especially should be feeling very very sorry about the comments he made after the Ingram report came out.
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Admirably quick response, but you might want to do some proofreading, David, to maintian your usual standards.
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No, I didn't do that deliberately..
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This morning's Herald article on the Field family's reaction made me cringe:
"We were good to them, we let them stay and look what they have done," she said.
Yes, look at all the tiling work they have done. Isn't it fabulous?
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This morning's Herald article on the Field family's reaction made me cringe
Depressing but not surprising, don't you think? Still, one might think if Labour was running a vast white conspiracy to do the man in, Noel Ingram wouldn't have been hobbled from the start (and found what was supposed to be a couple of week's work extend into the best part of nine months) and the resulting report would have immediately been referred to Police. If Labour was guilty of anything, it was bending over backwards not to provoke the man.
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I agree. Ask around any family group after a member has been found guilty, and you'll find at least one juicy quote or soundbite.
I don't think Labour's guilty of anything other than political expediency in not dumping Field immediately. They no doubt hoped there was nothing to the allegations and that an enquiry would take the political heat out of the matter.
The likes of DPF are now feigning righteous indignation, which doesn't surprise but isn't justified. At least there was an enquiry over Field's behaviour. How about Richard Worth's? I'm not suggesting Worth's done anything criminal. But there was no transparency in the decision to dump Worth.
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Lew over at kiwipolitico has a good perspective, excising the quote of the day from kiwiblog so the rest of us don't have wade through the gloating racist dross to find the one interesting nugget.
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The likes of DPF are now feigning righteous indignation, which doesn't surprise but isn't justified. At least there was an enquiry over Field's behaviour. How about Richard Worth's? I'm not suggesting Worth's done anything criminal. But there was no transparency in the decision to dump Worth.
There was no transparency in the decision to dump Field either. He clearly should have been dumped for corruption, but the QC report was strangled so as to be half useless, and then he was held onto for long months until he said he would consider standing for his new party.
I'd rather have them dumped and not know why than have them not dumped and know that they should be.
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In the light of the self-righteous gloating by the white bread over at kiwiblog at the the Philip Field verdict, I give you this story via Hot Topic. It raises interesting questions about what constitutes "corruption." We all now know that some normalised Pacific Island practices are - rightly - judged as corrupt in this country.
But is it corruption for a single, secretive, mega-rich oligarch created by the post 1984 economic reforms to buy a political parties policy in an important area of debate?
It definitely of interest that two Nactional cabinet ministers owe their jobs to a climate change denier and economic crackpot.
read it and weap folks - and by the way, this is the sort of mildly investigative story the traditional media has completely abandoned doing the research for in lieu of ambulance chasing and ghoulish crime of the day stories, and why the better bloggers are gaining more and more market share.
"...In its election spending return to the Electoral Commission, ACT reveals that on April 9th 2008 Gibbs paid $100,000 into the party’s coffers. Within weeks, the party’s new climate denial line was being pushed to the press.
Interviewed by Gordon Campbell for Scoop back in May 2008, Hide — while adopting an overtly sceptical, do-as-little-as-possible stance — was prepared to at least acknowledge the IPCC reports as a starting point for discussion. Within months, however, he was ready to declare in a speech to ACT’s southern region conference:
"...I remain sceptical that greenhouse gases are the cause of a global warming."
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TomS
You are doing a great job of diversion Tom, keep it up
Quick look over here........Meanwhile any person who thought Labour was for the small man can...
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There was no transparency in the decision to dump Field either.
At least when Field was shifted quietly out the back door we had a basic understanding of the reason why, even if it was not absolutely transparent. With Worth we've heard lots of rumours, but still have no clear idea why he was booted out.
And I'm not trying to justify how Labour handled the Field matter. They'd be the first to admit it was a cock-up from start to finish. But I get annoyed when DPF and others go on attack as if the Nats are somehow holier.
And I realise DPF is just doing his job as loyal National Party lackey. Just as the folk over at The Standard are doing their bit to argue the expenses "scandal" is evidence the Nats are evil and will eat our babies.
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The likes of DPF are now feigning righteous indignation
At the moment, I think DPF is rather pissed off about being accused by The Standard of fabricating a quote -- and I don't blame him, but that's by the bye.
And, personally, what really pissed me off was the people who ran a frankly disgraceful play of the racist card (you bigots just don't understand the "Pacific way" of doing things). At the time, I was pretty intemperate in blasting the latter but what pissed me off that the overwhelming majority of constituency MPs and their staff -- regardless of ethnicity or party -- take their interactions with people in need extremely seriously, and behave with unquestionable tact and integrity.
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And, personally, what really pissed me off was the people who ran a frankly disgraceful play of the racist card (you bigots just don't understand the "Pacific way" of doing things).
I'm not sure that's limited to any particular end of the political spectrum either:
However there has also been some guarded sympathy for Field.
"He was trying to help people in his style, naive in the way he did it...came back and bit him," says Arthur Anae, former National MP.
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I'm not sure that's limited to any particular end of the political spectrum either:
No it isn't -- and while I'm not holding my breath waiting, Noel Ingram is owed apologies after being accused of -- depending on which direction the froth was coming from -- drawing things out to line his pocket or being a tool of the VRWC trying to bring the Government down. Personally, I suspect the poor bastard isn't going to be taking any more calls from the Beehive. :)
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Personally, I suspect the poor bastard isn't going to be taking any more calls from the Beehive. :)
And yet I'm sure Ingram found some consolation in the $479K he charged.
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We all now know that some normalised Pacific Island practices are - rightly - judged as corrupt in this country.
Valid point, one I have been espousing since day one. This had every opportunity to become a "Racist" issue, or more correctly, a "culturalist" issue. Had these Pacific Island norms been appropriated by the west Clinton would, more than likely, still be president. Think about it.
Oh, and while I'm here. Craig, have you lurched to the rational Left or has this forum stumbled to the irrational Right?. There is far too much agreement here. ;-) -
And yet I'm sure Ingram found some consolation in the $479K he charged.
Now, that is real Class.
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We all now know that some normalised Pacific Island practices are - rightly - judged as corrupt in this country.
I wonder if it actually might not have been so bad for Field without all the obstruction of justice stuff. You could argue custom on the "help" and subsequent recompense, certainly not on what followed.
Even after 4000 pages of evidence it clearly hadn't dawned on Field that he'd broken the law. But I think I've said before here that the one time I met him, in the early 90s, he struck me as a remarkably arrogant man.
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The thing is, not for the first time has nickle and diming corruption been vigorously dealt with, whilst no one is asking if it amounts to corrupt practice to buy a political parties climate change policy.
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the one time I met him, in the early 90s, he struck me as a remarkably arrogant man.
The concept of Mana, as explained to me by the late Matiu Rata, touched on this point. I can't quote directly because I didn't write it down but irc a simple explaination was Mana is an aquired and deserved arrogance, a sence of entitlement derived fron the respect afforded to you by your people. Or something akin to that, I'm sure Islander will correct me if I misunderstood.
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Excuse the typos and spelling. I seem to be a little foggy today.
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|There was no transparency in the decision to dump Field either.
At least when Field was shifted quietly out the back door we had a basic understanding of the reason why, even if it was not absolutely transparent. With Worth we've heard lots of rumours, but still have no clear idea why he was booted out.
I would suggest that if you're prepared to read between the lines, you can infer a reasonably clear "basic understanding" about the Worth case too...
My guess is the PM "lost confidence" when he found himself personally misled...
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I always understood mana to include humility.
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I always understood mana to include humility.
What I understood from his explanation was that it didn't, but if you didn't retain the respect of your people then you would be regarded as being arrogant (can't remember the right expression, help?) and be sent to Coventry (or whatever the Aotearoian equivelent is, Timaru?)
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Self-assurance is one thing but being a tosser crosses cultures.
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