http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/home-utah-town-forgets-hold-election-20953744

Yes, I know. That’s why, in the absence of threats, coercion, being underage, or suffering from some sort of intellectual disability or mental illness, I don’t see her as a victim in this relationship, at all, and find any suggestion that…

No, I'm quite happy with Ernst & Young. Just pointing out that if the CEO was…

As in Leveson or Finkelstein? Better still, I can't think of a better…

Oh, FFS… if you take that to the reductio ad absurdum you can’t trust Ernst & Young either, because who commission…

Ah cool.

We always did. You should really read the legislation.

The review is being conducted independently, by Ernst & Young, and the terms could hardly be broader:

* Any use of council…

Up to a point, Lord Copper. Up to a point. :)

I loved the bit about how the DC friends were so shocked and disgusted that it could have rebounded on him. Because Washington spin doctors are such an unimpeachable source of moral guidance.

I'd need more information, I'm afraid. Blackmail is defined by section 237 of the Crimes Act:

__ 37 Blackmail

(1) Every one commits blackmail who threatens, expressly or by implication, to make any accusation against any…

But he's done nothing wrong! He said so, repeatedly, in that hideous Herald interview. #tui

LOL!

Could explain the hasty departure from the country of Wewege.

And if so, Graeme…?

IANAG, but the punishment, if it is blackmail, can be up to 14 years in prison. It's a very serious crime.

My thoughts exactly. And if so, Graeme...?

More than that, does it constitute blackmail? Graeme could fill us in on that.

That's really appalling.

Yes, but that's not quite what you said in your…

Was quite gobsmacking to me when I lived there for a year or so in the mid-90's. Although I'm not quite sure if 'acceptance' is exactly…

I wondered about that influence #guv

Contrast that with…

The actions of Brown and Banks do, to me at…

Google "hate is not a family value", and it's out there. Unfortunately such a campaign seems a bit scattershot, compared with the fundy elements.

What a strange idea.

Imagine a world in which "family values" were compassion, love, and inclusiveness. Instead of judgment, prudishness, and hypocrisy.

Len Brown still honorary president of family values organisation

Auckland Mayor Len Brown will retain his position as honorary president of a family values organisation despite his extra-marital…

Am now having to swab snorted tea from between keys on my desktop.

Yes IQ is a flawed measure of general intelligence. Generally reducing anything even slightly complex to a single number is questionable IMO.

One could argue that if it doesn't cloud the brain, you're doing it wrong.

Intelligent people are perfectly capable of behaving irrationally. Sexual desire is somewhat famous for clouding the brain.

Stupidity is not inherent, for Brown and Banks their stupidity is an…

But seriously, if you can't fill in an accurate and complete election return (which hundreds of people do every electoral cycle) you should be trusted to run a country? And, yeah, it's a shame Banks couldn't benefit from…

Banks has his day in court before we can say he did…

Yeah, neither had anything to gain but money or sex.…

After some reflection I must correct myself Banks and Brown are equally and triumphantly stupid.

Stupidity is not inherent, for Brown and Banks their stupidity is an…

I'm sorry if this is beginning to resemble a pile-on, Dexter, but that's nonsense. Banks is facing charges of knowingly making a false election return, which happens to be a statutory declaration hundreds of individuals…

One has been dishonest in private life, the other is accused of dishonesty in his job and our democratic process.

I guess I'd say it was stupid of Brown to have the affair, though all too common. I don't think it was so stupid that he should lose his elected position (given what we know so far).

Banks appears to have deliberated subverted electoral…

They are comparably stupid, so there.

The PM's response:
"I don't believe the National Party has been involved at all. There may be people that knew about it who are members of the National Party or at least vague sort of details," he said. "

Banks is facing a criminal charge. Their situations are not comparable.

Indeed, it only makes one human. I realised long ago that no amount of intelligence gives any kind of immunity to stupidity.

Simon Wilson is wrong. What he should have said is "Brown did something really stupid".

Doing something stupid does not make one an idiot.

Seriously though, he screwed up very publicly, but a character flaw isn't necessarily the same as a criminal offence, even though they can overlap.

Just to put this out there, Dexter, perhaps the staff and parents of Three Kings Primary School were even less keen than the Mayor to have their children turned into set decoration for a lurid press scrum that was obsessed with the Mayor's penis?

A point well – however if…

A few things now seem clear. One is that Brown is an idiot. Another is that the stench of depravity emanating from this affair comes largely from Slater and his little gang, not from Brown and his…

And IIRC, the barely sub-text to that sacking to Worth’s sacking was the real death knell to any any politician’s “longevity”: __Never ever lie,…

So was Chuang. She's 32. Age isn't…

No. Worth was sacked by the PM after Key learned…

Well, he doesn't know what he's talking about then. Jones' offence was charging his porn to the taxpayer.

Just to put this…

Life…

Two parts to this for me (maybe three).

First, a lot of folks find an extramarital affair to be a fairly mundane and ultimately personal issue rather than a subject for public outrage.…

*(NB there is a lot of NSFW graphic explorations amongst it…

Yes – it may be hard for him – but he should just turn up and do the job he was elected to do and make no further comment on matters till the report comes out or a furher truck load of shit…

Look at the turn around in the polls and then tell me he's not already winning the game. (I mean no one is really winning out of the whole thing, but some are losing it worse than others.)

But he can't win this media game, can he? He refuses to do interviews, cue the pompous, self-important "outrage to democracy" bullshit from the likes of John Armstrong. He doesn't…

Well, Len Brown did with the “interview article” yesterday in the Herald – I just can't believe he won't STFU.

I would suggest the next time for Len Brown to comment is when the investigation (independent or otherwise) into…

Or, just to get crazy for a moment, you could call off the pity party and…

Have you googled your name lately?

I am fed up though (based on recent personal experiences) of liars who threaten 'defamation' when put on the spot. That may be what is happening here – who knows?

Also. . .

I am pissed off at…

“leverage his authority to pester a junior for sex” was what you said . That’s pretty much the definition of “abusive stalker”, isn’t it?
Since there's no…

Where did I call Len Brown an 'abusive stalker'?

I don't recall calling him a 'stalker', and while his treatment of Bevan appears poor, I am not sure it qualifies as 'abuse' – at least not of her. Abuse…

As I’ve noted before, it’s funny that the actual matters of potential substance – the reference, the…

M'kay, Seamus. It's been fun playing Whack-A-Troll, but the next time you want to call Brown an…

I'm not sure I follow. You are saying that I'm somehow in cahoots with a rightist clique of criminal dogs? And here was me thinking the Cultural Revolution…

Kohimarama? Well done.

I'm not in Kohimarama right now though, and haven't been for some time, so better dig harder. I'm easy enough to track down.

At least he hasn't claimed he suffers from Prestadidwicks Congena.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mudc1IAOPrE

I don't uncritically accept as fact anything that Bevan Chuang is reported to have said, beyond…

Quite – and I think reasonable people would hear some other downright criminal dogs being whistled…

It's also been denied by the hotels concerned. So that accusation's a dead duck.

I think most people are balancing out the good work Len's done, who would win if he lost his supporters, the sordid…

And you are welcome not to be an ass who requires editing!

ask the Board

I'm out of here. Something unexpected has come up, so seems I get to escape the pollution and head somewhere sunny for a few days.

I expect Craig is suggesting you're risking Russell's site getting held for libel by making claims that you don't have a shred of personal evidence for, that could be damaging to the mayor's reputation.

And Seamus, say what you like on your own blog, if you defame people here it gets Russell into trouble.

Two people have threatened to sue me for defamation in the past couple of years. Both are pathological liars who resort to these weak threats to shut people up. Mayor Brown is more than…

Others answered this better. What you're saying is true for employees in private companies, although it doesn't automatically get people sacked – if they're good at their jobs they are more likely to get a warning. It…

Aim is crucial

And anything involving wilful hypocrisy. Like Graham Capill's kiddy fiddling or David Garrett's passport fraud.

You know, Seamus, I think it would not only be tasteful and fair-minded but legally prudent to stop framing consensual sex (and neither party involved has said it was anything else) as… well, that.

http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Hamish-Coleman-Ross-Palino-Auckland-must-hear-you/tabid/721/articleID/38516/Default.aspx

Probably true. But the mayor is not an employee, and isn't subject to employment law standards. So it is a false equivalence.

Furthermore, there's a number of different standards that apply to different "workplaces". For example, having…

Anyway, some consider wanking in the office to be reasonable:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2giBAfDOGw

It is bloody weird, I'll give you that at the very least.

On the bright side he may have then met John Key with a shake of the hand.

So where does one draw the line? Everyone's opinion will differ, but to me, for the…

Tis possible to agree with you on that, but not on consequences.

I doubt he feels above it. He thought he could get away with an…

I guess identifying what that is depends where you are coming from, in a pretty basic way. If you prefer handling one issue at a time..

(dirty little bugger meme)

If we're not discussing it, it's because it's not relevant to the mayoral role.…

Someday he will be the most powerful mayor ever.

Who did I vote for?

It must have been Darth Vader, right?

Actually I am in China, so I don't think I was eligible to vote – though through my rates on Auckland property I still begrudgingly fund the Mayoral workplace bonk-fest.

But since you want to classify me,…

As far as I'm concerned, Illicit (but consensual) shagging has no bearing on fitness for the job. And we'll have to wait and see how far the job reference and so on went when the auditors come back.

Not even…

I'm mostly just amazed at the way Public Address readers seem interested in dissecting anything and everything other than the central issue – that Len Brown feels above being held to any kind of behavioral standards.

I've…

Also, has the mayor not been trumping civic process in swinging ratepayer funded jobs for his shag? I don't think this is part of his job description.

I'm curious where you think the harm done to her was, prior to her foolishly telling a porn merchant and a blogger notorious for ruining everything he touches. Prior to…

though she isn't really that, in either organisational or age terms – 32 is an adult everywhere, isn't it? Grandparent in some instances.

But the challenge with elected governers vs employed staff is how to set the mechanisms of accountability so you don't get people trying to use them to trump civic process – like in this instance, as it turns out.

I guess what I was saying is that the harm to someone else of you laughing in your own head at someone's name is quite minimal compared to doing it on national tv or all over the twitter verse.

Despite enormous pressure and public condemnation, including being…

From the Harman article, it sounds like an old-money vs new-money tussle on the surface of it.

Brewer snubs mayor :
Cameron Brewer was re-elected unopposed as the councillor for the Orakei ward and was announced as the running mate of right-wing mayoral candidate John Palino two weeks before votes were counted.

Now, aside from the fact that the Herald…

I was more picturing Rudman giving himself a rhetorical auto-wedgie, and managing to make Whale Oil look relatively reality adjacent. Yeah... that's really not convincing you…

"She's very open about the amount of pressure that was brought on her by various people within the Palino campaign, including John Palino, to take part in what was clearly an attempt to place so much pressure on Len Brown, embarrass him effectively into stepping…

Nats may be trying to close the #lengate, but the palamino has already bolted...

Now, I am stuck with a mental image of Len failing to remove his underpants without taking off his trousers. Thanks so much, Craig...

Pored… Pet peeve

Pawed, then, especially
given the context…

surely?
;- )

I pour oil on troubled horses. ;-)

Oh, I'll happily defend Rudman's right to talk out of both sides of his two faces at the same time, but geez... is there a Zoolander-style Cognitive Dissonance walk-off going on we should be told about?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InIxKCa3H9g

But....but....Democracy! Under! Attack!

Well-played, sir.

surely?
;- )

I know, I know ya meant the
clueless isopod louse and the
mantraless golden horse,
but such a picture it paints....

;- )

Frankly, I've never liked the idea of a panel of unknown "experts", appointed by the unelected chief executive, sitting in judgment on the conduct of an elected official.

What checks on the panel's ethics, or political views are undertaken before their…

The Herald-DigiPoll survey found 51% of Aucklanders think you should stay on as mayor, but still 39% think you should resign. Is that a sufficient mandate to stay on?

I don’t think this…

Thanks, TracyMac – couldn't have put it better myself. It's also a…

Great GIF! Stealing.

If you can't think of ways to satirise or point out someone's stupidities other than making fun of their name or how they look, perhaps you need to think about exactly what it is you're trying to mock.

Because "you look funny and you smell" kind…

I am delighted that he's chosen to embrace feminism, and that he and his commentariat will be actively policing men pushing women into doing things they don't want to do from now on.

The irony, it burns!

in marketing roles, harder to spot
#biggerstrongerfaster

sshhhhh

There's cognitive dissonance, and there's something that bears a disturbing resemblance to a permanent psychotic break.