Dave Gee: Life from Right Field

The National Party has written a cheque for $10,588 to cover election spending identified by the Auditor General as "being used outside the parliamentary rules" in the 2006 campaign.

The Party has repaid Parliamentary Services, on behalf of its seven MPs who ran foul of the rules.

However the Auditor General found there were no spending breaches by National's Leader's Office... unlike the Labour Party, which spent a healthy $446,000 on a glossy pledge card and brochure, detailing the party's election bribes.

National Party leader, Dr Don Brash, has now challenged PM Hillin Cluck to do the same, and to instruct her party to repay the money it unlawfully spent.

It's a reasonable expectation that any honest party in a civilised developed country would likely fulfil. But the current Labour party are used to scandal, and don't seem to think common things like "laws of the land" should apply to them.
Despite a series of embarrassments (Tennis-gate, PunchAProtestor-gate, Speeding-gate, Lawyer-gate, TeWangana-gate, Tax-gate, Taito-gate...), Teflon Helen has managed to cling to power with her minority coalition government...

Any independent marketing expert will tell you Labour's glossy red "pledge card" and brochure - delivered to homes just weeks out from the election - were blatant pieces of electioneering.

Surely the Labour Party must have loads of dosh in its coffers at the moment??! It was revealed this week the number of public servants has skyrocketed under Labour... taking up 40% of Wellington's office space. Many of these muppet pen pushers are likely to have signed up to a union, therefore providing many thousands of dollars of free cash for Labour.

Dr Brash says, "It is time for Helen Clark to pay up". He may turn true blue if he decides to holds his breath until that happens.

(Update: Deputy PM Michael Cullen wants Labour to introduce restrospective legislation to validate the unlawful spending. has confirmed he will brief the Cabinet on Monday about options to counter the threat – including retrospective legislation to validate the allegedly unlawful spending! What The?!

Leader of the Libertarianz party, Bernard Darnton, has also lodged a related case in the High Court, seeking a judgement that Labour's pledge card spending was unlawful).

* DPF's Kiwiblog: All paid up
* Whale Oil Beef Hooked: National pays back overspending
* NZ Herald: Labour shifts the goalposts
* NZ Herald: John Armstrong: Labour's dodgy card tricks