A MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH IN THE FIGHT FOR TRANSPARENCY - AGAINST CORRUPT CORPORATE CONTROL! Todays Sunday Star Times - pg A3 stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/63452454/Police-probe-mayors-election-campaign-funding Police probe mayors election campaign funding Police are investigating an entity that funded Auckland mayor Len Browns 2010 and 2013 election campaigns. More then $750,000 in backing for Browns two successful campaigns was paid by a trust that kept donors identities secret. Since February police have been investigating whether the trust breached the Local Electoral Act. ................................................ The police investigation was sparked by a complaint by former police prosecutor Grace Haden, who stood unsuccessfully for a council ward last year on a Transparency NZ ticket. In late 2009, before his first tilt at mayoralty of the new Auckland super-city, Brown warned of the dangers of big money entering local politics. Yesterday, he shrugged off the suggestion it was hypocritical to have since benefited from large anonymous donations. Having been through this for two elections, we just do what were required to do. A probe into Auckland mayoral electoral funding is potentially sensitive for police, who were criticised for failing to prosecute 2010 contender John Banks for a breach of the same act, only to see Banks found guilty in a private prosecution taken by the maverick litigant Graham McCready. Hadens complaint to police revolves around the fact that the Local Electoral Act 2001 requires a person to be named as contributor on an electoral return. Browns return names the New Auckland Council Trust, but Haden insists that the trustees should have been identified. Haden says without the trust deed being produced or names of the trustees being revealed, the donation is effectively anonymous. Last week Browns campaign team, headed by Helen Clarks former chief spin doctor, David Lewis, released a statement to the Star-Times but refused to name the trustees or produce a trust deed. ................. __________________________________________________________ Seen the even more politically significant Sunday Star Times Editorial? (Cant find an on-line link - so Ive typed it all - FYI) Liar, cheat, hypocrite - could there be more? Show us the money Police inquiry should enforce transparency for political donors. LEN BROWN, despite his many, many failings, does appear to have one virtue: that of prescience. Back in 2010, campaigning for the mayoral chains of the nations big new super-city, he warned darkly of the threat of anonymous figures secretly bankrolling local election campaigns. We have seen the dangers of big money entering national politics, with concerns over sources and transparency of party funding, he said. Local government has avoided these issues, but they could emerge were candidates under pressure to raise large sums in order to be competitive. How right he was. That very election campaign, it later emerged, his opponenet John Banks had signed off donations from internet mogul Kim Dotcom as anonymous - when, as a judge found, Banks discussed a donation over lunch at the Dotcom mansion. Banks is challenging his conviction, and the Court of Appeal may yet allow him to claw back some modicum of of credibility, but the damage to the reputation of our electoral process is irreparable. The Banks prosecution and conviction coincided with a string of electoral transparency scandals at Parliament: minister Judith Collins went in to bat for one political donor; Maurice Williamson resigned after intervening in the criminal prosecution of another. Erstwhile Labour leader David Cunliffe, a critic of these transactions, was forced to apologise for his own use of a secret trust, name three of his donors, and refund the money to the rest. Now Brown, the one-time critic of secret donations, is revealed as one of the biggest beneficiaries. His doom-laden prophesies were well-founded. Which brings us back to Browns many failings. Beyond his very public record as a cheat who lied to his family during the Bevan Chuang extra-marital affair, the mayor could now add hypocrite. Seeking election, he bemoaned the likelihood embattled candidates might resort to donations from opaque sources. At the same time he was accepting $499,000 from the faceless New Auckland Council Trust. Last year, his campaign accepted another $273,375. This in itself should be enough to give pause for thought, deciding whether he can with integrity ask the Auckland electorate for another term as mayor. Now it emerges police are actively investigating the trust, begging the question of whether Brown could also be caught up in allegations of law-breaking. The Sunday Star Times has launched an editorial campaign, Show us the Money, calling for politicians to be required to disclose the source of all donations, however big or small. this applies to both national and local politics. Ahead of last years mayoral election, Brown warned that the campaign spending limit of $580,000 could mean the election is bought by a wealthy candidate. As it turns out, Brown and his wealthy anonymous donors had quite enough cash of their own. __________________________________________________________ THAT is exactly why I have refused to pay Auckland Council rates - because they are simply NOT showing us the money. Who are the private consultants and contractors to whom Auckland Council and Auckland Council CCOs have awarded contracts? Are any of these private consultants and contractors donors to this secret New Auckland Council Trust? Open the books - show us the money - follow the dollar! Penny Bright Anti-corruption whistle-blower
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 23:40:45 +0000
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