Morality and legality

Quote of the day:

Jolyon White, the man behind Green Party activists putting stickers on National billboards, is a social justice worker for the Anglican Church. You’d think he would know something about the morality of the action, if not the legality – Trans-Tasman.

Making and manipulating

In the latter stages of the 2005 election campaign two stories broke.

One was the pledge card and the Labour party’s illegal spending of public funds on its campaign.

The other was brochures published by the Exclusive Brethren criticising the Green Party.

The brochures, which were published legally,  got all the attention and almost certainly influenced the outcome of the election.

The pledge card rort got almost none at the time.

In the latter stages of this election campaign two issues have broken.

One is the vandalism of National’s hoardings by a now former member of the Green Party.

The other is the contents of a conversation which was illegally recorded.

Which is getting almost all the attention?

It’s not the vandalism which was not just a random act by a few. It was well organised, well funded action by many.

The recording might or might not have been made accidently. It was no accident it was passed to the Herald on Sunday and TV3 and it was no accident that at least some of what was recorded was passed on to a would-be MP who’s getting the attention he craves on the back of it.

If people want to know what was said in the conversation it’s only because there’s been such a fuss made of it. Had the media accepted it was illegally recorded and that it would be breaking the law to publish it without permission the story would have died days ago.

Meanwhile, why are they not asking every Green MP and office holder what they knew about the vandalism of National’s hoardings? Why aren’t they searching for other people who were behind it the way they sought, and found, the people behind the anti-Green brochures? Have they thought to ask Jolyon White about the ethics of using his role in the church to pose as a neutral MC for candidates’ meetings?

Why aren’t they concentrating on matters of real importance – the international economy and the impact that will ahve on us or progress made towards free trade this week, for instance?

In 2005 the media at best made an error of judgement in choosing to pursue one story and virtually ignore another and they are doing that again now.

The media are supposed to report the news not make it and they are certainly not supposed to manipulate it.

By choosing to focus on the conversation and giving very little attention to the vandalism they are both making news and manipulating it.

Wild greens behind urbane front

This media release from the man who wanted to be known as Jo Henky was made at 11:23 this morning:

We were saddened to hear National Party president Peter Goodfellow attacking the messenger on Checkpoint last night, rather than responding to the message.

If National disagrees with the policies “The Rich Deserve More” and “Drill It! Mine It! Sell It!” they should simply say so.

To our knowledge no billboards were harmed in the delivery of this message. The stickers can be easily peeled off.

We do not represent a political party. We are private individuals who are disturbed by the policy directions of the current Government, and who seek to engage in the political process at election time in a light-hearted and hopefully humorous way.

Yet by then he had already been outed as Jolyon White, a Green Party member.

NewsTalkZB’s Felix Marwick tweeted more than an hour earlier that the Green Party might have been behind the sabotage and that Russel Norman was going to front the media. He followed up with a tweet saying it was the partner of Norman’s EA.

Norman continues to deny any knowledge of the attack on the billboards:

Dr Norman said he learnt of Mr White’s involvement only after other Green members recognised his voice in a radio interview this morning.

I accept his word and that the actions of White and whoever else was involved, whether or not they were Greens, were not acting on the party’s behalf.

Norman’s EA has been stood down and White has resigned from the party.

I have found no reference to any assurance from any other MP or office holder in the party. Until they give one it is legitimate to ask did any of them know anything about the plan or its execution before this morning?

Regardless of the answer to that question, Dim Post gets to the nub of the damage this has done to the more moderate brand the party has been striving to cultivate.

He says it highlights the disparity between the party’s target voters who aren’t anti-National and its activist base who are a bunch of anti-National anarchists.

The Greens are often criticised for being  watermelons  – a green shell with a red centre. This episode shows that for all the effort the party has put into taming its image, there are still some wild greens behind the urbane front.