The least they can do for such dirty politics.
This isn't done yet as much as Muller would like it to go away.
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So now clear why Todd Muller looked so awkward & unusually defensive yesterday, when asked by reporter if apart from Hamish Walker, he had sought personal assurances from his other MP's that they hadn't received any confidential patient information as well & weakly suggested he didn't need to.
Surprise surprise, looks like he knew Michael Woodhouse had as well,( though hadn't passed it on) & must have been hoping to contain the story to Walker.
Muller looks like a decent man but must be finding it frustrating trying to navigate all this dirty stuff while trying honour loyalties (to Michelle Boag who helped him roll Simon Bridges) plus win an election.
Also Woodhouse has to go, the creepy toilet seat trophy is beyond revolting, there's something deeply creepy about a smiling grown man holding up a toilet seat with a photo of a woman on it as a trophy.
Are those the values of family man Todd Muller & the National Party? I don't think so!
Todd Muller must be appalled.
Jane Clifton on form again in BusinessDesk
The errant politicos were all exponents of the surprisingly common philosophy that when you’re in a hole, the only sensible course is vigorous further excavation in the hope of tunnelling your way out. ...
This only ever ends with the hole being filled in by others from a great height with you in it, as the likes of Jami-Lee Ross, Todd Barclay, Clare Curran and now National MP Hamish Walker have found out.
Walker’s leaking of the names of covid patients to the media was simply the most novel of the week’s pratfalls, with the biggest collateral damage.
It’s not often a first-term MP manages to get both a party kuia like Michelle Boag, and their own leader into the hole digging alongside them, with the bonus possibility of knocking precious points off the polls going into an election campaign.
And I love the imagery here
The long-time public relations maven bestrides the party as a sort of Boaganvillea – a brightly-plumed climber, extensively branched and with many sharp thorns.
Her lack of judgement in on-leaking this data to Walker is gob-smacking for such a seasoned operator.
Seldom has a party deity so drastically forfeited decades of influence
https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/j...line-of-eejits (Paywall)
ROFL definitely a Bogan-villea - That is a great turn of phrase. She was always a divisive figure even in the Nat Party itself.Quote:
Originally Posted by peat
..and now with Woodhouse, we have two MPs to whom she leaked the information. (Do we have three?) It is not surprising Muller claimed that he did not ask his caucus who had received the information. He could put on a front of channelling Private Shulz and say “I know nothing!”
However if Boag helped steer the Rescue Trust helicopter base to Ardmore, then hats off for that?
So clear that Boag thought she could get back into the game after being locked out by Key & Bridges.
Good riddance to rubbish! 👍😁
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12347030
Whatever rebound in the opinion polls Muller picked up will surely have been given back, and more, after his "shambolic" week. Talk about own goals, lol
It'll be interesting to see the next poll results, which may well be out tomorrow, but I think Boag's action has killed any chance the Nats might have had (however slim that was anyway)
And no, I'm not a rabid Labour supporter, just telling it as I see it.
Helen Clark was a master (mistress?) at taking fast action and closing down issues. John Key similarly. Usually the issues faded away, though I note that 'Oravida' still pops up whenever Judith Collins looks like a threat. Not sure anyone remembers, or cares, what it was about though.
Todd Muller has not covered himself with glory in the last few days but he was fairly (only fairly) decisive in the end. I expect he has learned an important lesson.
One of the Herald's business reporters has suggested there's more to come out on this story.
Imo Todd Muller needs to fire Woodhouse too & he's going to be a lingering sore.
Deleting the emails after learning there was going to be a Commission of Enquiry casts serious doubts around his integrity, but the photo of Woodhouse, the shadow minister of Health, holding up a toilet seat with a photo of a womens face on it as a trophy will come back to haunt him & would go around the world's media if he was ever to become a Minister of Health in a National Govt.
Can you imagine Muller awkwardly trying to explain that away to UK media or CNN etc.
Assuming he’s using the Parliamentary Service computer, he can’t actually delete anything completely. The computers are regularly backed up. Even if they weren’t, the recycle bin will have those deleted files in it. Even if that didn’t work, deleted files leave a ‘shadow’ that can be recovered using forensic data software. Question is probably less about deleting them and recovering, more about why this low life had them in the first place and then tried to cover his tracks by removing them. Muller sure has his hands full with these miscreants surfacing every week, seems he needs to ‘drain the swamp’ quickly or there’s no hope of a non controversial lead in to the election. Arguably He’s toast already.