This whole ministerial credit card debacle is a bit of a joke, isn’t it?
I mean really, if one of us plebs had used the company credit card to live it up to the extent our elected representatives did, we’d be looking for new jobs and probably a good lawyer, as well.
That Shane Jones can excuse his spending on porn movies with the old “I’m a red-blooded bloke” defence simply as insult to injury for us, the taxpayers footing the bill for their excesses.
As an aside, if the bloke wants to watch a stick movie, that’s his choice, I’m not going to judge. However, when I’ve been sent off to some far flung, exotic location for work (like Christchurch or Wellington) I’ve never charged anything more exciting than a taxi fare.
Really, how stupid and/or naive would you have to be to even consider charging porn and chocolate to the company credit card? More to the point, were they charged at the same time.
And did he wash his hands?
And yes, that’s another issue: what the hell do visiting dignitaries think when they come across (no pun intended) our politicians? “Oh yes, they’re the guys who like to visit foreign countries so they can sit in a hotel room eating chocolates and watching porn … hope he’s washed his hands.”
Then there’s Progressive leader Jim Anderton spending $22,000 on his ministerial credit card during a month-long trip to Europe in 2003. Nice for some, huh? And let’s not forget Tim Groser’s penchant for mini bars.
On, and Parekura Horomia forking out $750 for a Chinese meal. I’m not even sure how that’s possible … according to my calculations, if I ordered from my local Chinese takeaway, that would be 60 servings of fried rice.
And we get to pay for it, with our taxes.
Oh sure, today’s the brown stuff is meant to be hitting the fan with reports that Phil Goff will be demoting three of his naughty wee Labourites, but is it enough?
And isn’t it a case of too little, too late? Would these demotions be happening if the media hadn’t got hold of the story?
Finally, who the hell was responsible for approving these expenses? I’m pretty damn sure that if I charged an evening of porn movies to my company credit card, the bean-counters would notice.
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