It beggars belief that the Minister in charge of the SIS, John Key, is still claiming to know nothing about his official's attacking public servants through a third rate blog site like Whale Oil Beef Hooked.If we were to believe the man who I think is at the centre of all this, John Key, he would be claiming that he’s totally ignorant of what goes on around him. That would indicate that he's entirely incompetent and therefore incapable of being the Prime Minister of New Zealand.
However, we shouldn’t believe John Key, because his very own personal communications advisor at the time, Jason Ede, who was passing sensitive information onto propagandist Cameron Slater to publicly vilify those who stood in their way, worked only two doors down from the PM's office.
There is no question that Key knew of Ede's activity, because if he didn't know he would have now fired Ede for going behind his back. There is no doubt in my mind that Jason Ede was following orders to surreptitiously attack National's political and public foes online.
Furthermore, Key has previously boasted about his close relationship with the unstable Cameron Slater. But now that the Dirty Politics scandal has blown up in his face, he has attempted to downplay this relationship.
In my opinion anybody who thinks John Key wasn’t aware of the underhanded activity happening right under his nose is quite frankly a moron! We cannot give the PM the benefit of the doubt here, because the evidence clearly shows that there is no doubt.
Not only was there a conspiracy to undermine the CEO of the Serious Fraud Office, Adam Feeley, because he was investigating white collar criminals like Mark Hotchin, some of the conspirators worked directly for John Key. It also appears that they were helped in their criminal activity by former Justice Minister Judith Collins. She has at least done the right thing by resigning. It wouldn't be out of question for her to leave politics entirely.
It should also be mentioned that John Key has a vested interest in such undemocratic and dare I say treasonous activity being successful. Recruited into National by Cameron Slater’s father John Slater, the former Wall Street banker now turned politician has been caught lying about his investments before. It stands to reason that he has a vested interest in our Serious Fraud Office and other watchdogs having their teeth filed down or removed. The best way to do that is to replace upstanding public officials with people who are sympathetic to those who wish to evade the law.
The problem for Key is that he’s told so many lies that he cannot keep track of them all. That was the case when he recently claimed he wasn’t informed about the SIS releasing sensitive information to Cameron Slater, information that was specifically designed to discredit then Labour leader Phil Goff. Three letters were subsequently unearthed that showed the Prime Minister was lying. Stupidly a number of officials tried to defend Key’s lies, only to have video evidence come to light of the dishonest man himself explaining that he was in fact briefed.
In my opinion we cannot have a Prime Minister who makes up lies just to suit the difficult circumstances he's in. I hope that enough New Zealander’s share that opinion and vote accordingly on September 20 to ensure a change of government.
So why isn’t John Key appearing before the Inspector General of Intelligence to give evidence? Is he perhaps afraid to swear under oath upon the Bible? That would seem strange, being that John Key is a self-professed atheist! No! The real reason Key is spinning like a smoking wooden top to try and evade a court of law is because he thinks team Key still has a chance of winning the election. Appearing before an inquiry would obviously further damage National's chances.
Today, the NZ Herald reported:
Staff, but not PM, to appear before inquiry
Several staff members from Prime Minister John Key's office have been called to give evidence to an inquiry by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security - but Labour MP Phil Goff says Mr Key's own absence would "dramatically weaken" the credibility of the investigation.
Mr Goff, blogger Cameron Slater and staff from the Prime Minister's office have all been summoned to give evidence to the inquiry into an Official Information Act release from former Security Intelligence Service director Warren Tucker to Slater.
Mr Key initially said he had been summoned by Inspector-General Cheryl Gwyn but his office later said several of his staff had been asked to appear, but not Mr Key himself.
I believe Key would have initially been summoned. However, because of the election campaign, National would have worked hard to deter the Inspector General of Intelligence from requiring such an appearance.
Whether or not Key is held to account for the dirty politics he undoubtedly orchestrated will simply show how deep the infection goes. What is patently clear however is that team Key’s campaign and the Prime Minister’s credibility are in tatters! There is no recovering for the smiling assassin. The medias intense exposure and the resulting public scrutiny of dirty politics is far too powerful to ignore. Therefore John Key should do the honourable thing and simply resign!
