Thursday, July 26, 2007

Benson-Pope's admission


David Benson -Pope has finally admitted that he had a chat to the Chief Executive of the Ministry of the Environment and told him he would not be comfortable working with Madeleine Setchell - that he would be less free and frank with her. Setchell is the partner of John Key's chief media advisor and was accepted for a ministry job..

All along Benson-Pope has been misleading about whether he gave an opinion to Hugh Logan about whether Setchell should keep her job. He has misled Parliament, the media and the State Services Commission as well as Helen Clark.

He is a liability and his credibility is shot. How can he possible be trusted.The honourable liar should be sacked. I think he will be. Mr Logan and Deputy State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie will hold a media conference tomorrow which may shed more light on the truth.

However the story will not finish then - remember Helen Clark still said that Setchell shouldn't have been appointed in the first place, undermining the neutrality of the public service. Michael Cullen has come out in support of his leader's statement. The Press Gallery still have some work to do. Setchell lost her job solely because of her relationship - not because of her political affiliation, and if the PM says Setchell should not have been appointed, she appears to be content she was sacked.

That's a disgrace.

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