If Mike Sabin has to stand down as an MP, the possible by-election in Northland could be the first test of the strength of the new age of Aquarius love fest that has broken out between the Labour and Greens leadership.
The combined Green-Labour vote for Northland at the election was 12 608, Sabin won 18 269. The only chance of winning would be an agreement between Labour and the Greens to only run one candidate, probably the Labour candidate.
If Labour can field a strong enough candidate (possibly parachuting one in), they could start their fight back with an audacious win that would bloody National and strengthen Labour.
The question would be if Labour would risk such a confrontation so early in National’s 3rd term, and whether the co-operation between Labour and the Greens is as strong as it will need to be to wrestle back power in 2017.
Every seat counts – a couple of happy accidents & maybe a wake up by the Maori party and this dark chapter of NZ history will have run its course.
Yes, the opposition MUST unite to defeat this criminal gang of thugs running the country into the gutter, and selling us out.
“United we stand-divided we fall.”
Whatever happened to INNOCENT until proven GUILTY??? That’s what pisses me off about the ignorants in this country. They all hear something, and JUDGE. IT IS WRONG! I’m not a Nat supporter, however I think Mike Sabin has been doing an excellent job! One mistake does not define a person. It does however certainly bring to light, a narrow minded, complainer!
A little local knowledge is helpful here, so excuse long post. Willow Jean Prime, a young first term FNDC councillor, ran a very good campaign for Labour against Sabin this year. She looks like a mid term prospect to win the seat from National at some stage for the first time since Social Credit’s Vern Cracknell won the old Bay of Islands seat in 1966.
Some Far North tories I know even voted for her, party vote Nat of course, due to their disregard for Mike Sabin. For years Labour has indeed ‘parachuted’ in non entities and even Winston Peters sister Lynette Stewart a couple of elections back. Willow Jean is a local and prepared to build up an organisation it seems so far. https://www.facebook.com/willowprime
Northland is the last electorate in the country that “should” be voting tory. Te Tai Tokerau basically siphons off the people that would defeat the Nats in a combined straight contest. Farmers, East coast retirees and petit bourgeois types from Kerikeri vote tory, for the rest it is just a bad habit. A habit reinforced by a rural reactionary “we’re blue around here mate” orthodoxy that is inculcated via patronage for scarce jobs, sports, service and game clubs, lodges, rural fire brigades, police stations, schools etc.
So yeah, despite my unforgotten disgust with Labour torpedoing Hone in West Auckland end of Te Tai Tokerau, the chance to unseat bully boy Sabin and the Nats should be grabbed. Greens stand down, and Willow Jean campaign strongly on a “I will represent the Far North in Wellington not the other way round” basis.
Well said.
Northland is indeed the last electorate in the country that “should” be voting tory and yet it happens and will happen again. I heard someone from elsewhere in the country on radio proclaiming the fantastic input the Government is making with roading projects in Northland citing the Akerama Curves Realignment and the Smeatons Hill work as if the great white knights had ridden in to save us. (Obviously ignorant of them not even getting near thinking about scratching the surface of Northland needs.) And they gave us two charter schools having let conditions arise where they were acceptable alternatives for some.
National Governments have screwed Northland for years and what I’ve quoted just add to your the ideas of patronage. What pisses me off is that we sell ourselves off so cheaply. However God could stand in the electorate for Lab-Green and would miss out while a low-down, scumbag, criminal cretin could stand for the Nats and would get in. (I realise that God is already taken as the Helensville MP.)
An accomodation between Labour and the Greens in a by-election would be a tremendous thing.
But it won’t happen for two reasons;
1. Labour has demonstrated that electoral self-interest rules over what might be best for the country.
2. The msm would have a field day with Gower, et al, shrieking “dirty deals” to anyone who will listen. The msm’s hypocrisy is well known, to wit their lip service to Tory dirty deals in Ohariu and Epsom, and Key’s endorsement of Kelvin Davis at the last election.
The only way Labour and the Greens could do a deal and avoid charges of “dirty deals” is to put forward a local candidate, endorsed by both Labour and Green Party rank and file members, and stand under a Green-Labour ticket.
Chances of that happening? *pffft!* Not in this country. MSP (mainstream politics) is too entrenched.
The answer to any windblowing that Gower could do is “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em”, meaning of course, joining National in jiggery poking electoral candidacies
A Labour-Green accomodation???
What’s that old saying about Hell freezing over first???
Im in the Sabin electorate and not a petit bourgeois, condescending title.
A lot of ex National voters are not going to vote National and wouldn’t have last time if they had known what he was.
Willow jean prime might have in your opinion ran a good campaigne, bur we didn’t see the evidence ,don’t think Labour spends much on this neck of the woods,it may be a blue area but things change, although what people say is that they don’t trust any polititions.
Mike Sabin has’nt been charged or convicted yet unless I missed it , I never watch news now cant trust what they say,and National miscreants nearly always get away with things being the police are National people. the justice system is history in lots of ways in nz now.
Just run one candidate. Labour or Green with an understanding in the election the another candidate in another close electorate will stand down. (i.e. Ōhariu) in the next election.
Labour/Green should campaign together (but just one standing) to get rid of the notion of dirty politics (if it is openly transparent it is not really dirty politics it is a strategy) and use the message we stand as one to get rid of corruption in our country and get the National Greed out.
Personally I would prefer the Greens but I don’t know enough about who is the stronger candidate up North. Maybe it is Labour.
As we already know the hypocritical hysterical MSM response then it is easier to organize a campaign and deflect the MSM discourses.
The important thing for GREEN/LAB is to be unified and strong and HONOUR any agreement that is made.
GREEN LAB should reveal they learned from mistakes about dirty politics. They need to unite to get National out even if they have some differences around policy.
Before a by-election can be held, National has to acknowledge the fact of a possible misdemeanour by one of its own, which is considered bad enough to have him either resign or be sacked. With Key and National’s disreputable track record in this respect, I think we might see hell freeze over first, before any such action is forthcoming!
The police are also keeping mum on the issue! Been instructed to protect one of their own (former buddies) perhaps!
At present, all is quiet on both fronts, to the extent of a planned cover up I’d say!
In the unlikely event of a by-election being held, the Greens would do themselves, their supporters and ordinary Kiwis a big favour, by not standing a candidate, thereby splitting the left vote and getting behind Labour instead. The more damage done to the right vote, all the better for the country.
Let us remember, how reluctant the police were to put John Banks before a court. Even if Banksy may get off his charges for electoral law fraud next rehearing of the trial, he looked more than dodgy enough, so the police should have charged him.
They did not, same as they do not with many others, of “repute”, and close to the right leaning establishment, whether close to Nats or not.
I have too little faith in the police, judiciary and rest of “the establishment”, and expect also, that Sabin may be let off the hook, whether he did something wrong or not.
It is who you know that matters, not what you know or what you do.
In that New Zealand is like much of the world, and the supposed lack of corruption here is a statistic I do not believe either.
Mike, these stories I blogged a couple of years ago are pertinent to this issue.
Most revealing is that the Police claimed they could not prosecute Banks because of a supposed “stature of limitations”. Either their legal advice was terribly wrong or they were wilfully misleading the public.
https://fmacskasy.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/john-banks-escaping-justice-part-rua/
https://fmacskasy.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/john-banks-escaping-justice/
When was the tangi for Mana?
Who would run the back room for the campaign? Do they know enough to reach people such as Elle and Pete here without causing offence? (Petit bourgeois didn’t appeal much to me, either. Kinda smacks a person on their quiet pride and values. There’s no need. Very self-defeating, too.) Big Urban style will not go down well and the back room crew had better know it. This is not ‘union country’ as we know it, folks.
I wonder if they can… a dry run could be most useful ;-)). Even if it flops, there are lessons to learn for tackling the many more electorates of the same kind.
Well, what are you waiting for, get off your backsides and do what’s got to be done to make the nose of National bleed like the mightiest of rivers.
Seems like a cover up, judging by this latest piece, Another case of misrepresentation by Key & Co, to mislead Kiwis!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/64499958/call-for-nat-mp-to-stand-down
Despite details being known of Sabin being investigated prior to the election, it’s an interesting point, the release of this issue by msm, is while Parliament is in recess and MPs are on holiday. So no questions can be asked of the PM, Sabin et al!
Obviously a direction from higher up to keep it quiet from the public until now!
Let’s count the chickens after they hatch. It would be almost impossible to beat a National candidate. The latest poll results put National at 50 plus %.
and Labour agt 29% which is an improvement on the election but hardly
a winning one. Anyway wait until the court case is over whenever that is.
Heard on the grapevine from a reliable source, the assault was 2 years ago ,the complainant brought the charge recently, said to be flash in pan , not likely to be a by election .
[…] was from January of 2014 – in light of the current issues swirling around Sabin, it was worth dusting […]
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