Retraction and apology received from the Spinoff
The full retraction and apology by the Spinoff, relating to allegations that were totally false and defamatory, contained in an article by Simon Wilson, and published on the Spinoff website morning, is welcome.
The Spinoff has accepted that the Taxpayers’ Union (including its affiliate the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance) and the three people named in the original article had no role in the distribution of feathers. The Spinoff has apologised for making the allegation and rewritten the article.
We want to know how the Spinoff got this so wrong, and why they didn’t even bother to approach us for comment before publishing. Both organisations operate 24-hour phone lines for media comment. We couldn’t be more available.
The Spinoff is funded by Auckland Council through its “Heart of the City” lobby group. We want to be satisfied that the Spinoff was not acting pursuant to the Council’s interest in distracting attention from the finalisation of the Council’s budget.
Why are posts from the taxpayers union being published here? These guys are the very definition of dirty politics but are now having a cry about one of their mates on the far right continuing the practise.