Collins resigns from cabinet

[Ab]

Collins resigns from cabinet

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/arti...ectid=11316680

Whaleoil'd

[Spoon1]

About time. Should have happened after Oravida...

[fixed_truth]

FINISH HER!!!

Right, who's next?

[fixed_truth]

I almost feel sorry for her. But Hone is right, it couldn't of happened to a nicer person.

[CCS]

Did you just jizz in your pants?

[smudge]

This is epic. The minister in charge of the SFO being found to have links to a campaign against Feeley by bloggers funded by Hotchins. NZ politics rarely delivers on this level.

[CCS]

What are her links to the campaign?

[Lightspeed]

Do you need a bib, too? You know, if you're in need of spoon feeding.

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by CCS

Did you just jizz in your pants?

I definitely had a little excitement this morning listening to the news and the scope of things.

[Ab]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

Do you need a bib, too? You know, if you're in need of spoon feeding.

Well there ARENT any as far as I can see. Collins isn't involved in any of the alleged correspondence that I've seen. She is simply REFERRED to in an email allegedly by Slater.

How do you prove or disprove an observation that Collins was "gunning for" Feeley in a totally unauthenticated casual conversation among a bunch of other people? You can't.

Collins has been a millstone around Key's neck for months though. He's campaigning to be Prime Minister and getting continually asked if he supports Judith Collins has to be fucking frustrating. Better to just remove her as a topic of conversation.

Collins certainly appears to have exhibited terminally bad judgement in allowing Slater to come so close to her though. That guy is toxic.

[Lightspeed]

If there was proof we would be seeing much more significant consequences, would we not?

If Collins wanted to remain Justice Minister she shouldn't have stood by a friendship with someone clearly willing to exploit that connection for their own political agenda in such a manner.

Fairness is actually still a value many NZers cherish.

[zeekiorage]

She was dead weight for National. Key has done the right thing by removing her now. If she wins the Papakura seat again then I'm sure she's going to be back - I don't think Key has closed the door completely on her.

I like how NZ Herald has been defensive about the whole scandal since yesterday, and today Stuff has a article about how Collin's "resignation" was "was sparked by a Fairfax investigation". NZ Media

[Ab]

That's one of the things that I don't get. If the emails are authentic that means the nzherald has been using the whaleoil blog as a back channel to leak stories without getting its hands dirty. If the emails are real that means the herald is BALLS DEEP in this clusterfuck and it can't be trusted to report honestly on this... Or anything, basically.

[zeekiorage]

Originally Posted by zeekiorage

I like how NZ Herald has been defensive about the whole scandal since yesterday, and today Stuff has an article about how Collins' "resignation" was "sparked by a Fairfax investigation". NZ Media

Some context for the NZH comment, in case people missed those editorial notes yesterday:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11316677

FROM THE EDITOR

Two big stories the NZ Herald broke regarding Adam Feeley in 2011 were independent of Whale Oil, and sourced from other contacts. It was good journalism, and in the public interest.

Reporters will have conversations with contacts from all sides of the political spectrum every day - it's our job to be fully aware of the source and their motivation, verify the information, and present it in a fair, accurate and balanced manner.

Whale Oil was one of a number of people Jared Savage spoke to as the issue rolled on, to find out what he knew. Some information would have been shared, but none of it, in our view, pivotal or relevant to our inquiries.

- From Herald editor-in chief Tim Murphy, NZ Herald editor Shayne Currie

And the Stuff article from today:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/poli...Collins-demise

Justice Minister Judith Collins' resignation was sparked by a Fairfax investigation into a smear campaign by bloggers apparently backed by controversial financier Mark Hotchin.

[adonis]

Originally Posted by Ab

it can't be trusted to report honestly on this... Or anything, basically.

...and you've only just figured that out?

[The Edge]

Originally Posted by zeekiorage

She was dead weight for National.

Somebody obviously didn't think she was that much of a deadweight - she was elevated to 5th on the party list.

[Lightspeed]

She's Crusher Collins. I don't doubt she was very valuable and effective at quashing dissent. The manner of which she went about this is catching up with her a bit sooner than she'd like I think. Probably imagined reaching some unassailable position before this kind of muck came to light.

[Macca@Work]

She is well liked in Papakura.Shes done a lot for the community.I'm not sure she will get my vote this year but having said that,there aren't any stand out candidates from other partys.I've yet to sit down and read through what other candidates (non national) are claiming they will do if elected.

[Ab]

IMHO this Hotchin connection looks far far dodgier than anything in the Hager book.

[xor]

Originally Posted by Ab

IMHO this Hotchin connection looks far far dodgier than anything in the Hager book.

I listened to the interview this afternoon between Larry Williams and Cameron Slater. I couldn't believe the amount of riggle room that Williams gave Slater. It was deplorable! He let that fat fuck weasel out of answering the questions.

[pxpx]

The only one he didn't answer properly was whether or not he was paid by Hotchins or Hanover to write stories. The fact that he didn't answer probably means he was.

The next question is, does that matter? It only matters if Collins can be proved to have been involved surely? (forgetting the fact that it would ruin any 'journo' cred slater is gunning for)

Does anyone know why Collins may have wanted to undermine Feeley? This was in 2011, and I didn't really follow the whole saga.

[Rince]

Might have it wrong, but as I understand it: Feeley, as SFO director, was investigating Hotchin's company. Hotchin got whaleoil (and cactus kate) to attack Feeley... and this is where I'm making a jump, Collins helped Slater with an OIA to help with the attack....

Happy to be corrected if I haven't got it right.

e: didn't see this before: http://nzgames.com/forums/showpost.p...postcount=1291