Who was the mystery bugger?
The Herald reports:
While the most eagerly awaited conversation of the election was taking place, a mystery person may have been secretly listening.
A recording device was found on the Newmarket cafe table where National leader John Key showed his endorsement of Act’s Epsom candidate, John Banks, by sitting down to a cup of tea.
When their conversation at Urban Cafe finished, a man claiming to be a freelance reporter for the Herald collected the device, which was in a small, dark bag beside the pair.
The Herald had no freelancers at the meeting. …
It is illegal to record a private conversation without consent.
So all we know at this stage about the person who did it is they are a criminal, and a liar.
It brings back memories of what happened in 2008, with covert taping also. In that case the person responsible had ties to both Labour and Greens.
History has a way of repeating itself.
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November 12th, 2011 at 11:05 am
Sounds all a bit ‘Watergate’ to me. Whomever it was is really creepy; I am not saying it sounds like the sort of thing the Labour party would get upto, but anybody with any common sense can draw their own conclusions.
November 12th, 2011 at 11:05 am
I blame Mike Williams, accomplished ratbag.
November 12th, 2011 at 11:06 am
Yeh, it’ll be Labour trying to dig up dirt.
November 12th, 2011 at 11:12 am
I reckon it’ll be one of the Don’s henchmen, like maybe the exclusive brethren…
November 12th, 2011 at 11:13 am
Banks doesn’t seem particularly concerned that the conversation was bugged. Even so I hope they catch the ratbag.
Incidentally David, I see the Herald has a nice interactive graphic showing electorate boundaries, was this the sort of thing you were after earlier?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz-election-results-2011/?page=map
November 12th, 2011 at 11:15 am
… was it Chickenman …
bwark bwark bwark … BWAAARRRK?
November 12th, 2011 at 11:16 am
Has Kees Keizer moved to Auckland?
November 12th, 2011 at 11:18 am
… he’s everywhere … he’s everywhere …
November 12th, 2011 at 11:20 am
I vote for the blackie dude, he’s a morally deficient hack whose only claim to a balanced personality is having a big chip on both shoulders.
November 12th, 2011 at 11:21 am
What did the moron hope to pick up anyway?
I mean what – he thinks those two highly experienced intelligent politicians are going to say something incriminating at a meeting like that, with about a hundred cameras and mics all around them?
Der.
Crikey. This reminds me of the Carter possum moment when “the letter” was first published, this is another one of those.
The media isn’t going to let this go. They’re going to find out, and when they do, the party responsible is going to be required to answer several questions. Like: “does he belong to any political party?”, etc.
Wow. This is great. What fun. I bet Trev’s a bit nervous right now – he’s probably having an emergency strategy session..
November 12th, 2011 at 11:22 am
“When their conversation at Urban Cafe finished, a man claiming to be a freelance reporter for the Herald collected the device, which was in a small, dark bag beside the pair.”
I bet the media will leave no stone unturned to find this man……
Especially the Herald.
OK, just joking.
November 12th, 2011 at 11:37 am
David Farrar says:- “So all we know at this stage about the person who did it is they are a criminal, and a liar.”
Lol! So a “small, dark bag” was left on the table next to Banks and Key by an “anonymous mystery person”!!! (possibly looking like a typical lefty)
Couple of questions:
1) How could this unidentified person have slipped a potentially lethal device next to Key and Banks? Surely their security is better than that.
2) How was is known that the device was a recording device? Presumably someone inspected it. Who did this?
Something smells fishy or made up here. I could be wrong though. How intriguing!
November 12th, 2011 at 11:48 am
Pretty dumb move on the indiviual’s part, but I don’t think we want to start judging political parties based on their supporters now do we? I mean I’m happy to, but it wouldn’t paint a very flattering picture of national or act
November 12th, 2011 at 12:13 pm
1) How could this unidentified person have slipped a potentially lethal device next to Key and Banks?
Scott, because it probably looked like a tape recorder and there were probably dozens of journos there and they thought he was a journo?
I agree with you re: the security risk, it’s just the sort of thing we can’t take for granted anymore, not even in little ole NZ, unfortunately. Let’s hope his protection detail gets a rark up from their boss over this.
November 12th, 2011 at 12:14 pm
” I could be wrong though. ” Ya think?
You’re not called Fail Scott for nothing, do you think our polies go everywhere surounded by the SAS with electronic sweeps and security checks for the staff at every business within 200 metres or something?
Watch fewer Mission Impossible movies Fail Scott.
November 12th, 2011 at 12:15 pm
Pretty dumb move on the indiviual’s part, but I don’t think we want to start judging political parties based on their supporters now do we?
St, this was clearly designed to hopefully pick up something compromising which would have inevitably appeared in the media at a strategic moment.
If you think that’s perfectly OK, you don’t have the same sense of ethics I do.
Where the fuck do lefties get off on thinking that everything but everything is OK, in the name of the cause? Why do they think that? It’s disgusting. It really is. For it condescendingly imagines that they are superior in their goals and objectives. Somehow their cause is pure and holy. It’s fucking insulting, to have a bunch of fellow humans think like that, about one.
November 12th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
Tut tut. The Diplomatic Protection Squad should have got the Government Communications Security Bureau to ‘sweep’ the joint before they had the cuppa. But hang on – Phil Goff would have said that was over the top. Perhaps tearooms could install ‘cones of silence’ (Maxwell Smart style) for customers to use when discussing confidential business.
Anyway it all seems to be a storm in a teacup.
November 12th, 2011 at 12:39 pm
> So all we know at this stage about the person who did it is they are a criminal, and a liar.
So it could have been the PM.
November 12th, 2011 at 12:41 pm
Weren’t there some NZ First stooges hanging around the cafe?
November 12th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
I think, Ross, that your comment says more about you than anything else. There is a reasonable possibility, I suggest, that if it had been John Key who turned up to retrieve his item, somebody would have recognised him and expressed some incredulity at his pretence that he was a Herald reporter. It is also more than likely that he would not go to the extent of depositing a listening device in a location that he was going to occupy. He would simply slip that into his pocket.
I appreciate that obvious niceties such as these tend to escape the attention of people such as yourself. I think David refers to the “deranged Key syndrome”. The term “derangement” applies to people such as yourself who make it outrageous and totally unsubstantiated allegations in the hope that some of the mud will stick. Your comment is puerile and silly. Just what we have come to get used to from people such as yourself.
November 12th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
It was Mossad.
November 12th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Murray, either add something useful or Shut The Fuck Up.
Stop trolling.
November 12th, 2011 at 12:58 pm
@ ross; there are some dipshits who inhabit this place, but you are top of the list. Care to table a list of John Key’s criminal convictions?
What a sick and sad tosser you are. If DPF demerits me for this post, I will wear them as a badge of honour.
November 12th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
The Herald had no freelancers at the meeting. …
So an employee then? Or casual labourer? Or volunteer?
A denial just a little too specific, methinks.
Or another Labour or Green lying snake.
November 12th, 2011 at 1:19 pm
“So all we know at this stage about the people sitting at the table is that they are a criminal, and a liar.”
FIFY
November 12th, 2011 at 1:52 pm
How did this even become a story? The bag in question is in all the photos. At what stage were suspicions raised? Surely with all those cameras around an image of the perpetrator exists.
This story is suspicious simply due to how it became a story.
November 12th, 2011 at 2:05 pm
Fail Scott make rules on your own site.
November 12th, 2011 at 3:14 pm
Any chance that the bag man was acting in a defensive capacity for National/Key, ACT/Banks or both?
Chances are good that someone – probably more than one – would be trying to record the meeting. In a dirty campaign the opposition might try to edit a recording to make one of the Johns seem to be saying something he actually didn’t.
Having your own recording might be priceless.
November 12th, 2011 at 3:53 pm
Is it true – Key said he wants to see wages drop and Banks said his tinny house will keep making him shit loads of cash as long as National don’t change the law for cannabis… is it true ?
November 12th, 2011 at 3:57 pm
Look lets face it, they had a cup of tea and possibly exchanged pleasantries. The whole thing was done as a publicity stunt to make what is going on behind closed doors apparent to the public. The real deals are occurring in private, away from the media. It is a public endorsement by Key, for Banks. Doubt there is anything, on any tape that is going to ruffle any feathers. In politics, reality is very different from perception.
November 12th, 2011 at 4:00 pm
Maybe Goofy has had a listen, he was on the radio this afternoon spewing his ring gear out about how the Nats and Act are making a mockery of our political system. It he gets into power he’ll change the electoral law so parties have to get over 5% to enter the beehive, I bet that got Banksie and Shonkey filling their pants. But I guess at least Goofy knows what a mockery is, he’s had years to perfect it.
November 12th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
Really who cares, fuck all about nothing , just two troughers dividing the Epson trough up over a cuppa on a expense account, nothing to worry about, same old same old troughing back scratching garbage,Epson this is all the massiah key thinks of your vote, stuff all
VOTE CONSERVATIVE, fresh and new.
November 12th, 2011 at 5:02 pm
@Plebe – either you aren’t very bright or you hold an unfathomable grudge against a Japanese print and imaging company.
November 12th, 2011 at 5:32 pm
GP ,hell WTF ,n instead of m get a damn life with less abuse, but not under banksie the old trougher
here a relaxing youtube clip to watch, you are to tense . http://youtu.be/rsCQGCfklAc RELAX
November 12th, 2011 at 6:33 pm
I think the mystery bag was put there and retrieved by an advertising researcher for P G Tips
November 12th, 2011 at 6:47 pm
> there are some dipshits who inhabit this place, but you are top of the list
I’ll take that as a compliment coming from a right-wing nutbar.
November 12th, 2011 at 6:50 pm
This is such a big deal so you all deserve this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTDcWi1dzoM
November 12th, 2011 at 6:56 pm
Yes, can you imagine how the left would spin this chat over a ‘cuppa’.
Two self made men who both came from poverty, two men who roughly have a combined wealth of around 100 million, two men who beat the odds in life and who proved that you do not have to remain a loser and bludger just because life dealt you a shitty hand.
Both Key and Banks are living proof that socialism is wrong, we do not need gov’t to control our lives, we need gov’t to get the fuck out of the way and let us produce more men like Banks and Key.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:26 pm
@BB
Can’t have that, who would vote for Labour\Mana\Maori\Greens?
Need to keep them on the Labour\Mana\Maori\Green Plantation.
Look into my eyes,
look into my eyes,
the eyes, the eyes, eyes,
not around the eyes,
don’t look around the eyes,
look into my eyes…
You can’t do anything yourself
You’re helpless
You need Labour\Mana\Maori\Green
You are not reponsible
National is to blame for everything
Vote Labour\Mana\Maori\Greens
Labour\Mana\Maori\Greens know best
You can’t help yourself…..
November 12th, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Steve (1,970) Says:
November 12th, 2011 at 6:33 pm
I think the mystery bag was put there and retrieved by an advertising researcher for P G Tips
Oh you meran our own Pete George’s Tip Sheets.
Now that makes an interesting conspiracy.
Did Pete ask Dunne?
Did Dunne ok the Bagman?
What did the two Johnies say to give hope to Dunne?
We could go on.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:46 pm
So thats the cunning plan !!!!
Create widespread poverty and eliminate gov’t so more white men can become millioniares.
Fucken cunning alright !!!
November 12th, 2011 at 7:48 pm
More Maori millionaires in the last few years then whitey’s you turkey.
All done on the whitemans back.
Called the Treaty Gravy Train.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:49 pm
and oh yeah big bruv…
I think i got a wee problem with that plan, but can’t quite figure out what it is yet ?
hold tight, it’ll come to me soon…
November 12th, 2011 at 7:52 pm
more Pasifikans inclusive of Maori unemployed, poor, uneducated, in prison.
Your point being ?
November 12th, 2011 at 7:58 pm
“Your point being ?”
I’d have thought that was fairly obvious. It shows there are no racial barriers to being successful.
November 12th, 2011 at 8:00 pm
Well bugger me wat…i thought it showed what a cracka ass bitch viking 2 was ?
November 12th, 2011 at 8:58 pm
Thanks Wat. Quite correct. only barrier is in their own heads.
aka as ATTITUDE.
November 12th, 2011 at 9:16 pm
………..someone else says
” How did this even become a story? The bag in question is in all the photos. At what stage were suspicions raised? Surely with all those cameras around an image of the perpetrator exists. This story is suspicious simply due to how it became a story.”………
Exactly
Does DPF know more than he says here.
Is it going to be a story that is leaked bit by bit.
Are we being all managed here.
Or maybe there was no mystery man at all
November 12th, 2011 at 10:24 pm
“ a man claiming to be a freelance reporter for the Herald collected the small, dark bag ”
Trevor says the bag man is American.
Does that help?
November 13th, 2011 at 7:15 am
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10765711
The herald would have known the whole bloody time.
I call Bullshit.
inadvertent recording my arse……
November 13th, 2011 at 7:32 am
Well of course the Herald knew.Appears it was inadvertent entrapment aided and abbetted by Keys tough guys.
hahaha.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10765711
And by the way, Question for the day.
WHO and on WHAT Basis decided that David Farrar is a right wing blogger/
Blogger; Yes.
Right Wing??
Right wing doesn’t do pinko’s.
Ask Cactus.
November 13th, 2011 at 7:32 am
As slightly rightly comments (7.15am), the person who was behind this covert recording was from the Herald on Sunday.
Quelle surprise.
Yet another demonstration of ‘journalism’ at its worst from another media outfit that’s had its political bias confirmed.
Inadvertent? What cock.
November 13th, 2011 at 7:39 am
Sexy ploy exposes some election skulduggery
By John Weekes
Beehive staffers were exposed for casting multiple votes – one person chose Paula Bennett 98 times.
“Ninety-eight times? That’s fantastic,” said Bennett. “What’s his number?”
0800 4 Parekura.
November 13th, 2011 at 7:44 am
Right wing? Not these days. Left of centre is a more accurate description.