Give it a rest Trevor

We were prepared to let sleeping dogs lie as far as Trevor Mallard's TradeMe activities go, but he himself keeps wanting to make an issue of it; the Dom-Post reports:

Labour MP Trevor Mallard is denying he is a scalper or a hypocrite, despite a trading record showing he has sold plenty of tickets online.

The Dominion Post revealed yesterday that the Hutt South MP made a $276 profit by selling four tickets to Saturday's sold-out Homegrown music festival in Wellington.

Although there was nothing illegal about the sale, Mr Mallard came under fire from dompost. co.nz readers in part because it was he who initiated anti-scalping legislation in 2007 to cover events such as the Rugby World Cup.

He said at the time that "scalping is a ripoff". His Trade Me account shows he has been a member of the online auction site since 2005, and has sold plenty of tickets in the past.

These include a Wellington Sevens ticket in 2009, two Homegrown tickets in 2009, four Homegrown tickets last year, and a ticket to the Canada v United States ice hockey match in Christchurch last year.

Yesterday he said none of those events was covered by the Major Events Management Act he initiated, so the ticket sales did not amount to scalping. "I didn't purchase the tickets for the purpose of on-selling."

And the story goes on to report that Mr Mallard made a noble offer (albeit easier to do after you've been caught), but it's been turned down:

He offered to refund the money to Whitireia music student Laura Signal, 19, and her three friends who bought the latest Homegrown tickets. However, Miss Signal has suggested he should donate his profit to New Zealand music instead.

"This whole thing was not about the price; we were willing to pay it. It was more about Mr Mallard's political position and his past stance on the issue."

So if Trevor wants us to keep banging on about this issue, we're happy to oblige him. After all, he's done the sackcloth and ashes routine on telly; read on:

Mr Mallard defended himself on Twitter yesterday but was later mocked in Parliament by National's Steven Joyce and then admitted on Campbell Live: "It doesn't look too flash, does it?" and "It's clear that I've cocked up."

He bought the Homegrown tickets from Ticketek, whose terms and conditions state that its tickets should not be resold at a premium. Ticketek managing director Brendon Bainbridge has said the company was not happy with Mr Mallard's breach of its terms but could not be contacted for further comment.

Mr Mallard said that, if Ticketek wanted to revoke his account, he would rely on friends to buy his tickets in future.

Actually, upon reflection the best thing that Trevor Mallard could do is rely on friends to do his social media stuff for him! This has been the SMOG (Social Media Own Goal) to end all SMOG's, and Mallard has no-one to blame but himself. Labour needs to find a way to keep Trevor away from computers if the party is to have any chance of returning to power in 2014.