The 2014 campaign is underway; and guess who's paying?

Even though it's less than seven months since New Zealand went to the polls, it seems that the 2014 campaign is underway in earnest.

Pete George was a United Future candidate in last November's election. We don't know if he's planning to stand again; all power to him if he does. But he's blogged what follows this morning; under the heading Green abuse of CIR could be more insidious he opines:

The Green party has been criticised for spending tens of thousands of dollars collecting petition signatures.
Greens know the referendum will be too late.
They now it will probably be ignored (as they have done in the past).
Why are they spending so much?
Are they investing in something bigger? Like planning on using $millions of taxpayers dollars on their 2014 election campaign?

Pete George makes a very good point here. The Greens must realise that a petition and a CIR on the subject of asset sales will not make a blind bit of difference as to whether the partial sell-down of Mighty River Power and other energy SOE's happens. 

But if there's one thing that the Greens do well, it's campaigning and scare-mongering. That's hardly surprising; just look at the history of activism of most of their MP's, both current and former. That their campaigns are often hyperbolic matters not a jot to them; the cause is what matters, and the truth is just an inconvenience.

So Pete argues that the CIR petition is really just another campaign for the Greens; the start of the 2014 election campaign. And his view is confirmed by one who is not unknown in Green Party circles at at this blog; read on:

So what is their intent here? One possibility is that it gives them a means of continuing a lost election campaign, funded by the taxpayer. But what is the real purpose of a seemingly futile referendum?
Comments on previous posts here suggests a longer game:

robertguyton
June 19, 2012

The Greens are managing these issues perfectly. You can’t catch them. They’ve learned alright! You won’t ping them on the referendum support either. The public will regard you as sniping if you try to portray the Greens as they see National, Labour, NZFirst, Act and UnitedFuture. Go for it though, Pete!

robertguyton
June 19, 2012

The referendum will reflect the country’s real feelings and will come at a time when it counts – just prior to the election. Perfect. Bye bye Mr Dunne. Bye Mr Key. Sayonara.

Wasting tens of thousands of dollars of  parliamentary resources in hijacking Referenda from Citizens is bad enough.

Well; fancy that. One of the Greens' own seems to have dobbed them in! Isn't that ironic? 

But we reckon that Pete George is right on the money here. The Greens' support of the CIR petition is far more about politics and positioning than it is about the actual issue of asset sales, especially when they are colluding with the party that sold more state assets when in government between 1984 and 1990 than any other government prior or since.

And what's worse; whether directly or by more insidious means, the Greens are using their appropriation of taxpayer funds for political purposes, not for running expenses, research and the other  day to day expenses that parties in the Parliament incur. We don't think that's especially ethical. Fortunately however, the media are now sniffing around the Greens' little ruse, and their motives are likely to come under increased scrutiny. That's not a bad thing at all.