Wednesday, October 19, 2005

The ghost of poison past

Oh dear. Seems the new Minister of Local Government is none other than Mark Burton.

Admittedly Burton wasn't alone in being subject to the kind of poison the Diva spread during his ill-fated days in Wellington, but clearly wasn't impressed at one particularly nasty rumour (which we won't repeat here), as this exchange during the First Reading of the Customs and Excise Bill back in 2003 illustrates:

Rt Hon Winston Peters: Ah yes, the member should tell us why he left boarding school. He should not try to be smart.
Hon Mark Burton: I wasn't at boarding school.
Rt Hon Winston Peters: Oh yes, the member was. He should not enter the debate if he cannot handle it.
Hon Mark Burton: Don't misquote Michael Laws' nasty little stories about attending boarding school - he got the wrong man.
Rt Hon Winston Peters: I did my research. Why is the member so embarrassed? If Laws is wrong, why is the member so embarrassed?
Hon Mark Burton: I'm not embarrassed. I was never at boarding school.
Rt Hon Winston Peters: Methinks he protests too much.
Considering that several of the Diva's grand schemes require the acquiesence of the Minister for Local Government, LawsWatch would pay good money to be a fly on the wall during those meetings.

Comments on this post are now closed.

78 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why would Laws worry about the ghost of witless past, he's just as witless now.

Anonymous said...

Watchers, you missed out a good bit: here's the exchange just previous to the one quoted:

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh yes, but that walrus would never understand. He has no love for this Parliament. He has no dream of a democracy that sometimes rises above shallow, petty party politics and actually does great things. The PSIS was one of those events, and I have seen others. But I have never in my life in politics--and I have been here longer than most people--ever seen this Parliament used to raise the excise on liquor.

Jill Pettis: No, because you're pickled.

Imagine a drunken Peters repeating Laws' puerile little stories; imagine his anger when Laws once again turned out to be full of shit.

:)

:)

Anonymous said...

And any of this is relevant nowadays because????

oh yes another cheap shot to try and discredit ML, sorry i forgot where I was for a sec.

Anonymous said...

No one here needs to discredit Michael Laws. His sordid record (both official, recorded and the stuff of Wellington (and Gore) dinner parties) does that perfectly well, thank you.

Anonymous said...

And we are concentrating on Michael Law's past because......??

Anonymous said...

... because, Marion, his past was political and his present is political. If, say, he had come to Wanganui as a reborn botanist to study the flora of Virginia Lake, one could argue there's little point in being aware of his sorry political adventures in Hawkee's Bay and Wellington.

However, he has come here as a mayor pushing many of the same barrows as he did as an MP and Peters' alter-ego.

When someone who lied about somethig like the Antoinette Beck affair gets his iron grasp on power here, we need to be very watchful and I guess that is why LawsWatch was born.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure whoever wrote that Hansard entry and whoever decided that the record of parliamentary debate in this democracy should be accessible to the masses didn't set out to "discredit" Michael Laws.

Anonymous said...

Marion (is that Film Festival Maorion): suppose Richard (Tricky Dick) Nixon had turned around an made a political comeback. Would you really expect his discussion of his past to be verboten?

Anonymous said...

The funny thing is, Nixon did make an attempt at a comeback. I saw the press-conference on Tv in the '80's I think. After he'd finished speaking he raised his arms in the trademark Nixon victory salute, and the sweat rings under his armpits were, I kid you not, about 2 feet in diameter. And that was the end of Tricky Dicky.

Anonymous said...

Duh, Marion: Laws claimed to have changed his ways in 1996, and here he is in 2003 involved in some sleazy gutter politics. His credibility rests in part on his supposed rehabilitation. If it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck...

Anonymous said...

" another cheap shot to try and discredit ML"

Not sure how you figure that out. It looks more to me like a sleazy cheap shot aimed at Mark Burton by Michael Laws, which missed its mark and hit Winston Peters instead. Again.

Laws Watch said...

Marion said And we are concentrating on Michael Law's past because......??

Because a man whom he gratuitously and maliciously spread untrue rumours about is now in a position whereby he not only has the local government portfolio but is charged with making specific decisions which will impact on Wanganui (e.g. approving divestment of certain assets etc) so we wonder how the Diva's previous relationship with the Minister will impact upon those dealings.

But perhaps Mr Burton is too big a man to hold a grudge, despite the particularly nasty nature of the rumour.

Anonymous said...

And we are discussing Hannibal Lecter's past because....? Because some of us were stupid enough to invite him round for dinner, Marion.

Anonymous said...

You wanker, Carol!
Laws said NOTHING about Burton - it was Burton who assumed something must be amiss on the basis of this Handard transcript you quote - a Peters taunt and Peters was baiting him. You obviously don't understand parliament or what passes for debate.
Knowing BOTH gentlemen (as an ex-Tech lad) they were not in the same class or even same year and Burton never attended College House (the boarding hostel) altho Laws did. Burton was an officious boy even at school and Laws was always in trouble with the teachers for "insubordination".
Caught up with them both at a school reunion in the mid-90s and they're chummy mates as are all us old Tech/Boys Coll boys.
Carol you obviously don't know Wanganui very well because Parliament is like boarding school and vice-versa.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps someone could also explain the Gore dinner party reference. I wasnt aware they had dinner parties in Gore!

Anonymous said...

Forget trying to find reasin in here Marion. This is just bitter little people like Carol Webb and her arts mates who can't stand the fact that Wangas elected ML & his team, rejected their precious gallery extension, and are puutting all the incompetents to the sword. Long overdue.

Anonymous said...

I didn't realise that now LawsWatch isn't breaking any stories any more and that the dreaded Chronicle are doing that, that LW is confined to making stories up. What's that old story:that those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to the tv show tonight?
My guess is it will rate well the first week. Who wouldn't want to watch three old has-beings desperately trying to resurrect their media profiles. Very sad.
By week two there will be three people watching, Mrs Homes, Leonie and Helen L

Anonymous said...

This is silly. An exchange in parliament's debating chamber almost 15 years ago that doesn't involve Michael Laws, proves what? Pathetic LawsWatch. Get some real dirt!

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to the tv show tonight?
My guess is it will rate well the first week. Who wouldn't want to watch three old has-beings desperately trying to resurrect their media profiles. Very sad.
By week two there will be three people watching, Mrs Homes, Leonie and Helen L

7:59 PM, October 19, 2005

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Whassamadder diddums? Didn't they ask you?
According to Nz on Air they've put $830,000 into the programme & it runs for 20 eps next year too. I was trying to work out what the mayor would get paid per ep and I have a mate who tells me that the usual talent fee is $2,000 per ep plus. Makes the mayor a rich puppy by my estimates.

Anonymous said...

Jee-suss. $2k times 26 is my annual salary and all for half an hour a week in Auckland. Forget making him mayor, make him finance manager.

Laws Watch said...

LW is confined to making stories up

We're making up Hansard? Those are the facts, the remainder is clearly opinion based on those facts and thus can't be "made up".

Yes, they do make them crazy. Or desperate.

Spin Mickey, spin.

Anonymous said...

Your right of course. If they nz on air have put that much money into it, It must mean it will be a big success, just like Homes last show, and how much was he paid to host that?

Laws Watch said...

...a Peters taunt and Peters was baiting him.

Yes, a Peters taunt based on rumour and innuendo supplied by Laws, which is why Peters Says: "If Laws is wrong, why is the member so embarrassed?" Not "if I am wrong..." But you knew that, didn't you.

...Burton never attended College House (the boarding hostel) altho Laws did.

Ahhh, projecting his own insecurities onto others again then, was he?

Anonymous said...

If you interpret such actions in such a way then what the Hell is LAwsWatch but a massive insecurity complex? The day that blind & drapes salespeople dispense psychological advice is the day that Ross Mirchell-Anyon stops writing crazy letters to the paper about all his Sunday drives. Goes to show that senility is contagious.

Anonymous said...

I'm a bit surprised with you LW - you started with humour and now its conjecting on stuff said by Winston Peters. For pity's sake you talk credibility & then you talk Peters.
I want to know about what goes on in council NOW and not what you make of some scrap 13 years ago.

Laws Watch said...

Unless we're on a different calendar it's two years ago.

We suppose Peters might have been lying as to his source, but it seems unlikely.

As for what's happening in Council now, we do that too.

Anonymous said...

The point is that LawsWatch is taking a long bow to a petty remark by bullshitter extraordinary Winston Peters, aimed at taunting a political opponent, and suggesting Wanganui won't get a fair deal because Laws has pissed off Mark Burton.
I'm a supporter of Lawswatch but this is not your best entry.
I remain suprrised though that Laws gets access to any pollie he wants because of his radio show.

Anonymous said...

Part of the fun of opposing Michael Laws is derived from goading him. It's a base motivation, granted, and probably lower than the Watchers' usual high standards, but it's so much fun.

Mickey knew someone at high school, and he's still thinking about it 40 years later, trying to use it to hurt someone. What a vicious small minded man.

Anonymous said...

Whanganui will get a fair deal one way or another, but while Mickey needs his celebrity paycheck he'll get in the way of that fair deal, and demand his photo-op every time, leeching off Whanganui's good name.

Anonymous said...

Excellent show on prime tonight. Didja see the WANGANUI tee shirt on a national tv show. That was good. Go Wangas.

Anonymous said...

No, not film festival Marion, just Marion. Enjoyed Prime tonight. Good on Michael for putting Wanganui out there.

Anonymous said...

Where's Whanganui?

I was born in Wanganui. I live in Wanganui. I have worked in Wanganui all my life. I have now retired and still live in Wanganui. I realy don't give a shit about being PC it's been Wanganui for!!!! what is it, one hundred and sixty years. If you want to live somewhere with an "H" shift to Fongaraee.

Anonymous said...

Who was that loser wearing a vision tee-shirt?

No wonder Helen had him bleating in the Chron about how tough it was. He couldn't even come out on top up against the pathetic Holmes et al.

Deja vu really. Who remembers the last time he was going to put Wanganui on the map by wearing tee shirts while he ponced his way around Tonga - but got thrown off as a loser after an episode or two?

If this is the good stuff he's doing for this town, perhaps the havoc he's wreaking on the ratepayers' assets isn't so bad after all.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Mikey Havoc for the 'Diva' plug! Thought our Diva was good at the recall question but using his own words from the Chromn, looked a 'dork' for the rest of it.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, welcome to the LawsWatch fan club, Mikey H.

One pissed off Diva, I'd say.

Anonymous said...

"We suppose Peters might have been lying as to his source, but it seems unlikely."

Why does that sentence seem weird? "Unlikely" that Winston Peters lied about something? Right...

Anonymous said...

Lawrence said...
"Where's Whanganui?

I was born in Wanganui...If you want to live somewhere with an "H" shift to Fongaraee"

Is that it?

Is that the sum total of your argument for not correcting the misspelling of our hometown? Lawrence, from your other posts I'd imagined you as a thoughtful sort of a chap.

I knows it's an emotive issue, but is emotion the only repsponse? From my point of view it makes sense to correct the spelling, but it doesn't make sense to do it while it will be the source of so much angst. The referendumb will not "settle the question" as whatever the result a name change will leave some people inconsolable and others wondering why we can't spell Whanganui.

Anonymous said...

Someone said ML had been booted off the Prime show. Does that mean the series finishes without him? Is it even true?

Anonymous said...

Laws was good last night - showed he's smart with his question answering and did Wanganui proud. It was a good show too and quite funny in parts. As for getting kicked off the show I think you'll find that unrequited envy by some idiot because I've had a meeting rearranged as a result of his TV commitment next week and I don't care because if he keeps wearing different Wanganui T-shirts and performing so well then its great promotion for the city.
It might be timne to admit that not everything the guy does is bad, or bad for Wanganui!

Anonymous said...

Mickey knew someone at high school, and he's still thinking about it 40 years later, trying to use it to hurt someone. What a vicious small minded man.

9:24 PM, October 19, 2005

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

He didn't say anything, you wanker.
Winston Peters goaded Burton in the House and making up things in parliament is standard practise partic for the ex-Tauranga MP. Own goal because LawsWatch has slagged peters before as lacking crediblity but now believes him BECAUSE IT SUITS. Not very professional.

Anonymous said...

Yeah I was surprised by Out of the Question last night. It wasn't bad and now I se why the govt put its money into the show. Didnt vote for Laws but this is what he was elected to do and that was put us on the map, put us on TV. Other mayors will be a bit jealous this morning.

Anonymous said...

Too wet for your morning run today, anonymickey at 6.35am? Oh well, at least the blog is here to soak up your morning phelgm.

Anonymous said...

... and at 6.38am
anonymickey, don't you think it would be an interesting experiment for you to try to get through a whole day without telling porkies like these.

Pity, it's not even 7am yet and you've really blown today already with a fine crop of lies. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

Jealous mayors??? That's a good one.

Anonymous said...

Face it, people. This mayor is barking mad. Te Awhina won't be much use though because he'll probably escape.

Time to call in Bob Davies boys with their big nets, and have him put down.

PSYCHOPATHY CHECKLIST:

2. Grandiose sense of self-worth
3. Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
4. Pathological lying

Anonymous said...

It's a constant theme in "AnonyMickey"'s posts, this business of envy, jealousy. Like we're supposed to covet Laws' money, or "celebrity" or something. I wonder if that's what keeps him going, the delusion that there are people wishing they had his life. The indignities Mickey slobbers over, just to be a higher paid clown. *Smirk*

Anonymous said...

We're so lucky in Wanganui to have such a high profile Mayor, and unlike Tim Shadbolt, our Mayor is super intelligent, enough to keep the councillors and council officers honest. Just because he isn't photographed at functions he attends, doesn't mean he's not a great Mayor. He's excellent. Go Michael.

Anonymous said...

He just didn't keep up with the play last night, lets just hope it gets better. Which day is he out of town ... Friday? Friday and Wednesday, well that is good for the city!

Anonymous said...

Good point. Mickey, please improve your usual crap standard of Tv clownship: get a permanent gig, then piss off and leave us alone.

If we don't need him every Wednesday & Friday, it's hard to see what use his other three half-days could be.

Anonymous said...

..our Mayor is super intelligent...

That accounts for his degree in medicine, and that nuclear physics doctorate. Oh, wait, that's right, he got an English degree. The easiest ride in the academic curriculum.

If Mickey posted the above remark, shit you're up yourself this morning Mike. If it was someone else, how's the view from up Michael?

Anonymous said...

Just because he isn't photographed at functions he attends

Which events? A simple test: name them.

Anonymous said...

Don't you just love the way Michael pops in here each day for his morning crap - the plumbing must be playing up at Chez Michael and whoever.

Anonymous said...

It gets his day off to the perfect start, every day :)

Anonymous said...

Just because he isn't photographed at functions he attends ..

Well, thank heavens for that. Even the Chron knows their readers tolerance for the mayoral mug was long since exhausted. That's why the ratepayers have to pay to get it in every piece of paper that spews out of Guyton St.

I heard Helen moaning in public at a Chron photographer once about how they should take more piccies of her man Michael.

Anonymous said...

Is that it? 5.20 am

Is that the sum total of your argument for not correcting the misspelling of our hometown? Lawrence, from your other posts I'd imagined you as a thoughtful sort of a chap.
-------------------

No' that's not the sum total of my disaproval of putting "H" in Wanganui. It is difficult to put my thoughts into type and post them here.
One question is, that if the early settlers chose the spelling of Wanganui without the H, then how does that become a spelling mistake now?

Anonymous said...

Is it true that the diVision policy is being displayed at Guyton St?


There'll be some fireworks over that, I'm picking.

Anonymous said...

Lawrence, I think the whole issue has more to do with the original settlers than the early settlers. And the original settlers apparently had/have the aspirated H.

Anonymous said...

Carol/Matt.
Give it up - the mayor wouldn't post here but I do and just to piss you off and I know you're jealoys because youre Neville Nobodies who sell curtains for a living. Why don't you piss off and leave those of us who've been here for years to get on with our lives.

Anonymous said...

and he did a great job for Wanganui last night and that pisses you off most of all. Take your arts mates and fuck off.

Anonymous said...

our Mayor is super intelligent...

That accounts for his degree in medicine, and that nuclear physics doctorate. Oh, wait, that's right, he got an English degree. The easiest ride in the academic curriculum.

If Mickey posted the above remark, shit you're up yourself this morning Mike. If it was someone else, how's the view from up Michael?

7:27 AM, October 20, 2005

+++++++++++++++++

Decided to check this out because there is so mch false crap posted here by anonymous.
The guy has a first class honours degree in history from Otago University, got a UGC Postgraduate Scholarship and has a Masters of Arts in English from Victoria University. Like to see the idiot who wrote the above share with us his tertiary record.

Anonymous said...

Poison?
It's only flowing from one source and that's from the outlet at the upper end of Victoria Avenue opposite Display Associates.
Michael Laws is upfront, has his own website, owns his own opinions and LawsWatch hides behind anonymity and accuses others of being deceiful and dishonest. Go figure!

Anonymous said...

Is it true that the diVision policy is being displayed at Guyton St?


It's been on the Council's Intranet from their first day, and the theory is that since they command the majority around the council, then council managers will get a good steer of whats acceptable and whats not.

Anonymous said...

The guy has a first class honours degree in history from Otago University, got a UGC Postgraduate Scholarship and has a Masters of Arts in English from Victoria University

Oh, English and History, sorry. Everyone knows you have to be a genius to study those. Out of interest, we know his English work helped us understand "the opinions of Michael Laws", but what were Mickey's valuable contributions to historical knowledge?

Anonymous said...

Actually you wanker you do need to have a few smarts to get a first class honours degree. Tell the rest of us, anonymous, so that we can all have a good laugh ... what do YOU have apart from a welfare benefit tax certificate.

Anonymous said...

It's interesting that most of this Vision lot have degrees - I see Nicki Higgie has a BA from Victoria, Dot McKinnon an MBA from Massey, and Graeme Taylor a Masters in Management from Massey. Then you add the mayor. In the last council the highest tertiary qual was a Diploma in Nursing for Ailsa Stewart, which explains why the management ran rings round them and how they didn't see all the financial problems.

Anonymous said...

Latest mayoral column -
www.mayormichael.co.nz

Anonymous said...

Jeez Michael. What you doing here when you're supposed to be wiping Little Lucy's fevered brow.

Anonymous said...

you do need to have a few smarts to get a first class honours degree

never said you didn't, but claiming that Mickey is "super-intelligent" on the basis of a couple of humanities degrees? Please.

Anonymous said...

So that's why all the Councillors are keeping quiet about the retreat: they didn't go. You shouldn't be disappointed, Mickey; they're copying you: you're on here for three half-days a week, and you're a full-time mayor, remember.

Anonymous said...

Shame the man has no skills in bringing a community together.

Anonymous said...

Bringing the community together would not be in the best interests of Michael Laws.

Anonymous said...

So the community needs to get in behind an independent councillor for this by-election. Who will stand?

Anonymous said...

mikey said
"Although the real crazies hover on the outside of local government, and it’s the same everywhere. For some weird reason, the minutiae of council life attracts them like sheep dags attract flies"

Anonymous said...

Good to see the Chron (Super Scoop Bryan)getting around to running something on the Sarjeant machinations - a week after the community meeting.

Still no sign of anything on the River City Port presentation last Wednesday though.

One can only speculate on what happened to that:

EDITOR: I see you're back from the harbour committee meeting. Any good stories? What happened?

REPORTER: Yes, Cashmore's people gave a presentation about their plan. They had some good diagrams and even Frank Boffa was there. Some of the councillors made some interesting comments. This is a big story, Mas. The one Wanganui has been waiting for.

EDITOR: Yes, but what did Michael say?

REPORTER: It's Wednesday, Mas. He wasn't there.

EDITOR: You;re trying to sell me a story without any comment from Michael? You know better than that. Bugger off.

REPORTER: Yes Mas.

Anonymous said...

Looks like things are really going down to the wire on the River Queen premiere. Apparently WDC is now negotiating with Moodabe, the New Zealand agent,
for control of the media

Dear Lord, Mickey/Dotty, when will your quest for global domination cease?

Anonymous said...

Cliff Curtis: "well he just shit in his pants then, didn't he."

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
It's interesting that most of this Vision lot have degrees - I see Nicki Higgie has a BA from Victoria, Dot McKinnon an MBA from Massey, and Graeme Taylor a Masters in Management from Massey. Then you add the mayor. In the last council the highest tertiary qual was a Diploma in Nursing for Ailsa Stewart, which explains why the management ran rings round them and how they didn't see all the financial problems.

11:02 AM, October 20, 2005

----------------------------
It is also interesting if you did some homework, that a lot of the previous councilers have degrees and so do some of the present non vision councilers. The difference is the non vision people didn't want their degrees listed. Some people don't brag about their degrees.
Having some letters after your name doesn't change the type of person you are.

Anonymous said...

The whole issue's a bit silly when it comes down to it. You need more than a degree to be a good Councillor. How a couple of humanities degrees would help you understand the city's accounts I'm not sure.