Thursday, August 02, 2007

Whistling up the dogs



Well done, Wanganui! Your mayor (the one who dragged you into the national sewer when the King of Tonga and Kahui twins died) is at it again.

Just when it seemed he had no better topics than his battle with the Employment Relations Authority or the Museum or the Arts Trust or the iwi … for his Sordid Sunday Sermon, an abused Rotorua toddler was unfortunate enough to end up in Star Ship Hospital. She promptly became collateral damage in Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws’ desperate dog-whistle politicking for the recognition (and votes) of the same rednecks whose racist insecurities lead them the slimy downside of the radio dial. (See Nicky Hagar’s The Hollow Men for an introduction to this sordid form of politicking as cynically employed by Barmy Brash during his brief reign, and across the Tasman by his ideological twin Horrible Howard – or for that matter, any study of Hitler’s enlistment of the anti-Semite cause. Closer to home, refer to Laws’ ignominious days of Asian and Somali refugee bashing as Winston Peters’ chief string-puller with New Zealand First).

So here he is last Sunday:
Maori culture is simply a motif to pick up when the cops come calling … What is it about Maori and child abuse? .. and then back to the familiar refrain: The time has arrived: remove these children at birth from this sub-culture.

And little more than a year ago when the Kahui twins tragedy was unfolding, he was there too – our very own racist Forrest Gump, putting the boot in and tickling the talkback tongues:

But why Maori? What dark skein twists itself within that culture to produce rogue whanau like the Kahui? … And are the Kahui rogue? Or are they symptomatic of an underclass within Maori who are resistant to both mainstream and Maori assistance?

As a LawsWatch anonymii with a penchant for numbers reminded us on July 30:

Last Sunday when yet another battered toddler made the front page of the paper he leapt in and hurled abuse at the perpetrators. How profound. In a column that used the words Maori or Maoridom eighteen times, sixteen of the references were extremely negative. He excused himself of racism on the grounds that he was throwing off the bonds of political correctness. This will give racists a righteous rallying point.
I wonder if the grand plan is for the child beaters to go to war with the racists, or if there is no grand plan and he just can’t pass up a chance to set one part of society against another.

Thanks, Watcher. And predictably, within days Mickey had his Mouthpiece John Maslin whipping up a bit of front-page and editorial page racism in our nasty little excuse for a local rag.

Meanwhile, on the home-front, he’s also stepping up the war with local iwi over that perennial whipping boy – the H! Seems those uppity iwi thought they had been commissioned to come up with a carved entranceway to the council chambers that, as Mickey proclaimed in November 2005, would:

"… recognise the invitation our local iwi gave to settlers to share this region" … “At last,” he said, in the full flush of a little bicultural tic, “we have a Council Chambers that belongs to all of Wanganui, that celebrates our heritage and of which we can all be proud."

But then he saw ‘H’ and then he saw ‘Red’ and a predictable mayoral ‘H’issy Fit ensued .. and you read it here first, Watchers.

So what, we hear you ask yet again, maketh the man(iac) who rides the troughs of gutter politics? Is it that Michael Laws is simply a father and family man beyond moral reproach (you’ll have to ask his extended whanau what they think about that proposition as paraded in the wimins’ mags) or is it something deeper, darker … altogether dafter in fact.

Turn a couple of pages in last week’s Sunday Star-Times from his breakfast bilge and we find Victoria University psychologist Dr Marc Wilson neatly assessing Michael Laws’ political personality as being “remarkably similar to the psychopath”. Says Wilson:

It’s pretty common for people standing for political office to talk about devotion to the public, their commitment to the nation’s interest, their strong sense of responsibility. It’s unusual for politicians to say ‘I’m interested in getting paid and I’m a megalomaniac.”

(And before the sad, single anonymickey of Porritt St rushes to proclaim our First Citizen’s selfless devotion to the public good that leads him to give away his salary, we would point out that the unique ‘salary cycle’ he rides simply positions the mayoralty of our unfortunate city as a means to an (inflated salary) end via the media mouthpieces and dancing spectacles that are sufficiently desperate to be wagged by his 2% redneck tail).


65 comments:

Anonymous said...

First Citizen’s selfless devotion to the public good that leads him to give away his salary
....
2.5 times was the factor that Mickey gave away his salary last year. In other words his "i will donate x$ from my salary because I'm wonderful" amounted to 2.5 times the amount he would actually be paid. I don't remember being thanked, let alone asked, for that.

Anonymous said...

So $25,000 later we have an artwork commissioned and paid for by the ratepayers, but unlikely to be placed in the position planned because of what? The correct spelling of a maori placename?
So let the ratepayers choose, should we put it up or not? Or should we just keep throwing their culture right back in their little brown faces as the one who thinks he is god does.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone else find it hypocritical for the mayor to throw out the crumbs of his mayoral salary to the carefully chosen few when into his household weekly income comes a ratepayer funded comfortable salary cheque to his partner for doing f-all in the role she is supposed to be fulfilling.

Anonymous said...

Nice one, LW, giving ML's address. Now let's have yours. We need to know where to send the men in white coats.

Anonymous said...

Michael Laws is a racist pyschopath. That certainly explains his behaviour better than any other theory, and it's backed up by plenty of evidence.

Anonymous said...

2.5 times was the factor that Mickey gave away his salary last year
___________________________________

A desperate act by a corrupt loony discovering that votes are more expensive to buy than he thought.

Anonymous said...

Reassuring to see that poor wee Marty has gotten over his oft-broadcast distress at finding himself a (albeit dumb/dumbstruck) cheerleader for the vile racist twerp and decided that he's up for another three years of getting paid by the ratepayers for playing Mickey's puppet.

Amazing what a councillor's paypacket can do to salve a tortured conscience. So will the mayoress be lining up at the Horizons trough, do you think - she wouldn't actually have to front up to lodge her application so there's no danger of her actually having to appear at the place.

Anonymous said...

Wonder who paid the nomination fees of the five dwarves -- and how much will be going into their election accounts? After all, as the mayor keeps telling everyone, he does give away his salary.

Anonymous said...

he does give away his salary.
________________________________

...and I can't remember him being thanked, or even asked! Sob!

Anonymous said...

he does give away his salary.
++++

So what sort of sicko measures his own worth in dollars?

Anonymous said...

OK, here's the deal...everyone here knows that Laws is a lying liar. Fact. But will that stop him being re-elected?? Without a newspaper or a Council willing to stand up to him, what hope does the average person on the street have?? Wanganui can't survive another term of Laws.

Anonymous said...

Mickey's really on a roll with his latest bout of holier than thou Maori bashing.

Wonder what he would say about a hypothetical Maori male who had four kids by three different mothers (and played no part in bringing up two of them and only part-time "parenting" of the other two), and various stepchildren.

And if that same Maori male had demonstrated extremely aggressive tendencies and public anger and abuse, and had loudly and publicly protested his right to inflict physical punishment on his offspring.

And if a leading psychologist had rated our hypothetical brown-skinned male as a psychopath …

Anonymous said...

Good letter by Roger Shand in today's Sunday Star Times!

Anonymous said...

Rawiri Taonui & Rosemary Mcleod actually write some sense in the SST today. Then there's worthless racist Mickey, spraying his hate and ignorance like a farmer spreads shit.

He wants to be taken seriously, while advocating the NZ equivalent of the "Stolen Generation".

Michael Laws is a prime candidate for post natal abortion.

Anonymous said...

From the Herald blog by Tim Shadbolt:

Never mind the oil shocks and food shocks, there have already been plenty of election shocks in local government.

The sudden announcement by Michael Laws, Mayor of Wanganui and radio host, that he will be running again was certainly a surprise after three years of emphatic denial that he would run for a second term.

He is one of the most abrasive, insulting, aggressive, put-down merchants in New Zealand politics and was a role model for Rodney Hide and John Banks, until Rodney Hide had a religious experience during Dancing with the Stars and John Banks decided to become 'Mr Nice Guy'.

I spoke at length with Deborah Coddington during a celebrity spelling bee TV show about Michael Laws and Deborah had decided that Michael was an un-reformable, recidivist insulter who was in denial.

Anonymous said...

Did you think Tim S is upset that NZ has more than one celebrity mayor these days? Or that Laws recently told the SST that if Shadbolt wasn't a mayor, he would be unemployed?

Anonymous said...

Did you think Tim S is upset that NZ has more than one celebrity mayor these days? Or that Laws recently told the SST that if Shadbolt wasn't a mayor, he would be unemployed?

****

Oh bugger off Mickey, you little dirtbag.

We think that Tim S is reflecting the uncontested view of anyone in this country with half a brain and an ounce of decency ... both of which you are sadly lacking.

Anonymous said...

Tim who?

Anonymous said...

Tim S says: Mayors soon discovered that CEO's hired and fired the staff rather than the mayor and councillors and that the tenders process (the letting of all contracts) was also run by senior management.

++++

That's all very well but Tim obviously doesn't know that things are done differently Guyton St since the start of Mad Mickey's reign (see the earlier Laws Watch picture of the mayor and his ventriloquist hiring-and-firing dummy!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Did you think Tim S is upset that NZ has more than one celebrity mayor these days? Or that Laws recently told the SST that if Shadbolt wasn't a mayor, he would be unemployed?

****

Oh bugger off Mickey, you little dirtbag.

We think that Tim S is reflecting the uncontested view of anyone in this country with half a brain and an ounce of decency ... both of which you are sadly lacking.

5:54 PM, August 05, 2007


I am drawn to wonder if anon @5.44pm is the bigger psycho given that I posted the oroginal comment, voted for Ray Stevens at the last election, and had read the article in the Sunday Star Times last week in which the mayor said Shadbolt was basically a layabout and that being mayor was easy.

Do I get insulted again??

Anonymous said...

And who's we, anon 5.54pm?
Are there 2 of you or are you legion in your brain in which case call The Exorcist.

Anonymous said...

Deborah who?

Anonymous said...

"Trade Minister Phil Goff says the Government agrees with opponents of a $2.6 billion takeover of Auckland Airport by a Dubai company.

Mr Goff made the comments at the launch of the Auckland centre-left City Vision ticket for October's local body elections, the New Zealand Herald reported today."
________________________________

"centre-left City Vision" eh? They obviously feel that the association of Mickey fuckwit with the Vision brand is so miniscule they can ignore it.

But I wonder how Vision Wanganui Councillors feel about having a party leader and chairman (can I use the word "man" in connection with Bob Walker?) being so incompetent they didn't even protect the populist brand from a bunch of lefties?

Anonymous said...

I posted the oroginal comment, voted for Ray Stevens at the last election...
_____________________________

Never mind Shadbolt, anon. He probably gets a bit fed up with people comparing him to a low-life like Laws.

But do tell us what prompted you to vote for Ray Stevens. Do you like the way he's performed? He's certainly made Laws look like a psychotic asshole (not that that's hard) from time to time, but don't you think his business commitments take him away from the job a bit too much?

And if it's the successful local businessman turned Councillor you're after, I assume you'll be voting for John Martin next time. Ray's Garage may be a good place to buy gas, but it's hardly in the John Martin league, eh?

Anonymous said...

So what sort of sicko measures his own worth in dollars?

11:04 PM, August 04, 2007

According to Dr. Marc Wilson, Victoria University's deputy head of psychology, "people who score higher on psychopathy......value wealth and success and getting ahead of other people...."

So, I guess the answer to your question would be a psycho sicko.

Anonymous said...

Gosh, you'd think right-winger David Farrar's Kiwibloggers would find something nice to say about Mickey, but here's a selection of comments on the Tim Shadbolt "announcement" from www.kiwiblog.co.nz

- Why would you ever believe a word that came out of Antoinette’s mouth?

- This strange little man really has nothing better to do with his life than to be a local politician, so I assume he will stand again.

- This eye liner wearing freak is a fraudster who can’t dance and is just the jerk fool to be a mayor. The last time I listened to him on the wireless as a talk back host I fell asleep, because he is about as entertaining as watching a Howard Broad animal farm video!

- Hint: Laws’ Deputy Mayor, Dot McKinnon (one of the better of Laws’ Vison councillors) was a candidate for Mayor, but has withdrawn. Expect the mascara’d one to stand again.

Anonymous said...

To anon at 10.53am:

No I will be voting for Ray Stevens as mayor again. He has proven independent and his organisation of the Northland Appeal was well judged and professional. I'd also like to see Jane Janes as mayoress for a touch of glamour!

As for John Martin. One word: lightweight. He is a very poor public speaker and has no experience in politics unlike Ray who has been on council and acquitted himself well. John Martin should get some experience - politics is not about managing real estate.

I am also concerned that John Martin is a Freemason and I want my mayor to be independent of all groupings requiring such filial loyalty.

Anonymous said...

To anon at 1.48pm.

Geez you're awfully well informed about the candidates. Full of information, aren't you? What a wasted vote. Do you honestly expect Stevens will get more votes than the second placed candidate from 2004? With Chas out of the race? On the one hand you seem so sure of yourself, but then on the other you're going to vote for a vote-splitter who'll let that populist fuck-knuckle in through the back door.

Are you sure you're sincere? I find you quite hard to believe. I wonder why that is.

Anonymous said...

"...lightweight..."
___________________________________

Like that'll be a problem up against a flim-flam fart like Mickey.

Anonymous said...

anonymickey says he wants his "mayor to be independent of all groupings requiring such filial loyalty".

1:48 PM, August 06, 2007

Now isn't that a laugh from the diVision puppet meister himself!

Anonymous said...

....voting for Ray Stevens at 1:48 PM,

Do you really think American Express would put a lightweight in charge of their multi billion dollar real estate budget? No, of course you don’t, but it is important to try to undermine the best mayoral candidate Wanganui has had for a long time……also to shore up the vote-splitters already in the bag and encourage more if you can.

Anonymous said...

Are you sure you're sincere? I find you quite hard to believe. I wonder why that is.

3:40 PM, August 06, 2007
_____

For the answer to that, anonymous, refer to the earlier comment from KiwiBlog ie,

- Why would you ever believe a word that came out of Antoinette’s mouth?

Anonymous said...

Silly people, you know as well as I that Laws will waltz straight back in. This small town thinks it needs a national voice to keep it above water.
Also, how many people have you heard or read going ape over the supposed < 2% rate rise?
How far down their throat do they need it shoved before they realise they are being lied to?
Newsletter turns up singing praises for the lowest rate rises, 2 days later the bill turns up with a > 5% rise.

Do they notice? If so then where is the uproar.
End of the day most people (except the fulltime bloggers) have bigger problems and in their life and don't see an extra few bucks as life altering as the rest of the shit they have to deal with.

Sad but true.

Anonymous said...

John Martin is a Freemason?

Anonymous said...

Ray Stevens struggles to get to meetings as it is. Forever saying he is a busy businessman. How the hell will he find time to be a Mayor when he's a part time councillor.

Anonymous said...

Hi Paul

Anonymous said...

Yes I am well informed and I'm surprised that someone on a political blog like this should consider that to be a crime or an indication of sneaky support for the mayor! That is stretching the bow a very long way.

John Martin is a political lightweight compared to Ray Stevens. Has John Martin ever held an elected public office?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Yes I am well informed...and so you should be, senior reporter Maslin, but your argument about John Martin’s lack of history in public office (a) makes suggesting Jane Janes as a candidate look like the vote-splitting exercise it is or (b) would eliminate everyone in the same situation.

Looking at the disgraceful performance of Laws and his visionary puppets, wanabe visionary Rangi, occasional council visitor from outer space Stevens and do nothing Dahya, perhaps not having a history in public office isn’t such a bad thing.

Anonymous said...

So what if John Martin is a Freemason - wearing funny clothes and swearing to throw your entrails over your left shoulder if you break the coven is not a bar to office.

Anonymous said...

It is not a very inspiring line-up is it? Ray stevens v John Martin v Randir Dahya for the strongest candidate to unseat Laws. Where are the Annette Mains or the Bronwyn Pauls with the profile, the leadership skills and the popular standing?

Anonymous said...

John Martin is a political lightweight compared to Ray Stevens

_______________________________

2004 election results:

John Martin: 5389
Ray Stevens: 959

This is why I question your sincerity: I'd rather think of you as deceitful than deluded, though I suppose you could be both.

Anonymous said...

Isn't it fascinating that as Mickey embarks on his vote-splitting strategy with the likes of Randhir and Ray, LawsWatch starts to get comments praising the virtues of these two fallguys from our favourite anonymickey! And it even looks as though he's got the hots for Ray's squeeze JaneJane.

Anonymous said...

Where are the Annette Mains or the Bronwyn Pauls....?

They are both perfectly aware of the benefit to Mickey of vote-splitters so it would be surprising to see either one of them offer themselves for the task.

Anonymous said...

the benefit to Mickey of vote-splitters
________________________________

Let's just spell it out loud and clear. There's no way Laws can win any two way split. He'd get utterly dicked. The only possible way he can get elected is if it's a four or more way split.

This election is a good chance for Wanganui to wipe Michael Laws off our shoes and flush him where he belongs.

Anonymous said...

I totally disagree with the One Candidate V Laws scenario because it relies totally on having a strong alternative candidate of similar standing like Dick Hubbard V John Banks in Auckland. 50% of Wanganui does not hate the mayor no matter what this blog might think. The best strategy to defeat the incumbent is to have people like Laws standing and Ray Stevens politics are closer to the mayor than John Martin's. Ray is a slash council staff advocate, has scrapped with council managers (remember HIS Code of Conduct hearing?) and has strong populist credentials.
Can we have more insight and less shit-I-hope-this works blue sky bullshit?

Anonymous said...

50% of Wanganui does not hate the mayor no matter what this blog might think.
___________________________________

Do you buy into Mickey's fantasies that the opposition to him is motivated by hate? How do you manage to spot his more subtle deceits?

Anonymous said...

Hubbard V John Banks in Auckland. 50% of Wanganui does not hate the mayor no matter what this blog might think.


------------------------------------------

No one 'hates' the mayor , he's just not worth that much time in ones life. But lots of people do feel he's just done his dash, and it's time to move him on.

Anonymous said...

I hear your sad little mayor can't find another job, another three years of negativity ...

Anonymous said...

No one 'hates' the mayor , he's just not worth that much time in ones life. But lots of people do feel he's just done his dash, and it's time to move him on.

1:13 PM, August 08, 2007

------------------------

And even more people feel he has done well for Wanganui and want him to stay. In fact some people would feel a little cheated if he went. He started good things for Wanganui, now it's time for him to see them through. One more term.

Anonymous said...

And even more people feel he has done well for Wanganui and want him to stay.
--------
Now you've goe and done it!
The poisonous poster(s) who has infected this blog of late will read that, totally side step your argument, accuse you of being the Mayor and spend a couple of paragraphs slagging off your person and your mental stability.

In the next post they will accuse the Mayor of side stepping arguments and attacking the person and their credibility.
Funny that!

Anonymous said...

Mum said..

(actually who cares what she said - it was a load of deceitful shit.)

Mickey's going to lose the election.

Anonymous said...

Hi Mum, Vision obviously did not share the recent poll result with you ... or you've been at the sherry again!

Anonymous said...

Mum said……….He started good things for Wanganui....

Could you be a little more specific about the ‘good’ things he started. If you are thinking of the Splash Centre extension or the riverside walkway, think again....those were already being planned. All he did was blow up their budgets to the point where they will increase our debt and be very expensive to maintain.

Anonymous said...

Now you've goe and done it!
The poisonous poster(s) who has infected this blog of late will read that, totally side step your argument,
----------
Followed by.....
Mum said..
(actually who cares what she said - it was a load of deceitful shit.)
Mickey's going to lose the election.
------------

Right on cue!

Anonymous said...

Lawswatch, I know you don't seem to comment on posts anymore but is there anything you can do to curb the childish troll who keeps popping in here, it's bound to drive away those of us capable of reasoned debate. Even some of Mickey's supporters can manage that!

Anonymous said...

Oh no Lawswatch. Please protect me from strong language. As a Laws supporter I find it really upsetting that people misinterpret the Mayor when He uses strong language. You have to realise that when He sounds like a raving populist He's just being satirical. You must understand that when He plays the man not the ball that's all tongue in cheek. It's a whirlwind of metaphors just to keep up with Him. He makes me dizzy!!

I sent Him a letter asking for a signed photo, but I haven't heard back. He's so far above us all, please stop being so mean to Him!!!

Anonymous said...

Let's see. I'll do my best to be objective.
Pro's and cons of Michael Laws as Mayor of Whanganui.

Pro's

- It keeps him out of the Beehive.
- He has risen to his natural station.
- He'd otherwise find employment as a concentration camp guard.
- Abundant opportunities for satire.
- I could use a laugh.
- He is a good example of a typical politician, but so artless he fails to conceal it.

Cons.

- Diminishing social cohesion.
- Population decline.
- A potential for an increase in prejudice and jingoism.
- General fiscal incompetence.
- He's such a waste of space.

Anonymous said...

Listen sonny
I’m his mummy
So don’t be spikey
With my boy Mikey
… It’s just not funny

He may be mad
He may be bad
But I’m his Mum
I love this bum
And you’re making me sad

Anonymous said...

Interesting to see how Mickey’s abusive “media releases” have disappeared from the council website – though Mas obviously hasn’t lost his appetite for whatever Mickey dishes him up. Dotty’s done a runner from the RCP and Muzza Hughes is resorting to telling us yet again what a great dishwasher donor he is.

Looks like the LawsWatch post a couple of weeks ago about the pre-election rules must have been read in the good doctor’s office – but surely he’s not allowed to look at this blog, is he Mickey?

Anonymous said...

Oh no Lawswatch. Please protect me from strong language.
------------
Strong language? Personally I fucking love strong language, it's great!
What gets me is infantile posts that offer nothing and attack anyone and anything that doesn't conform to your militant plan of attack.
If you read a little closer you will see that I am against ML becoming/remaining Mayor. Rub the red mist from your eyes, take a breath of fresh air and try to keep things in perspective.

Are you somebody who has just happened upon this blog and wants to stir or is this the cumilative affect of 2+ years of tantys getting you nowhere?

Anonymous said...

Good old dumb Ray ... off to glory courtesy of his new best boy pal Mickey, but he didn't forget to mention his pal to the paper ... not once but twice, as required.

But wasn't that a bit desperate Ray:

"And I'll have to check in with Mickahel when I get back," he JOKED!

You're a laugh a minute Ray! And if the ratepayers footed the bill for this little vote-splitting junket, you're also clearly in breach of the requirement not to use council resources for electioneering!

But no doubt the CEO will be checking in with Mickey about that and you'll both get away with yet another rort.

Anonymous said...

Jeez the wheels are really falling off! Mental Rana is throwing a tizzy fit at being passed over for Mickey's new love, Ray S, in the River Shitty Press.

Guess poor Rana just hasn't got a JaneJane to offer up on the Vision sacrificial alter so he's definitely out in the cold while Ray gets invited to all the diVision parties.

Poor Rana (NOT)!

Anonymous said...

Some people think Mickey's postponing his announcement that he's standing for mayor again is for strategic reasons. Others think that its because he's dog barking mad, thinks he's Napoleon, a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic.

The truth is he's desperate for something, anything, that'll raise his profile that little bit more. He was a grotesque novelty the first time as mayor. The next time round will diminish his cache that much more, until he'll be Tim Shadbolt without even concrete to fall back on.

So spare a thought for poor desperate Mickey.

Anonymous said...

It is worth remembering that Tim Shadbolt has twice lost the mayoralty. He was dumped out of Waitakere after two terms, and then lost after only one term as Invercargill mayor. He was re-elected because the guy who succeeded him was so boring and Southland wanted the colour back.

Michael Laws won't stand for the mayoralty because he does not need to. His radio show and newspaper column give him greater national coverage and an income. Why is he delaying: because he likes to f*** with your heads.

Anonymous said...

Michael Laws won't stand for the mayoralty because he does not need to.
____________________________

Oh yeah? I think he'll stand because he's desperate.