More bullying allegations out of the Northland by-election have come to light, although the exact details are being kept secret in the saga which is fast becoming the campaign from hell for the National Party.
It was not long ago new National MP Shane Reti was accused of bullying by his own constituents who he allegedly told to “shut up” on unsealed roads. It was a woeful start to a promising political career. The first the public had heard from this Northern MP was that he was a man who not only silenced his locals, but told them not to mention Northland’s terribly unsafe roads till after the March 28 by-election.
Shocking Mr. Reit. And we haven’t forgotten. And I’d ask readers to not forget the face of a bully:
But what I have learned in the past few days only adds to this perception the National Party appears to be sinister by nature.
Yesterday popular investigative journalist Bryan Bruce, who has done the odd production for both TVNZ and TV3 took to his Facebook to say in public he had be contacted by a stressed Northland voter who had been allegedly harassed. His status read;
“Northlanders – Have you received a harassing call from National?
I have been contacted by a reader who says a number of people have been receiving phone calls from canvasser for National and feel harassed by them.
If you have received such a call please comment or PM me.
If you you don’t want to be harassed slam down the phone down.
If you can record one of these harassing calls so much the better”.
I took the claims to Twitter, hoping to see them legitamised further. And to my luck, within minutes, my question had been met with an answer.
Tracey Maritn, a New Zealand First MP, kindly informed me she had been approached at the Saturday markets. “Locals told us of these calls on Saturday at the Markets.” she said “they were abused”.
I took it upon myself earlier today to contact National candidate Mr. Osborne and campaign manager Steven Joyce to see if the gentlemen had any comment to make on the complaints. They have, after several hours, refused to comment.
The details of the calls have been kept private as they are abusive, and the identities of those who have complained must also be protected.
What we have just found out today, to add salt to the wound, is it may well have been a National MP who manned the calls.
References:
http://tinyurl.com/plcgu59
http://tinyurl.com/p9lmf9h
Bennett Morgan.
Do you have any information on these abusive calls? Contact me on Twitter on @insiderslive
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