Thrown from the Ninth Floor

Helen Clark has categorically ruled out using government advertising material as part of Labour's campaign:

"This was a not-so-bright idea which came off the floor at a [Labour congress] workshop, I understand," Helen Clark said yesterday.

"The not-so-bright idea has been thrown off the ninth floor of the Beehive.

"I have said that under no circumstances should canvassers be handing out Government leaflets. They are not campaign material."

Good. I said yesterday that it was a cynical, morally bankrupt idea which displayed a fundamental inability to distinguish between party and state, and I'm pleased to hear that it will not happen. I'm also pleased to hear that it wasn't official strategy (as promoted by the Herald), but that it was suggested from the floor. What I'm still not pleased about is that it was greeted by Labour party president Mike Williams as a "damned good idea" rather than being immediately squashed as a dirty, underhanded tactic. It would be nice if someone in that party showed a sense of ethics once in a while.