A politician that cant get away with lying through their ass is an endangered species in the cut-throat world of state politics.
Barry O'Farrell was accused of accepting a $3000.00 bottle of Penfold's Grange from the AWH and failing to record the gratuity on the Parliaments register. O'Farrell fiercely denied receiving the gift and later come unstuck when the ICAC, the body investigating his corruption, advised O'Farrell that they had in their possession a thank you note - and guess what - it was a thank you note from O'Farrell for the Grange.
O'Farrell's party was extremely disappointed with O'Farrell's conduct, in the words of a senior staffer:
"For fucks sake, lying about the gifts register is politics 101. Barry has demonstrated a complete disregard for the code we all live by - never get caught. We held a meeting with Barry and he tried to worm his way out of trouble and begged us to keep his lucrative job. At the end of the day, we just couldn't have such a bad liar in our midst. NSW has many upcoming infrastructure projects and we need men who can accept "gifts" and not get bloody caught doing it".In a final undignified act, O'Farrell told the press that he regrets this 'massive lapse of memory'. This is angered his party further - as the other unofficial rule of politics is that once you resign from office and return to being a shit-eating civilian, you may no longer rely on the politicians code of lying. In the words of the staffer, "as he is just some guy now, he has to tell the truth just like the rest of you".
What a warm insight into politics.
No my friend, you're not playing to an American audience here. Unless BOF owns a donkey, which I don't think he does, the correct term is "arse". Good day Sir.
ReplyDeleteWell, today more Americans have viewed the BTT than Aussies. Nevertheless, point taken. We hang our head in shame.
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