There are two sides to every story, and the papers have run the side of the prosecution pretty hard. I'm no expert on the full details of his crimes, but I'm not entirely ignorant either. So without going into detail, I just thought I'd drop an opinion.
Six years jail seems far too harsh for me, given the crime. Because ultimately, he was trying to help people in his own way. When I think of the rorts and legalized scandals other MP's get away with - declaring something a mistake and quickly paying back the money when pushed - such as the Green double-dipping on rental properties; Labour's Election spending in the 2005 elections; Bill English arranging his affairs to get maximum perks; Winston Peters and NZ First lack of transparency over their donations; the list goes on and on, and Field's crimes seem no worse. He just didn't back-pedal.
It is the mark of the man that he has accepted the verdict of the court in good grace, and not continued to argue his innocence, as the guilty often do. Six years of a good man's life seems harsh when I see criminals in for crimes of cruelty and violence, built on a history of other crimes, many never punished, serving far less time. Something seems off here.
This is one case I would not contest early Parole, or home detention. Good luck Taito Phillip Field.
Related Link: Taito Phillip Field in for a long long time
Six years jail seems far too harsh for me, given the crime. Because ultimately, he was trying to help people in his own way. When I think of the rorts and legalized scandals other MP's get away with - declaring something a mistake and quickly paying back the money when pushed - such as the Green double-dipping on rental properties; Labour's Election spending in the 2005 elections; Bill English arranging his affairs to get maximum perks; Winston Peters and NZ First lack of transparency over their donations; the list goes on and on, and Field's crimes seem no worse. He just didn't back-pedal.
It is the mark of the man that he has accepted the verdict of the court in good grace, and not continued to argue his innocence, as the guilty often do. Six years of a good man's life seems harsh when I see criminals in for crimes of cruelty and violence, built on a history of other crimes, many never punished, serving far less time. Something seems off here.
This is one case I would not contest early Parole, or home detention. Good luck Taito Phillip Field.
Related Link: Taito Phillip Field in for a long long time
He's the sacrificial goat, Zen.
ReplyDeleteI thought the fact the 6 years resulted from cumulative sentencing was a grotesque insult to victims of violent crimes who get to watch repeat offenders given pathetically brief concurrent sentences.
ReplyDeleteZenTiger - you seem to be getting "lefter" by the day!
ReplyDeleteMaybe compared to other crimes 6 years seems harsh, but by itself I am not so sure. Maybe the sentences of the other crimes you compare to are too soft!
Also your comment "Because ultimately, he was trying to help people in his own way." reeks of Helen Clarkism. Wasn't it her (or Cullen) who stated that Field was "guilty of nothing more than helping his constituents" (or words to that affect). Getting soft in your old age, Zen...you are becoming the Psycho Milt of NZ Conservative!! Cheers.
Justice isn't a leftist trait.
ReplyDeleteI was measuring this case by the seemingly low level of personal gain.
I also do not dispute that he was guilty.
"The Psycho Milt of NZC"
Careful, Psycho might regard that as a grave insult :-)
I wasn't just referring to this, but then I wasn't being too serious either.
ReplyDeleteYes, seemingly. You want to go to a country where bribery and corruption are commonplace. It may not seem so minor to you then.
ReplyDeleteYes, seemingly. You want to go to a country where bribery and corruption are commonplac
Are you being serious here?
I'm not sure how you get from me complaining that acts of corruption by the main parties escape any form of prosecution, and I listed some examples, and then mention I think Field is guilty but the punishment slightly out of whack, to being a person advocating or encouraging bribery and corruption?
That was a longwinded sentence and now I'm as confused as hell.
ReplyDeleteI guess in summary I don't think 6 years was too harsh. I read from your post you do. I disagree with your reasoning, it seems merely cherry-picking. Bribery and corruption barely exist in NZ but it has destroyed societies overseas. We must react to stop it every time it rears it's ugly little head -> so on TPF, the sentence fitted the crime.
Unfortuntely other cases don't get an appropriate punishment (like you mentioned). But thats no reason to shed tears for TPF.
Fair enough.
ReplyDeleteIt is outrageous that Labour are not included in this for their attempts to shelve this issue.
Punishing one case for corruption and ignoring several others does not indicate to me that NZ is stamping out corruption and sending a message, it indicates to me that the rare court case is held up as proof all is fine and good, and there is no reason to look any harder at other cases.
We must react to stop it every time it rears it's ugly little head
And yet we haven't really. Retrospective legislation stopped Labour being taken to court. TPF in jail stopped any further inquiry into Labour's handling of the issue, etc.
Yes, it seems only the blogs are calling Labour to account.
ReplyDeleteI guess Labour's behaviour on this and other issues contributed to them losing the last election, but that may have happened anyway. Certainly there is much room for improvement in cleansing out the most blatant of corruption. At least this TPF case sets a benchmark, a reminder and a nice precedent.