WELLINGTON - The Green Party has been billed by mistake for an anti-Green postcard delivered to Coromandel homes during the last election.
The postcard, produced by the National Party and attacked by the Greens as "lies and defamation," claimed Greens' co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons supported school programmes on "safe" cannabis use.
It claimed Green candidate Sue Bradford had been unemployed for years and said Nandor Tanczos openly supported sabotage and law-breaking.
National had the postcard distributed to all Coromandel homes in a bid to harm Ms Fitzsimons' chances in the electorate, which she won.
The Greens said yesterday that a $1444 bill from Kiwi Mail for distribution of the pamphlet had been sent to the party.
Ms Fitzsimons said the bill should have been sent to National for payment, but the mistake also exposed a legal loophole.
She said electoral laws did not require National to declare the cost of producing or distributing the postcard as it did not contain any message encouraging voters to vote National.
That loophole meant that candidates who used negative advertising could spend more than candidates who promoted and explained their own policies.
National Party president John Slater said the party was careful to include all its election expenses in the declaration of expenses it sent to the Electoral Commission.
- NZPA
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