KEY POINTS:
Labour has spent more than $58,000 of taxpayers' money sending out a pamphlet adorned with its MPs' smiling faces.
National says the 50-page document is a deliberate ploy to get around electoral law.
But Labour argues its "information kit for the over-60s" is a service to their constituents.
The Herald revealed a fortnight ago that Mt Roskill MP Phil Goff had printed 4000 of the booklets at 91c each - a cost of $3640.
Labour yesterday said that its MPs had printed a total of 64,000 booklets at a cost of $58,000.
They are paid for by Parliamentary Service - which also pays for the postage and the cover letter that goes out with it.
Taxpayer-funded letters are also sent out promoting the booklet.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Helen Clark said 36 of its 49 MPs had sent out the booklets in numbers ranging from Mr Goff's 4000 down to 500.
The booklet is not only taxpayer-funded, but as it is not deemed an advert by the Chief Electoral Office, the costs do not count against the $20,000 limit set down by the Electoral Finance Act for each candidate.
Each kit carries the name and photograph of the MP sending it, but no party logo, and uses an orange colour rather than red. Its information is functional but touches on policy successes of the Labour-led Government, such as the SuperGold Card.
The booklet was actually invented by Progressives leader Jim Anderton, who passed it on to Labour.
In an interview with the Herald this month, Mr Anderton said he did not stop serving his constituents at election time, and that it was one of the most popular initiatives he had done.
"When it first came out, I had 4000 phone calls, 2000 people through my office, 8000 booklets out to the electorate," said Mr Anderton.
"We had traffic jams outside my office with people stopping their cars in the middle of the road, leaping out and coming in to get one of these books and leaving their cars in the middle of the road.
"I was hiding my face, saying 'there's going to be an accident here'. There was such an incredible response to this our phones melted down. We were getting 100 calls an hour. We couldn't handle it. My office staff were just about dead on their feet, saying please do not send out another letter like that'."
Chief Electoral Officer Robert Peden's assessment of the booklet found "it does not contain words or graphics that could be reasonably regarded as encouraging or persuading voters to vote, or not to vote, for a candidate".
