Labour says pledge-card funding 'usual'

Labour has funded the pledge card at the centre of a police inquiry from the same budget for at least three elections, party president Mike Williams said yesterday.

The card, mailed out with a householder brochure, had never been judged an election expense before and the party was simply following past practice in the way it dealt with it, he said.

Late last week it was revealed the Electoral Commission had referred Labour to the police after determining it had overspent its election expenses entitlement by $418,000.

Labour included the $446,815 spending on the signature pledge card and a pamphlet in its election campaign return to the commission after the Chief Electoral Office ruled in October they constituted election campaign advertising.

National had complained the cards and pamphlet were campaign material and should not have been funded from the Office of the Leader's budget - money given to all political parties from Parliamentary Service.

Labour argues as the material does not urge people to vote, join or give money to a party, it does not qualify as an election expense.

However, following the October finding - also the subject of a police investigation - it decided to include the spending in its electoral return, qualified by an auditor's report highlighting the dispute.

The commission also judged the material an election activity, exposing the party to being charged with two Electoral Act offences.

National deputy leader Gerry Brownlee asked how Labour had funded previous pledge cards.

His request followed suggestions on a National-friendly blog site the pledge cards had been declared as electoral expenses in previous elections.

Mr Brownlee also called on the party to immediately repay Parliamentary Service for the card and pamphlet.

"If they want to go to court and take on the Chief Electoral Office, that's their business. But it has been determined an electoral expense by two bodies now and they have got no leg to stand on, so it's extraordinary that they haven't offered to pay it back."

Mr Williams said yesterday the party was not offering to repay the money. "We've got to wait for the determination." But he said the pledge card had previously been paid for out of the leader's budget.

"The Office of the Leader has done that now for three elections, maybe four. And it's never been judged to be an election expense before so we were guided by the past," said Mr Williams.

"Our reading of the act hasn't changed since 1996 and we're going to co-operate fully [with the inquiry] and we'll go with the flow."