http://www.ambitgambit.com/2007/03/13/santoros-misdemeanor-a-flea-compared-to-the-real-elephant-in-the-room/ Ambit Gambit Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:31:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.ambitgambit.com/2007/03/13/santoros-misdemeanor-a-flea-compared-to-the-real-elephant-in-the-room/comment-page-1/#comment-1549 al loomis Thu, 15 Mar 2007 10:17:53 +0000 http://localhost/ambit/?p=1946#comment-1549 ho. hum. are there really crooked pollies? in the laboral party? strewth! the cattle will keep their heads down on whatever grass their masters have left for them, the chatterati will go on pretending that their opinions matter, and the politicians will go on shearing and butchering, stroking and cuffing, always serving the peepul in great humility whenever they lift their greasy mouths from the public trough. meanwhile, the daily news should convince anyone interested in justice, or effective use of public money, or simple survival of australian society, that leaving australian policy in the hands of political parties is suicidal. santoro? just another minor zit on the pox-ridden face of oz politics. ho. hum. are there really crooked pollies? in the laboral party? strewth!
the cattle will keep their heads down on whatever grass their masters have left for them, the chatterati will go on pretending that their opinions matter, and the politicians will go on shearing and butchering, stroking and cuffing, always serving the peepul in great humility whenever they lift their greasy mouths from the public trough.
meanwhile, the daily news should convince anyone interested in justice, or effective use of public money, or simple survival of australian society, that leaving australian policy in the hands of political parties is suicidal.
santoro? just another minor zit on the pox-ridden face of oz politics.

]]> http://www.ambitgambit.com/2007/03/13/santoros-misdemeanor-a-flea-compared-to-the-real-elephant-in-the-room/comment-page-1/#comment-1550 David B Wed, 14 Mar 2007 00:39:26 +0000 http://localhost/ambit/?p=1946#comment-1550 If the Liberal party organisation does not have the intestinal fortitude required to dismiss Senator Santo Santoro - who is not a novice minister remember - over this blatant breach of ministerial standards then the voting public will extract a very high price at the next ballot. Albeit, that the victims of this voter retribution and disillusion will be lower house candidates representing the coalition, primarily in Queensland - not Mr Santoro himself, who once again puts self ahead of...well everyone really. PM Howard will defend this Senator and Santoro will not resign. They will both be chuckling at Ian Campbell's expense as they steadfastly try to ride this one out. The Beattie Liberals (Gemini Voters) will use this to further justify their increasingly serious flirtation with the idea of switching their to Rudd Labor votes. Much of the damage from this issue comes from the flimsy defences of forgetfulness and trying to claim that $12,000 worth of shares is chump change. Neither of these twin arguments work well in the real world and they only entwine to weigh each other down. The ministerial code of conduct includes consideration of public perception because that is just as damaging to the institutional office as actual misconduct. If the Liberal party organisation does not have the intestinal fortitude required to dismiss Senator Santo Santoro – who is not a novice minister remember – over this blatant breach of ministerial standards then the voting public will extract a very high price at the next ballot. Albeit, that the victims of this voter retribution and disillusion will be lower house candidates representing the coalition, primarily in Queensland – not Mr Santoro himself, who once again puts self ahead of…well everyone really.
PM Howard will defend this Senator and Santoro will not resign. They will both be chuckling at Ian Campbell’s expense as they steadfastly try to ride this one out. The Beattie Liberals (Gemini Voters) will use this to further justify their increasingly serious flirtation with the idea of switching their to Rudd Labor votes.
Much of the damage from this issue comes from the flimsy defences of forgetfulness and trying to claim that $12,000 worth of shares is chump change. Neither of these twin arguments work well in the real world and they only entwine to weigh each other down.
The ministerial code of conduct includes consideration of public perception because that is just as damaging to the institutional office as actual misconduct.

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