Dirty Election Tactics

NZ Truth, Issue 1199, 22 November 1928, Page 1

Dirty Election Tactics

, HOW TWO SIJPPORTERS OF A CANDI TO SLING MUD .!'.

if . . '(Froni ."N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Representative.) |I {! The election Campaign m Auckland was marked by many |f undesirable features and degraded also by much undignified jj j! Vmiid-sliriging '* wKich reflected no credit on those responsible. |= f!^^ U^r/und/e^mwr e/edwns are chdracterised by dirty tactics, v

'"THE lengths ;to which, some ,of the 1 candidates 1 ' supporters went m . their zeal to make, secure their own men's- seats was a tribute to: their enthusiasm, but unfortunately they went coo far m many,cases v ..'". ; It was to '■■- l»e expected that there would be a little •intrigue behind the uoiitical curtain, and, as was anticipated <by>:"N:Z. Truth? a great deal of what. was. going on was' whispered into the ears of the staff of this journal. ■ . Now that the debris of the election has' been swept, away the • "whispering campaign" is becoming but a/memory and an unpleasant one at that. Some idea, of. what this whispering campaign meant during the election fight may be gauged from an incident m the Auckland office of "Truth" some time before the poll. . . - Two men called to solicit this paper's support m their self-appointed task .of keeping _ ■ politics clean. They had the peculiar mental :twist that enabled them t o consider the vilest ■ ■ muck - raking , as . . ' : justification for their aim. ... Of course, these' altruistic gentlemen, were actuated by no higher motives than having the best men returned to ipower— men whose lives are an oneh book without a stain on theK* moral escutcheon! There was no thought m their pure, and noble minds of party t a£gr andisement. Oh, no ! "Keep. 1 politics clean" was their motto, although they had minds , like cess-pits to cOhceive the move they had planned.' [■■ A certain- candidate was said to have I a bad . record. The two visitors' gave chapter and verse for their allegations about, the candidate .Whose morals scandalized his would-be- detractors. ' "We think. that 'Truth' should help us about it,'.! they piously remarked.; The scandal against, -the unfortunate candidate was, according to these muck-rakers, about sixteen years qld. Nevertheless, he was still a bad man-, a hypocrite and not fit £6 sit m Parliament. ' Of course, ho. was opposing the man the two scandalizers wanted to see elected, but. there, was no. thought of malice m the matter. No. thought

Went Astray

or party gain influenced these treaclytpngued individuals. Of course not! With some effort "Truth" swallowed its contempt for* the hypocrites and heard them out. The file of this paper for sixteen years uacltwas requested, "just to ''-look up sonic facts and confirm our suspicions." "This man is not fit to sit m Parlia-. ment," was the remark of the callers after they ; had read what they sought. It is the" policy of this paper, that all visitors are received with courtesy by •members of the staff. That is why these precious birds of prey were not ignominiously ejected from the office. In order that a few .discreet inquiries might be -made' they .were told to call back again later. ' . In the meantime inquiries were instituted,..and "Truth" fproved to its complete satisfaction '^that the candidate whose interests . the; scandal - ■' '" ■ ■ ' mongers had at heart was m no way ■ • connected with this detestable attempt to. blacken the name - .. - and reputation of ~~- T. ■ ■'■ • the "other candidate. Had this paper been given r the ; justification for assuming .that the visit- to "Truth", had been 'officially inspired there would have been no hesitation m making public the 'whole story, with names and details complete. The fact that the two men called on "Truth" with a of 'their own hatching reduced the matter to one' of relative unimportance.- -. The m,en / were told that .the columns of this paper are not open . ■ to any political party for the pur-' pose, of a muck-raking campaign fop party ends. This fact had to be bluntly stated more "than once .. . during the course of the campaign; ' , This journal is never available to' any- ljarticular creed or party, official^ ly, ; or unofflcially to enthusiastic "party supporters who desire to make isolitical capital but of opponents. The scandalmongers left the office finally with the definite information that if there was any muck-raking to be done they had better do it themselves,- ■"■•' ■■•••'■ ■- ■ . ■':• : ' ;. ,•