Monday 17 August 2009

Grumpiness on a Monday morning

I read something yesterday that made me quite angry. I've quoted it below:
There is little doubt [Katherine] Rich will continue to have a flourishing career. As this book went to press, she had just accepted a high-profile lobbying role as CEO of the Food and Grocery Council based in Wellington. Her family will move to the capital, something she couldn't do as a politician with a constituency in Dunedin.
p110, Because We're Worth It, by Gill South. My emphasis added.
Now on a first go-round you'll probably be thinking, sheesh doesn't take much to rile Julie these days does it?

But consider this. Katherine Rich was a List MP. She was based in Dunedin North for National, although the seat itself was held by Labour's Pete Hodgson during the entire three terms Rich served. So why couldn't she have moved her family to Wellington?

Particularly when you consider her South Island colleague Bill English, who calls Dipton home, is the actual electorate MP for Clutha-Southland, but his family moved to Wellington several years ago, probably in 2003 if you go by when he and his wife bought the house in Karori, well before he was even a Minister.

How come English could move but Rich couldn't?

1 comment:

stargazer said...

last year ms rich made much about leaving parliament so that she could spend more time with her family. there was an endless round of interviews in the media, most of these hailing her as a hero for taking this step.

now i totally respect any woman's decision to step back from a demanding job to focus on family. no problem about that. but this new position ms rich has taken up, and her willingness to uproot her family and shift to welllington, well it makes me wonder if her motivations about leaving parliament were exactly as she stated last year.