Bernard Darnton
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Bernard Darnton (born December 18, 1972 in Leicester, United Kingdom) is the current leader of Libertarianz, a libertarian political party in New Zealand.
[edit] Involvement in the Libertarianz party
In the party's list for the 1999 election, Darnton had been ranked fourth. In the party list announced for the 2002 election, however, Darnton was ranked twentieth, although the list itself was not submitted by the appropriate deadline. Darnton became leader in mid-2004, replacing Russell Watkins. In 2004, Darnton unsuccessfully stood for election in the Wellington Regional Council's Wellington constituency. For the 2005 General Election, Darnton headed the Libertarianz party list, and was the electorate candidate for Wellington Central.
On 29 June 2006, Bernard Darnton filed papers in the High Court, suing Helen Clark for allegedly misappropriating public funds to pay for her "pledge cards" during the 2005 election. Some commentators have labelled the lawsuit a stunt, although it has received some media coverage as concern about the "pledge card" funding has grown. [1] [2].
On Sunday 10 September 2006, the lawsuit was the subject of a front-page story in the Sunday Star Times newspaper. The Labour party promptly accused the Libertarianz party of being part of a conspiracy with the National party, alleging that the small party could not afford to bring such a case to court.[3]
After the Auditor-General released a report declaring that the misappropriation of funds was indeed illegal, Labour and other political parties immediately announced that they would pay back the money. On October 17 and 18, the Labour government pushed a law through Parliament to 'retrospectively validate' the spending, making it legal and effectively making themselves immune from prosecution. This law probably makes Darnton's case impossible to contest.
In response, the Libertarianz party declared October 18, 2006 to be "Banana Republic Day", saying that "Clark has shown that she thinks she can get away with anything. Her actions are that of a banana republic dictator." Members in Wellington handed out free bananas along with explanatory leaflets to protest various actions of the Labour government, focusing on the retrospective legislation.
