Hone's Money Party

So The Bro launched his new political party last weekend.

My suggestion of The Bro-dy Bunch went down like a cup of cold vomit. Hone Harawira's chosen the name Mana instead, defined by the Maori Dictionary as prestige, authority, control, power, influence, status, spiritual power, charisma. Mana gives a person the authority to lead, organise and regulate communal expeditions and activities, to make decisions regarding social and political matters. A person's mana can increase from successful ventures...
So if the by-election - that Hone plans to force in the Te Tai Tokerau electorate - goes his way, that'll be regarded by supporters as a 'successful venture', thus more mana...no, more money! The Bro would return to parliament as a party leader, thus jumping his salary $14k to $148,500. But a party leader also receives an annual allocation of $100k, plus $64k for each member of the caucus who's not a minister. Another $22k is allocated to each MP to cover research and the party's whips office. Under the rules, HH would qualify for about six months' of the leader's allocation, giving him a boost of at least $50,000. Do the maths...and figure out Hone's real motivation.

"Hmmm, y'think the
suckers bought it?"

Meanwhile, a by-election costs about $500k to run, even though the general election is within spitting distance (Nov.26). But hey bro, let's get our snout into da "white motherf***ers" feeding trough as long as we can, eh! Not surprisingly, this sentiment was not reflected in yesterday's NZ Herald readers' poll, with 90% ticking 'a waste of money so close to a general election'.
Jim Anderton (Progressive Party's sole MP/leader, and thus in the same feeding trough) describes a by-election this close to November as a 'fiasco': "I'd think the extra funding was the only reason." Words from one who may know...
And lastly, the Keeping Stock blog reports HH was misrepresenting himself on his new Mana Party website: "MANA, movement of the people, is Aotearoa’s newest political force, led by Hon. Hone Harawira, Independent MP for Tai Tokerau." Bzzzzzzzzzttt! Wrong! He's actually the MP for Te Tai Tokerau, not the Hon. Hone Harawira. The site's since been amended, but that's gotta be the ultimate irony - the Bro wrongly using a honkey honorific to big-note...!