Jon Stanhope says there is nothing improper in the wife of his chief of staff not declaring her affiliations in a letter to the editor and that journalists should be more careful of uncovering political associations themselves.
He said the author of a letter to the Canberra Times that defended him, Liz Clarke, was a “long-time very good friend” of his and that he regretted her support had “backfired on both of us”.
He then went on to take pot shots, without naming names, at one of the Canberra Times journalists in the room for writing a story quoting a member of the ACT Civil Liberties Council who is also an executive Liberal party member. The story was in relation to calls for police reports into the events surrounding the accident involving Clea Rose to be released to the public.
Mr Stanhope said these calls were an attack on the ACT Government and had nothing whatsoever to do with civil liberties and so the source should have disclosed their status within the Liberal Party.
He then went on with a rather nasty, petty rant about journalistic ethics and finished by saying he knew who all the players were in this town and who they batted for and that journalists should be more careful in future.
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