oh, deb

Just when you thought it was safe to read the newspaper, Deborah Coddington comes out this this bunch of trash. Coddington blunt analysis of the Telecom leak centres around her belief that

Thanks to the State Services Commission conducting its inquiry in secret, we don't really know what led to this extraordinary leak.

Well, we do. In fact, we know extraordinary detail about how the document got into Michael Ryan's hands, how he went about providing that information to his friend. Plus, given that the whole affair had to be balanced against the finer provisions of employment law, it's hardly reasonable to expect that a public trial take place before any facts are established.

Coddington continues with demands to know if

Telecom [was] asked if it received this information from any other sources? Were the phone logs of staff in the offices of Communications Minister David Cunliffe and other ministers examined?

Well - no and no. Telecom was only asked about the document and no forensic evidence was gathered, both answers from the State Services Commission Report into the affair. The next question borders on bizarre

Was there something the Prime Minister did not want to find? ... Which makes you wonder whether the Prime Minister wasn't quite as upset as she appeared to be at the inquiry's result. We still don't know the extent of Telecom's relationship with the Government.

Such as? Give me an example of how the PM benefited from the leak, how the leak changed the facts in substance or any reason anyone within the government would have reason to inform Telecom early. Considering that the Government had been actively showing it's frustration with Telecom in the past months and that the leak only shifted events by two weeks, I fail to see how there is a even a small conspiracy floating around this issue, which makes Coddington's accusation that the PM/the Cabinet/ministerial staffers are being blackmailed/bribed/bullied/fornicated by Telecom seem like she's complaining for the sake of it.