An ugly, brutal business
The tit-for-tat between former National Party colleagues and alleged former lovers Jami-Lee Ross and Sarah Dowie is ugly, brutal – and now very, very public in a way we have rarely seen in New Zealand politics.
Dowie’s outing as the woman whose phone was allegedly used to send a text that Jami-Lee Ross claims tipped him over the edge was inevitable once it became known police were investigating.
It was one of the worst-kept secrets in Wellington that Dowie was one of four women anonymously quoted in a
Newsroom article accusing Ross of extramarital affairs, and misogynistic, manipulative behaviour.
Dowie has since refused to speak publicly but Pandora’s box was already wide open.
It was not long before the text allegedly sent to Ross from Dowie’s phone was widely circulated on social media and to journalists.
The tone of the text was ugly, angry and vitriolic. It was also deeply personal and clearly never intended for public consumption.
Stuff has decided for now not to publish the text but it made deeply unflattering observations about Ross’ personal appearance and said he deserved to die.
Ross told Stuff in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that the text was one of the tipping points in his deteriorating mental health before he was found by police in a distressed state on railway tracks just before Christmas. He was compulsorily admitted to Middlemore Hospital’s mental health unit.
It is an offence to incite someone to self-harm, punishable by a sentence of up to three years’ imprisonment. Such a conviction would force Dowie out of Parliament.
Ross had also been involved in a string of other events including his expulsion from National after being accused of leaking information about National leader Simon Bridges, which is why mainstream media had been reluctant to name Dowie.
Police becoming involved tips it over into a matter of public interest, however.
There is a tradition of the media respecting politicians’ family and personal boundaries.
But that line has been blurred with the arrival of social media and obliterated by the Jami-Lee Ross saga, in this case at the hands of the politicians themselves who have weaponised their own relationships and private communications.
In an explosive interview with Stuff on Tuesday, Ross dropped the bombshell that police were investigating Dowie – which neither National nor Dowie was aware of.
He also made a series of allegations, including a claim that another one of the women quoted by Newsroom, and whom he admits to having an affair with, was a National Party staff member who felt pressured by the leadership to hand over personal text exchanges with him and
The tone of the text was ugly, angry and vitriolic.
talk to Newsroom for what he views as a hatchet job.
Ross claims that National Party deputy leader Paula Bennett was the gobetween and sat in the room when the female staff member made the call.
National categorically denies the allegation – Bennett says it is baseless – and Ross’ interpretation of some of the events and conversations surrounding his spectacular falling-out with Bridges last year has been proven wrong in the past.
Ross also has an obvious motive in putting the story out there. If true, it calls into question yet again the judgment of the National Party leadership in its handling of the whole sad, sorry, affair.
Bridges has already taken a hammering over his ‘‘captain’s call’’ in calling an inquiry into who leaked details about his travel expenses.
The leak itself was inconsequential and its impact has been well and truly overshadowed by the scale of the subsequent fallout after he accused Ross of being the leaker, which the MP denies.
Ross has fired enough shots to show that when he returns to Parliament next month as an independent he is not going to give any ground in his personal war with the party.
There is still more water to go under the bridge yet, including his complaint of electoral fraud, which he lodged with police last year.
Ross has also released a number of secret phone recordings to embarrass Bridges and while he has told Stuff there are no more, his former colleagues won’t be sure whether to trust that.
Many are suspicious of conversations they had with him that they now believe were recorded.
Leaving aside the huge personal toll – to the politicians, to their families, and their children – the political fallout over the latest developments in the ongoing saga will likely be limited.
Voters will see the latest developments between Ross and Dowie for what it is – a very messy, and very public, relationship breakdown.
But it won’t do anything to shake off the public view of politics getting increasingly ugly and personal.
And it is a distraction from National’s hits on the Government over issues like the Karel Sroubek immigration scandal, or KiwiBuild, which is looking increasingly like Labour’s white elephant.
So much for clear air to start the year. National may be ready to move on but for now the mistakes of 2018 look like they will keep coming back to haunt them.