By Darryl Mason
There's something much scarier for the Liberal Party than imagining a future without Peter Costello.
It's this :
Senator Brown's so-called Wielangta forest fund had already raised $739,000....Bob Brown announced, after losing a legal battle against a logging corporation, that if he was unable to pay more than $240,000 in court costs he could face being expelled from the Senate. In less than a week, Brown raised more than three times that figure through thousands of donors.
The Liberals couldn't raise $739,000 through donors that fast, even with a series of dinners starring John Howard and Peter Costello
No wonder the Liberals are so pissed :
Liberal senator Eric Abetz has accused Greens leader Bob Brown of misleading the public over claims he was approaching bankruptcy and could have been expelled from the Senate.Senator Brown was more likely to be "ethically bankrupt'' than genuinely bankrupt, Senator Abetz said."Clearly the senator does not abide by the same accountability rules he so self-righteously insists being imposed on everybody else.''
The Greens leader must now disclose all amounts he has received, when he received them, to whom they were paid and how much money was involved, Senator Abetz told the upper house.
"Be accountable. Immediately disclose to the Senate ... exactly how much your fund raised prior to last week's appeal and disclose and substantiate your progressive and personal legal costs.''
And Bob Brown will do it. They've got nothing on him. It's one of the reasons why Liberals like Abetz hate him so much.
Brown is too clean, too honest, with too little, or nothing at all, to hide.
The Liberals have spent a lot of money over the years trying to get dirt on Brown that they can use against him in the media, or behind the scenes. And they found fuck all.
Abetz is making himself look like a jealous, petty arsehole, while providing Bob Brown with yet another opportunity to show why he is one of the most honest, respected, and quietly admired, politicians in the country.