Where is the money coming from?
For a few months, we had a drug-dealer living somewhere near us. He drove a Eur120,000 car, paid a few thousand euros a month in rent, kept two yachts, and poured money down the drain. He was 24 years old, and the money meant nothing because it was coming in so easily.
Now I see the Labour Party, which was effectively bankrupt until fairly recently and unable even to pay its employees at Super One properly or regularly, behaving in much the same way.
Giant igloos. Projection of the Labour logo across Grand Harbour and onto the bastion walls of the Three Cities. A mass of lighting, sound and stage equipment for a brief midnight ceremony in which Muscat signs a billboard.
Labour spent Eur25,000 just to put up those billboards showing Father Christmas giving us his back. Another Eur25,000 to give us that billboard with the prime minister wearing a Brazil shirt.
It’s easy come, easy go. When you have a limited budget that’s got to be eked out for the entire campaign, you think very carefully about how to spend it best and most effectively. Billboard or igloo? Igloo or billboard?
The Labour Party has a little over 100 billboards. Each fresh set costs Eur25,000. In the last eight weeks, they changed those billboards 10 times, at the unprecedented rate of more than once a week. That has cost Eur250,000.
An assessment has been made of how much Labour has spent so far: Eur 1 million.
There are another eight weeks to go.
17 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
That works out at just 0.33per cent of Eur300,000,000.- so it does look that there is still some more to go.
John Bundy took offence – and his illiterate audience couldn’t understand.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/affaritaghna?fref=ts
And to think they used to taunt the PN with ‘Money no problem’.
Where is all their money coming from? Joseph’s “starving” voters? I doubt it.
Shouldn’t Alfred Sant be asking questions about barunijiet and hbieb tal-hbieb?
In the US the candidate who manages to raise the most money, unless I am completely misinformed, is the one who eventually wins the Presidential elections.
Naturally, things are somewhat different here to the extent that in the US if the Presidential hopeful doesn’t manage to raise enough cash and at the required rate his campaign will stall and he’ll eventually back out of the race.
Could it be that we’re going down this road as well? I mean the PL is dominating all the media channels. Their marketing is very aggressive and invasive. I am pretty certain on who’s doing the manouvering and advising them. I can see subtle signs of his signature.
That said will this be the PN’s undoing?
Are political parties audited in any way?
Aren’t there any rules whatsoever, even if they are flaunted?
Individual candidates have limits they all ignore since they’re ridiculously low but what about the parties?
Isn’t it dangerous to let them get indebted to unknown persons and companies (or even rogue states)?
From rags to riches? Interesting. Back to rags in eight weeks? Also interesting.
You’re assuming that the PL is paying for the billboards…
Even if they don’t pay, it’s value. And that makes it worse, doesn’t it?
Whoever is bankrolling Joseph’s movement is banking on him being the next prime minister – he can’t pour all these millions of euros for nothing. To what extent can this impede the fair running of the election process? Are there good enough safeguards to prevent this?
My guess would be Sandro Chetcuti has made a considerable donation to the party. They sure don’t need him for his oratory or social skills as he has none.
The current government had 25 years to pass the law about party financing, now that he’s on the poorer side he’s questioning it? Humbug I say!
Labour Elves are so transparent.
The current government was elected in 2008.
Labour was in government 1996-1998. Have you forgotten or are you ashamed to mention that?
A word of advice: try using a less obvious pseudonym like, say, Dopey.
Could it be money-laundering coming from a certain account which was sanctioned during the Libyan uprising?
Isn’t one of Labour’s big cheeses a PA on that certain account?
Another under-the-table unrecorded deal?
I heard that the money is coming from a well known developer/contractor.
In the past Gaddaffi used to bankroll the Labour Party. Who is the present benefactor?