Labour Party member and former Parliamentary staffer Sonny Thomas has admitted taking $4183.90 from his boss Phil Twyford and his wife, stealing a cash machine card to withdrew money and racking up food and drink bills in his name.
Thomas, 24, was Mr Twyford’s executive assistant and would buy food for him when he was unable to get his own.
Thomas bought over $877 of food and drink for himself while getting things for Mr Twyford.
He also went into Mr Twyford’s office while he was at meetings and took a credit card.
Using knowledge of Mr Twyford’s personal details and access numbers he guessed his PIN and withdrew $3560 over several months.
I sort-of met Mr Thomas during the last election, at a Meet-The-Candidates event. I asked Grant Robertson a question about whether Winston Peters was fit to be an MP ‘in light of recent events’ (Owen Glenn, parliamentary censure). Robertson effortlessly slithered around it, but Sonny Thomas – who was sitting in the next row – turned to face me and said, very loudly, ‘Some people are so stupid they believe everything they read in the media.’
Let me guess, more evidence that Labour are not fit to govern.
Comment by Hugh — September 12, 2011 @ 5:42 pm
Thomas bought over $877 of food and drink for himself while getting things for Mr Twyford.
Do you think the money was spent for one snack?
Comment by Gregor W — September 12, 2011 @ 6:05 pm
I thought they ate babies?
Comment by BeShakey — September 12, 2011 @ 6:13 pm
”I am still fully committed to the Labour Party who have been incredibly supportive.”
That smells like bad news for Phil Goff…
Comment by Hobbes — September 12, 2011 @ 6:20 pm
Sonny once offered me a saveloy at Drinking Liberally a couple of years back – it seems I was right to decline.
Comment by taranaki — September 12, 2011 @ 7:03 pm
How sad.
Doesn’t matter which party employed him. It could just as easily been an National, ACT or Greens staffer. A promising career wrecked by a mindless act of calculating dishonesty over a long time.
Spare a thought for his wife and family, if he has them.
Comment by Adolf Fiinkensein — September 12, 2011 @ 8:23 pm
Ah yes, the old mindless act that requires calculation. Dude, do you even think before you post?
Comment by Sanctuary — September 12, 2011 @ 8:46 pm
He’ll easily pick up a job as a model. No worries there, mate.
Comment by Radman — September 12, 2011 @ 8:47 pm
He’s gay so he has no wife. Basically, Phil over reacted by calling in the cops. He should have just fired Sonny. This is pretty embarrassing for the Labour party.
Comment by Cadny — September 12, 2011 @ 9:19 pm
A lot of people have known about this for a while now and I think it speaks badly of you that you’d make a big deal out of what is a pretty sad situation and that you’d make it all about yourself. Even David Farrar has been decent about this and I note that the reporter for the Dom post didn’t put their name to the story.
Read the comments you’ve prompted and be ashamed.
Comment by IrishBill — September 12, 2011 @ 9:57 pm
Pretty sad. Being in a political party doesn’t spare you from stupidity. I feel most for the hardworking and honest Labour activists who’ve been hurt by this.
Comment by George D — September 12, 2011 @ 10:05 pm
This bad for Phil.
Comment by little_stevie — September 12, 2011 @ 10:28 pm
IB, you could be right. And if it’s such a sad case, why did your candidate for Te Atatu run off to the cops and nark on his own EA? Now *that’s* something to be ashamed of.
Comment by Nick K — September 12, 2011 @ 10:47 pm
Nick K, Don’t you dare bring logic.
Comment by little_stevie — September 12, 2011 @ 11:02 pm
why did your candidate for Te Atatu run off to the cops and nark on his own EA?
You’re parroting Hooten’s comment on Kiwiblog, and it’s a grubby, stupid one.
One of the most common complaints from the public about MPs is that they have different rules from the rest of us. Wrongdoing is kept in-house, and when it’s uncovered, they can “apologise” or “pay it back”, and there are no further consequences.
Twyford didn’t “nark”, he did what someone in his position should, and you know damn well that if he had kept this quiet, Hooten and his parrots would be making exactly the opposite accusation, a “cover up”. Any mud will do, eh?
Comment by sammy — September 12, 2011 @ 11:21 pm
This post just seems nasty, what are you trying to intimate Danyl? That he deserves to be in trouble because he was snarky to you? I agree with Irish Bill. This situation sux, anyone who knows Sonny knows he is a good person who has stuffed up.
Comment by Jennifer — September 12, 2011 @ 11:34 pm
This is what you get for being a traitor to the Lefty cause Danyl……
Comment by James — September 12, 2011 @ 11:44 pm
it would have been much better for the long term health of the Labour Party if they had just covered this up. Much better
Comment by Ed Muzik — September 12, 2011 @ 11:53 pm
“A lot of people have known about this for a while now and I think it speaks badly of you that you’d make a big deal out of what is a pretty sad situation”
And it speaks badly that players like yourself IB, always close to the action, yet again are so willing to try to hide the never ending corruption and taxpayer fraud that seems to abound in NZ politics with ‘Nothing to see here, move along, poor chap was entitled to sustained theft, having a rough day of it’.
One day I hope we might see political players without their fingers in the till, funding their possibly principled stands on issues from their own pockets, not the taxpayer’s. But whilst current players on both sides remain happy to openly rort the taxpayer, they should not be so surprised when the weight of the commentariat nails them.
Good on you Danyl for broaching this as a lefty.
Comment by pmofnz — September 13, 2011 @ 12:07 am
Irish, Jennifer, et al – yes Sonny fucked up. But Sonny is also a particularly arrogant jerk, which seems to be what prompted this thread (and matches my own brief interactions with him). Public naming and shaming like this is part and parcel with punishment for theft.
While I am sure his circumstances explain his behaviour, they don’t excuse it. Neither does the fact that his fellow Labour party members think he is a neato kinda guy.
If you or Sonny don’t like what is being said, then the appropriate thing to do is not to be a thief. Pretty simple really.
Comment by The Baron — September 13, 2011 @ 12:09 am
Being in a political party doesn’t spare you from stupidity.
If IB’s view of cross-party “decency” is any indication, a political party is a form of sheltered workshop.
Comment by Joe Wylie — September 13, 2011 @ 12:41 am
+1 for what The Baron said.
On the plus side, Danyl has flushed out yet another reason why Labour are unfit for govt. Who could trust Labour to govern when they hire people like Sonny T to run their offices? (I’m very surprised Phil Twyford had a moment of such poor judgement on that). Sonny’s reputation precedes him, in the same way his rap sheet now follows him.
Comment by bob — September 13, 2011 @ 12:53 am
How annoying for the PLP when it’s carried on 3 News. IB is just upset that he wasn’t asked for a character piece. To be fair though , being attacked by a Standard staffer at the moment , to paraphrase Denis Healey, is like being “savaged by a dead sheep”.
Comment by Andy C — September 13, 2011 @ 1:43 am
A number of people has said this is a bad look for Phil. I disagree. If he had simply been fired and this had got out in the public domain as it inevitably would have done, Phil would have been accused of a cover up. I am certainly no fan of Phil but given the systematic theft which went on over a considerable period this in my opinion was the entirely correct thing to do.
Comment by Jeff — September 13, 2011 @ 8:42 am
A lot of people have known about this for a while now and I think it speaks badly of you that you’d make a big deal out of what is a pretty sad situation and that you’d make it all about yourself.
It’s rather amusing to compare this to the Dompost editorial.
Comment by Rhinocrates — September 13, 2011 @ 9:07 am
A number of people has said this is a bad look for Phil. I disagree.
Well, quite. I can’t see that he had any choice but to go to the police. Thomas committed a series of thefts from his Parliamentary employer, amounting to thousands of dollars. A private-sector boss might decide to keep that on the down low — a Member of Parliament doesn’t have that option.
Although, I confess, I’m struggling to see the relevance of Danyl’s actual post on the matter. I don’t doubt that Thomas once behaved like a partisan jerk towards Danyl at a meeting, I just don’t see how that’s material.
Comment by Russell Brown — September 13, 2011 @ 9:34 am
This post just seems nasty, what are you trying to intimate Danyl? That he deserves to be in trouble because he was snarky to you?
Well no. He deserves to be in trouble because he broke the law. My post about him is basically a trivial little anecdote.
I assume the people claiming it’s ‘bad for Phil Goff’ are joking. It’s a running gag on here that everything that happens is bad for Phil Goff, inspired by a series of posts by DPF over the Richard Worth scandal, in which a National Minister resigning was somehow bad for Phil Goff.
Comment by danylmc — September 13, 2011 @ 9:39 am
A lot of people have known about this for a while now…
and chose to keep quiet, for “a while”. it’s hard to be really be all that interested, it was an interesting anecdote from Danyl, but that little bit of info makes it slightly more interesting.
Read the comments you’ve prompted and be ashamed.
coming from The Standard that’s the laugh of the day.
Comment by NeilM — September 13, 2011 @ 9:53 am
My post about him is basically a trivial little anecdote.
There you go imagining your blog is a place for trivial anecdotes again. What’s wrong with you, man? Don’t you know how important a blog is?
Comment by Psycho Milt — September 13, 2011 @ 9:55 am
I’m seeing some people on Facebook talk about how Sonny called the cops on them when they were demonstrating one time. He was attempting (and failing) to hide behind a tree as he did so. I thought that was interesting.
Comment by derp de derp — September 13, 2011 @ 10:14 am
This wasn’t a one-off event – he repeatedly and with calculation committed theft – it is sad, but it’s all of his own making. I don’t find Danyl’s anecdote malicious or irrelevent, just adding more texture to the story.
Comment by Michael Stevens — September 13, 2011 @ 10:15 am
One day I hope we might see political players… funding their possibly principled stands on issues from their own pockets, not the taxpayer’s
So only the wealthy can have principles and participate in parliament/democracy pmofnz? My, how 18th century of you.
Comment by Ben Clark — September 13, 2011 @ 10:25 am
Looks like Danyl turned over a few rocks @ Red Alert.
Comment by Gregor W — September 13, 2011 @ 10:29 am
I actually think that Phil was right to report this to the police. I mean, obviously, I don’t think this young man deserves to go to prison. But my (shaky) understanding of our legal system is that he’s more likely to get either a minor conviction and some community service or a diversion. I know a few young people who have stolen from their employers (including me) and justified it to themselves in various rather unconvincing ways “they paid me so little”, “they wouldn’t notice”. In some cases the employers have reported it to the police, in other cases they’ve just laid the staff member off. Personally, I think the people I know who’ve been sent to the police have had a real shock, they’ve realized what they did was both wrong and criminal, and they’ve resolved never to do that again. Those who got off by just being fired maybe didn’t take things so seriously…
Comment by Amy — September 13, 2011 @ 11:32 am
Here is how I see it. Stealing ten million from a Westpac mistake and fleeing to China? Doesn’t bother me so much. Stealing from your parliamentary employer and thus stealing money possibly donated from ancient pensioners who give $20 a month to Labour because Mickey Savage gave their father a job? That sucks, because I am old-fashioned enough to think he hasn’t just stolen in the second case, he has broken a code of honour to all those little folk who contribute out of a desire to help. Twyford had no choice, and while this guy might be a likeable chap deserving of a bit of human empathy he doesn’t deserve anyone sympathy.
Comment by Sanctuary — September 13, 2011 @ 11:54 am
I don’t doubt that Thomas once behaved like a partisan jerk towards Danyl at a meeting, I just don’t see how that’s material.
Um, Russell, this is Danyl’s blog and he can write what he wants on it. It’s not your business to drift about the blogosphere telling people what line to take.
As for people criticising Twyford for going to the police, I suggest it’s more than likely Parliamentary Services did this. They are the employer of MPs’ staff.
Comment by johnsonmike — September 13, 2011 @ 1:09 pm
As for people criticising Twyford for going to the police, I suggest it’s more than likely Parliamentary Services did this. They are the employer of MPs’ staff.
He doesn’t appear to have stolen money from the Parliamentary Service.
The stories refer to taking money via an ATM card/Credit Card, or putting things on a tab.
MPs don’t get credit cards (only ministers do), and certainly don’t get to start tabs in the name of the Parliamentary Service. It seems that Twyford (and his partner) were the victims, not Parliament, the taxpayer, or the Labour Party.
Comment by Graeme Edgeler — September 13, 2011 @ 1:32 pm
Um, Russell, this is Danyl’s blog and he can write what he wants on it. It’s not your business to drift about the blogosphere telling people what line to take.
Um, Danyl has opened this whizz-bang cyber-thing called “comments”. It offers this totally trippy new-age facility to, well, comment on his posts. Crazy, I know, but that’s the information superhighway for you. I mean, what next?
Comment by Russell Brown — September 13, 2011 @ 1:34 pm
MPs don’t get credit cards (only ministers do), and certainly don’t get to start tabs in the name of the Parliamentary Service. It seems that Twyford (and his partner) were the victims, not Parliament, the taxpayer, or the Labour Party.
Yup, that’s pretty clear from the story. So, strictly speaking, Thomas didn’t steal from his employer but his boss.
Comment by Russell Brown — September 13, 2011 @ 1:39 pm
Actually Russell I have noticed how you drift around the blogosphere telling people what to write and especially what not to write.
You can’t help yourself. You’ve been doing it for years.
I remember too that you stopped posting Hard News to Usenet when the comments got too rough for you.
Comment by johnsonmike — September 13, 2011 @ 1:44 pm
Actually Russell I have noticed how you drift around the blogosphere telling people what to write and especially what not to write.
You can’t help yourself. You’ve been doing it for years.
Much as I am flattered by your continuing interest in my activities I find myself unable to promise to have no opinions in future.
I’ve got no particular view on this Thomas guy. I’ve never even met him. I did, however, offer the opinion that his possibly being a partisan jerk didn’t have much to do with his having stolen thousands of dollars from his boss. Your mileage may vary.
I remember too that you stopped posting Hard News to Usenet when the comments got too rough for you.
It is true that, like most people, I did decide that Usenet wasn’t worth bothering with any more. About 15 years ago. The chip on your shoulder is clearly made of excellent timber.
Comment by Russell Brown — September 13, 2011 @ 1:54 pm
THE FIRST RULE OF USENET IS
Comment by SHG — September 13, 2011 @ 2:41 pm
This is Kiwiblog right?
Comment by max — September 13, 2011 @ 2:46 pm
It’s not your business to drift about the blogosphere telling people what line to take.
Irony, we meet again.
Comment by Steve Parkes — September 13, 2011 @ 3:06 pm
I knew Sonny well. He is a nice guy, smart, hard working. He has obviously made a very serious error of judgement and one he will pay for dearly. It’s really very sad.
ps. while a member of the Rainbow Branch in solidarity, Sonny is not gay
Comment by Jennifer — September 13, 2011 @ 3:50 pm
On a related note, whatever happened to those Labour staffers busted for nicking wine from the Press Gallery Christmas function? There was plenty of press over the bust but nothing after that. The court suppress their names and handed out diversions all-round or what?
Comment by OECD rank 22 kiwi — September 13, 2011 @ 4:07 pm
@ Jennifer
‘Knew him well’?
The Party acts quickly…..
Comment by Gregor W — September 13, 2011 @ 4:48 pm
He is a nice guy, smart, hard working.
With all due respect, I cannot think of a single “nice guy” that would steal someone’s eftpos card and nick four grand with it.
Comment by Phil — September 13, 2011 @ 5:38 pm