Campaign funding: Vanhanen lashes out at opposition, denies lying

No explanation of election campaign funding without interpellation

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Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) lashed out at opposition politicians at a press conference at his official residence of Kesäranta on Monday. The purpose of the meeting was to answer open questions on the furore over election campaign funding.
     The Prime Minister said that he took offence at the accusations, which he saw as “very tough”, and which “go to the core” of executing his office.
     In addition, Vanhanen’s independence in matters related to zoning has been called into question. Businessman Arto Merisalo, who has lobbied Vanhanen over zoning legislation, has told his colleagues in a secret e-mail message that he has strong supporters in the Centre Party.
      According to Vanhanen, statements from the Social Democratic Party show “disdain for democracy”.
     
Vanhanen called suggestions, that the election result was bought "intolerable".
      He later said in a television interview that accusations of corruption are the worst that a politician can hear.
      “I simply cannot swallow these claims”, he said at the press conference. He noted that he has always been a supporter of “dispersed concentration”, of the kind that is implemented by his home municipality Nurmijärvi.
      Vanhanen also denied making any promises of favours to his political contributors, or that he had ever spoken directly on behalf of the proposed Ideapark shopping complex in the southern community of Vihti.
     
There have been calls in the opposition for new Parliamentary elections, or at the very least, for a report by the Prime Minister or the government to Parliament, because of the questions that have been raised about campaign financing for a long time.
      Vanhanen said that the government had agreed internally that no reports would be given out, and urged the opposition to initiate an interpellation, adding that linkages between opposition parties and political donors should also be discussed.
     He mentioned, for example, the controversial get-out-the vote campaign by the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) in last year’s Parliamentary elections, which was generally seen as an endorsement of the Social Democratic Party.
     “Each time that the SDP has lost the position of the largest party, they try to prove that people have voted wrong. The voters decide whom to vote for, and different entities have the right to support parties and candidates. It must take place according to the rules, and donations need to be disclosed”, Vanhanen said.
     
The Prime Minister was asked in a number of different ways if he had spoken the truth in all phases of the controversy.
     A considerable amount of confusion was raised by the changed story of whether or not Vanhanen had recommended that the KMS organisation support the election campaign of Merikukka Forsius, who was elected to Parliament as a Green, but who recently defected to the National Coalition Party.
      On Monday, the late-edition tabloid Ilta-Sanomat gave conflicting accounts of the matter from Vanhanen and Forsius.
      At the press conference, Vanhanen said that he had spoken the truth, and denied trying to cover anything up.
     
From within the ranks of the Centre Party itself, Kimmo Tiilikainen, who is seeking the post of Party Secretary, took issue with the election campaign mess. Tiilikainen said that Monday’s news was “very sad”.
     “The confidence of the rank-and-file in the activities of the party needs to be restored. It will not succeed without a thorough house-cleaning. The time for that is now. We must get an accounting over the party’s involvement in KMS and its distribution of money”, Tiilikainen said on his website.
     Tiilikainen said that he was suspending his election campaign tour until things are cleared up. “The guiding principle of the Centre Party is that of giving all citizens an equality of opportunity. If the party leadership does not guarantee equal opportunities for its candidates in elections, it violates its own principles.”

More on this subject:
 Forsius not satisfied with Prime Minister’s account of financing election event
 COMMENTARY: Swamp of explanations gets deeper

Previously in HS International Edition:
  KMS deputy chairman: organisation established at Centre Party headquarters (2.6.2008)
  CEO of Nova Group claims Centre supports real estate company in zoning issue (30.5.2008)
  More than EUR 1 million in election funds collected from holding seminars and selling paintings (29.5.2008)
  Prime Minister regards election campaign funding mess as serious (19.5.2008)
  Centre Party MṔs comments spark campaign finance row (15.5.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat