Vanhanen refuses to accept sole responsibility for election funding row

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Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) refused during a radio interview programme on Sunday to be the sole bearer of moral and other responsibility on behalf of his party and other parties in the wake of the furore over election campaign funding.
      Vanhanen said that as Prime Minister he cannot take blame for decades-old established practices. He said that he does not want to become a “political corpse that the media wants me to be on behalf of others”.
     
Having prepared himself well for the interview programme, Vanhanen said quite calmly that accusations that he has lied about the election funding matter have not made him feel any pressure to resign.
      “Vague recollections are not the same as lying.”
      Vanhanen appeared quite at ease as he responded to questions, which were at times vague and contradictory.
      “Democracy will manage to repair itself.”
     
Possible consequences resulting from events going back to Parliamentary elections a year and a half ago will come from the voters in the next elections, he said.
      He also said that he does not feel that he is the victim of a witch-hunt.
      The prevailing theme of the hour-long interview programme was that today’s morality and expectations of openness are on a collision course with the old system that should have been fixed 50 years ago.
      He plans to get through these difficulties with the help of a thorough investigation of possible wrongdoing, a new election funding law, and the introduction of new practices. At first his own position will be determined by Parliament, and sometime later everything will calm down.
      Vanhanen sees that there is quite a serious problem in the system, but he feels that it is not the Prime Minister’s problem.
     
There were several questions about the Nuorisosäätiö foundation, which contributed money to the election campaigns of the Centre Party and of Vanhanen himself.
      Vanhanen said that money that his campaign got did not come from the grants that the foundation received from the state-owned Finnish Slot Machine Association (RAY).
      The money came from rent paid for business premises in properties owned by the foundation, Vanhanen said, accusing the media of spreading inaccurate information about matters related to the foundation.
     
Vanhanen took up a question put to him by Helsingin Sanomat on Saturday at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, when he was returning from a visit to the United States on how much money he received from Nuorisosäätiö at the time when he served on the foundation’s board.
      Vanhanen said that he could not give a precise answer to the unexpected question; however, he had been given the question by his aides already 16 hours before the press conference at the airport.
      During the hour-long programme, the Prime Minister criticised the media on a number of occasions. He emphasised that confidence in politicians is not measured on the basis of the size of newspaper headlines.

More on this subject:
 Centre Party wants EUR 15,000 limit on individual campaign donations

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Vanhanen sees no problem with foundations making campaign donations (22.9.2009)
  Vanhanen got campaign contributions for nonprofit housing foundation (21.9.2009)
  Election funding causes rumblings in government (25.9.2009)
  Election funding row sparks serious discussion of dissolution of Parliament (24.9.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat