Darnton's Lawsuit
On 29 June 2006, Bernard Darnton, leader of the Libertarianz, sued Helen Clark for allegedly misappropriating public funds to pay for her "pledge cards" during the 2005 election. Some commentators labelled the lawsuit a stunt, although it received media coverage as concern about the "pledge card" funding grew. The Auditor-General and Solicitor-General both stated, in the Auditor-General's report to Parliament, their opinion that the pledge card expenditure was a breach of the Public Finance Act. Following the passage of the Labour Party's validating retrospective legislation on 18 October 2006, Darnton's lawsuit became defunct as the courts would rely on the retrospective provisions of the legislation.
Read more about this topic: 2005 New Zealand Election Funding Controversy