“Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Labour Party?” the inquisitor demanded in an American midwest accent, knowing full well that the accused was on the rack.
“Well, you know I have”, said Ruth.
“Ah ha, I knew it. And is it not true that the colour of the Labour Party is red, just like the Communist party? Ms Dyson, or should I call you Red Ruth?”
“Yes, of course it is, but what has that got to do with Fire and Emergency NZ?”
“Ah ha, and is it not true that red is also the colour of Fire and Emergency? Why did you choose red for the fire trucks Ms Dyson? And not another colour, like blue?”
“Is he serious? Look I’ve got quite a busy workload and this all seems a bit ridiculous and off topic.”
The inquisitor glared at her.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but you will answer my questions Ms Dyson. Or my name is not Joseph McCarthy - the greatest Communist hunter the world has ever seen!”
“Well of course it’s not, your name is Simeon Brown.”
“Ian, Ian - she’s not playing by the rules, you have to make her do it properly!”
Ian McKelvie, the National MP for Rangitikei, was the select committee chair. Meaning that National was providing both the prosecutor, and the judge.
“Look Ruth”, said Ian, “this is just Simeon’s little game, if we could just play along with it. He can become quite unpleasant if he doesn’t get his own way.”
“You mean more so than now?”
Ian nodded, with a look of both apology and discomfort on his face. Simeon smirked at him and continued.
“The Public Sector is infested with communists. I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to myself as being members of the Labour Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the Public Sector.”
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