KEY POINTS:
National says Labour is embroiled in further dirty tricks after it emerged a woman who organised a "Google bomb" on John Key was a recent Young Labour activist.
Rochelle Rees' background with the Labour Party was revealed by bloggers yesterday after news stories she was behind a ploy to ensure Mr Key's website link was the first to appear when people searched for "clueless" on Google.
Yesterday, National leader John Key said it was another example of petty attacks on him by Labour.
"I'm not surprised to find it was directly linked to the Labour Party. When a party no longer wants to debate the big issues they end up resorting to dirty politics."
Ms Rees - a 22-year-old computer programmer - said she had not deliberately tried to hide her previous involvement in the Labour Party, but was not asked about it.
She said she was no longer involved and had done the bomb of her own initiative.
"I don't think it was necessary to disclose it. It's not relevant. If I'd known it would cause this much hype I would have done so."
She had sent out a statement on Friday morning titled "New Zealanders rate John Key as clueless" and that Mr Key was "the first politician in New Zealand reviled enough to have a special word reserved for him on Google".
The statement did not mention her role in instigating the "bomb" or her previous roles with the Labour Party.
She said she was a Labour Party member for two years in 2006 and 2007 but had not renewed her membership this year and believed it had lapsed. She was elected to Young Labour's executive as its Auckland rep in April 2007, although she gave up the role after a few months when she moved to Christchurch.
National has also accused Labour activists of being behind the secret taping of conversations with several National MPs at the cocktail party before its annual conference this year.
Conversations with MPs including Bill English, Nick Smith and Lockwood Smith were subsequently released to TV3, including Mr English answering "eventually" when asked about selling Kiwibank. Mr English was forced into an embarrassing public statement about his comments, including the implication Mr Key did not understand Working for Families because of its complexity.
The source has not been found.
Ms Rees said she had done the Google bomb as a bit of fun after seeing "bombs" on Tony Blair with the word "liar" and George W. Bush for "miserable failure".
She did not know who she would vote for, but "it won't be John Key".
"I chose the word clueless, because it fits his leadership style. He seems clueless."
Ms Rees started the bomb by sending out emails telling people to include links to Mr Key's site when they used "clueless" on their websites. It pushed Mr Key's site to the top of the list when people searched for the word.
