Another day, another set of detailed accounts of factional schism in the Sydney branches of the Liberal Party arrives in the Crikey email. Here are the latest offerings. We don’t know who sends them and can only guess at the agendas in play, but a pattern is emerging: bitter internal chaos eagerly discussed.

On Saturday 14 July the Sutherland Shire locals who voted and selected Michael Towke as their candidate in the Sydney seat of Cook to replace retiring Bruce Baird, would be justified in thinking that their man had won. After all Towke did beat his nearest opponent 82 to 70 in the final ballot. A local selector speaking to Farmer Bill immediately after the vote and in front of others said: “Well that was a good win Bill” Farmer Bill grunted. The local went on to say “well the PM should have known Michael Towke had a lot of local support – VC told him so.” But Farmer Bill’s response was “I wouldn’t crow so loudly if I were you – many things could happen yet”. … And they certainly have. Soon after Towke was declared the winner and introduced to waiting journalists, NSW Liberal Party State Director Graham Jaeschke was seen on his mobile phone and standing on the northern ramp of the Sharks Club entrance. He was overheard to say according to a Statutory Declaration submitted by a JP, “I told you we didn’t have the numbers to block him”. Who could Jaeschke have been talking to? All the main NSW players were still in the club or in the car park. Was it someone from the FIRM (PM’s office) like Tony Nutt, Howard’s political enforcer known for his abrasive style? Since Towke’s win Jaeschke has been inflicting political damage on the Party with a campaign against Towke described in lawyer’s letters as “a frolic”, “procedural unfairness”, “substantial prejudice” and “raising concerns about the legitimacy and motivation of the State Director’s actions”. Towke has answered to Jaeschke’s acknowledged satisfaction a moving feast of allegations put to him before and since his selection, that have come from media reports, anonymous phone calls and letters and statutory declarations. Jaeschke could have put to rest each allegation as he was satisfied with them by a series of press releases, yet he chose not to. In doing so he has allowed the allegations to be repeated in the media again and again with the resultant damage to the Party. He also gagged Towke from communicating with the media and did not answer Towke’s request to defend himself before the media. Jaeschke is expected at to-night’s State Executive meeting to again use his purported power to usurp that of the State Executive and delay the endorsement of Towke. If that happens and there is intervention from outside NSW and the endorsement of Towke does not happen, it will confirm for the locals that the fingerprints of Farmer Bill and John Howard are all over this miscarriage of democracy and the public damage to the Party will continue unabated.

Then there’s this one:

Baird ‘won’t run’ for Cook; St George Leader 26 July, “only in extreme circumstances where no resolution could be reached” (read unless the PM offers him a spot as a Minister or Speaker). Bruce Baird the Liberal rebel and organiser of the “Blackhand” dinner for fellow left wing travellers, supports the party choosing a candidate from “many outstanding young candidates” with the exception of the conservative candidate Michael Towke who won the preselection. Baird has changed his views from his first speech to the federal parliament when he said “The Liberal Party is governed by an open democratic constitution which gives every member the right to contest a preselection … if you are going to enter a contest, you should run to win ..”. This was after he was parachuted into Cook in 1998 as a compromise candidate to settle a bitter contest when eastern suburbs barrister Mark Spearman challenged the then first term sitting member Stephen Mitch who was Spearman’s best man. PM John Howard wanted Mutch to remain as the member but that did not stop Baird and his left supporters from rolling Mutch. Parachuting Baird into Cook once again will be opposed by the locals because of his views on capital punishment for convicted drug dealers, his onshore processing of illegal immigrants, his support for “marriage” between same s-x couples and his aim “to shift the wealth in this country to the disadvantaged”.

And this one too:

Cook II: (Tips and rumours Wednesday 25 July 2007) got it correct with the claim “Party officials have either looked the other way when it came to branch stacking in the FEC, or had their hands tied.” In 2006 a large number of applications to join the Miranda Kingsway branch of John Ajaka MLC were lodged over the front desk of the NSW Liberal party Secretariat. Ajaka was successful in having applicants accepted into the branch with the support of his installed executive Hassan Awada and Abdallah Elmir from his St George based members from the other side of the Georges River, outside the Cook electorate. Whilst investigating a complaint that this was branch stacking, Deputy Director Scott Briggs telephoned a number of the applicants. His request to one applicant for further information was replied to with “Why would I want to join the Liberal Party, I am a members of the Labor Party”. Briggs excluded her application but the obvious questions which remains unanswered over a year later is; who paid the fee for this application and if that person paid by credit card or cheques was a party member, why was no action taken against that member? Was a blind eye turned or did someone have their hands tied? Bleating about Michael Towke and branch stacking in the Liberal party is farcical when Malcolm Turnbull, Peter King and lots of other MPs including John Ajaka have been up to their eyeballs in membership forms.