The other day I had a crack at the National Party over putting politics before honesty over the Todd Barclay scandal. I feel it should also be made clear it's a sin not solely restricted to the ruling party.

Because when it comes to political parties getting cute and looking for political solutions to problems, rather than practical, up-front ones - other parties are as equally culpable.

Labour, for example, over the Campaign for Change initiative. Ostensibly it's claimed this was an arm’s length operation that they were associated with only peripherally. This despite every other indication suggesting they were up to their eyeballs in it.

When a former chief of staff and senior party members are involved, and pamphlets about it clearly show a party involvement it's a bit facetious to claim ignorance.

If this is anything, it's probably Labour getting just a bit too cute over election campaign expenses and declarations. The political and financial advantages in running this as a third party campaign are glaringly obvious. Labour's been saying its finances are in good shape, but declared political donations for the last two years show the Greens have done better at raising cash. You do the math.

And the Greens aren't paragons of virtue either. Over the past decade its approach to politics has become more pragmatic and populist compared to what it was under Rod Donald and Jeanette Fitzsimons.

Rod Donald had a saying that his party did what was right, not what was popular. The party's tax-switch policy at the last election, that cut company tax rates, contradicted that philosophy. Possibly more evident of this change though, is a recent magazine cover photo shoot where the party’s female MPs and candidates were displayed both glamorously dressed and decorously draped. It seemed very much at odds with a party that once prided itself on substance over style, and more importantly a party that valued women for what they do, not what they look like.

New Zealand First isn't exempt from criticism either. It's Leader Winston Peters has been doing the dance of seven veils (and I apologise for any mental images that conveys) for some time now over whether or not former Labour MP Shane Jones will join his party's ranks. Peters loves to string the media along if it suits his political purpose and this has been another such example.

But ask yourself this? How appropriate will Shane Jones be as a New Zealand First candidate given his past history? He was after all the minister that controversially approved citizenship for businessman Bill Liu, a man convicted in May of money laundering. How does that fit with New Zealand First's immigration and law and order stances?

Felix Marwick is the Chief Political Reporter for Newstalk ZB