Showing posts with label Craig Butler PLP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Craig Butler PLP. Show all posts

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Craig Butler - treasurer of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), resigned from his post and the opposition party

PLP treasurer resigns


BRENT DEAN
NG Deputy News Editor
thenassauguardian
brentldean@nasguard.com



Craig Butler, treasurer of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), resigned yesterday from his post and the opposition party and vowed to run as a candidate in the Kennedy constituency at the next general election.

“It should come as no surprise to political observers that I've grown disillusioned with this once great political organization, the PLP, to which my grandfather (Sir Milo Butler) dedicated and fought so diligently to secure our Bahamas,” said Butler at Rawson Square near the bust of his grandfather.

“I too joined the ranks feeling compelled to walk in his great footsteps and wanting to give of myself unselfishly as he so freely did. After a period of prayer, deep reflection and contemplation I have reached the end of my journey and today I sever all ties with the PLP.”

Butler, an attorney, was denied the PLP nomination to run as a candidate in the Elizabeth by-election in February 2010. He was again denied the PLP nomination to run as the party’s candidate in Kennedy at the next general election. Attorney Dion Smith received the nomination.

On the Star 106.5 FM radio talk show ‘Jeffrey’ with host Jeffrey Lloyd, Butler confirmed his candidacy for Kennedy in some form. This could be as an independent candidate or aligned with a political organization.

Butler has said that PLP leader Perry Christie has told him he will not get a nomination from the party.

Butler has also publicly acknowledged that he had a drug problem in the past, one he has overcome. In 2008, he was charged with causing harm to his wife Terrel, who is also an attorney. The matter was later dropped.

Butler, however, has argued that he deserves a ‘second chance’ similar to that given to others in the PLP who have made errors in the past.

“The measure of my character is filled with lifelong lessons and though my journey has been one with tremendous setbacks, it is precisely these lessons that have made me who I am today. I possess an indomitable spirit that has afforded me the opportunity to understand and appreciate the struggles of the down trodden and the marginalized,” said Butler.

He described the current PLP as, “not the organization for which Milo Butler so proudly and diligently fought for.”

Butler’s grandfather Sir Milo was the first Bahamian governor general. Craig Butler is also the brother of Free National Movement (FNM) Cabinet Minister and Montagu Member of Parliament Loretta Butler-Turner.

“As an offspring of Sir Milo Butler I found it impossible to sit idly by and allow others to dictate what my future should be,” he said.

“I wish to no longer be a spectator but an active participant in helping to formulate policies and solutions for our nation’s challenges, its growth and development, a Bahamas that would allow future generations to fulfill their dreams and aspirations.”

Butler became the PLP’s treasurer at the party’s convention in October 2009. In September 2009, the PLP treasurer before Butler, Sidney Cambridge, also resigned after he was charged by the government of the United States with money laundering.

Jun 02, 2011

thenassauguardian

Friday, May 13, 2011

Craig Butler will once again not run as a candidate for the PLP in the upcoming general election

Butler will not run as PLP candidate

tribune242


AFTER being passed over in the Elizabeth by-election last year, attorney Craig Butler will once again not run as a candidate for the PLP in the upcoming general election, The Tribune has been informed.

With a history of drug use that ended nearly 10 years ago, Mr Butler said that his past is continuing to haunt him to this day despite his "continued commitment and dedication" to the PLP.

According to Mr Butler, the party's leader Perry Christie has informed him outright that running him as a candidate in this election would be too much of an "embarrassment" for the PLP.

"Clearly, my party has demonstrated to me by their words that there is no room for me in the PLP as a Member of Parliament," Mr Butler said.

This "embarrassing past." Mr Butler said, was the same excuse used by the party to deny him the nomination in Elizabeth, despite the fact that he had already been working on the ground ahead of the area's current representative, Ryan Pinder.

"I have been forthright with people about my past. And the PLP has always prided itself on being the party of second chances, but for all the persons that the party looks like it will be running in the upcoming election, for me to be an embarrassment to them, I find that incredulous," Mr Butler said.

At this point, Mr Butler said he will quietly consider his future in the party - a statement that has raised concerns in some quarters of the PLP. Some PLPs reportedly believe that a plan has been set in motion for Mr Butler to join the governing FNM as their candidate for the Kennedy constituency.

However, attempts to reach Mr Butler for comment regarding this aspect of his political future were unsuccessful up until press time last night.

May 12, 2011

tribune242