PLP 'bid to smear ex-chief'
By PAUL G TURNQUEST
Tribune Staff Reporter
pturnquest@tribunemedia.net:
PLP operatives are allegedly continuing a vicious smear campaign against one of their own colleagues, The Tribune has uncovered.
Having recently resigned from her post as vice-chairman in the Progressive Liberal Party, Melissa Sears has become the focus of repeated attacks by PLPs on the Internet and in the political sphere.
In their messages, some party supporters have sought to sully the former vice-chairman's reputation and have gone as far as to cast a cloud of suspicion over her friendship with a sitting FNM Cabinet Minister.
Yesterday, a source close to Ms Sears actually distanced himself from the party's official messaging on the issue, claiming he did not want his planned statement on the matter to be associated with what "the rest of the party" was seeking to do.
Ms Sears, he said, will make any statement she feels is necessary if and when the time comes.
In the meantime, however, the vice-chairwoman's resignation is continuing to be used as a political football among two of the most prominent warring camps within the party.
The attacks against Ms Sears has left some within the organisation to question the amount of damage this issue will ultimately inflict upon the party.
It has also left others calling for a shift in the messaging of the PLP and a "much needed change" in the way "sensitive matters are handled."
As it relates to the attacks on Ms Sears' name The Tribune was reliably informed that a current PLP Member of Parliament was the actual genesis of those reports.
In fact, we were made aware yesterday that an operative within the party was successful in transmitting a lurid text message to the Cabinet Minister's cellular phone seeking to disguise the message as a legitimate one from the former vice-chairwoman.
This message, it was said, would then have been posted online to embarrass Ms Sears and the Minister; destroying any possibility for the fledgling politician to ever return at any level of influence in the PLP.
It is understood that this message, has been forwarded to the relevant authorities to ascertain its origin for further investigations.
These attacks, along with others, have left some right-thinking PLPs disgusted with the way the party has handled the resignation of Ms Sears.
Instead of seeking to coax the party supporter into re-thinking her decision, it was said that some within the organisation immediately went on the offensive and tried to "ruin her politically."
Speaking with The Tribune yesterday, Erin Ferguson, the political commentator and TV show host said that having known Ms Sears for a few years as a native Grand Bahamian himself, he was disappointed in the way the party was handling this "great young talent."
"This is just another example of the PLP displaying their ability to misuse and mishandle excellent young talent in the Bahamas.
"Melissa Sears has shown she is grounded in family, church, and community, and she is certainly a woman that serves as an example to any young woman as to how to go about serving your country as a good citizen. It's unfortunate in my opinion that she has been put through the political wringer of the PLP," he said.
Mr Ferguson added that countless other young people have been put through this unfortunate process and many others have refused to even engage these political parties as it is an "absolute waste of time."
April 29, 2010
tribune242
A political blog about Bahamian politics in The Bahamas, Bahamian Politicans - and the entire Bahamas political lot. Bahamian Blogger Dennis Dames keeps you updated on the political news and views throughout the islands of The Bahamas without fear or favor. Bahamian Politicians and the Bahamian Political Arena: Updates one Post at a time on Bahamas Politics and Bahamas Politicans; and their local, regional and international policies and perspectives.
Showing posts with label PLP operatives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PLP operatives. Show all posts
Friday, April 30, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Bradley Roberts calls National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest's claims about 'PLP operatives' baseless
By Krystel Rolle ~ Guardian Staff Reporter ~ krystel@nasguard.com:
Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Bradley Roberts yesterday challenged National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest to prove his claims that PLP operatives who do not live in the Elizabeth constituency are among the 700-plus new people on the voters register for that area.
"In our law he who alleges, must prove," said Roberts at a news conference at PLP headquarters yesterday afternoon.
"A minister is to be responsible, a minister is not to be reckless. A minister is not supposed to cast blame unless he has the facts and can justify what he is accusing people of. It is wrong morally, legally and otherwise to do something like that."
Turnquest, who is also the minister responsible for the Parliamentary Registration Department, told The Nassau Guardian on Sunday that he identified several of the people on the voters list as "PLP operatives" whose names are not supposed to be there.
"And I can assure you that as an FNM campaign worker for this election, we will not allow them to vote," Turnquest said.
Yesterday, PLP supporter and South Beach branch Vice Chair Ricardo Smith claimed that Turnquest approached him at a funeral and accused him of illegally registering to vote in the Elizabeth constituency. He also claimed that Turnquest threatened to have him arrested.
When contacted yesterday, Turnquest declined to address the issue further.
However, at the FNM's rally on Thursday, Turnquest told supporters that he confronted a PLP operative who he recognized as being on the register illegally and warned him against voting in the coming election.
Smith, who brought his voters card yesterday to the PLP news conference, denied being registered in Elizabeth.
"I'm registered in the Englerston constituency," he said. "I voted in polling division 15 (during the general elections). I still reside in the same place. I have no intention of voting in Elizabeth. I am not registered in Elizabeth. And I'm not in any way afraid of the FNM, Mr. Turnquest and whatever they intend to do in the line of intimidation in this election."
Roberts said a simple scrutiny of the register in Elizabeth would show that there are three Ricardo Smiths on the list. He said there's a Ricardo Allen Smith, a Ricardo Rolland Smith and a Ricardo Stephen Smith.
"It is clear that neither of these three individuals are Ricardo Bruce Smith who is seated here on my left," said Roberts pointing to Smith.
"The minister of national security who also has responsibility for the parliamentary registry has created a serious breach of his sacred obligation to the Bahamian people," said Roberts. "To make a baseless, groundless accusation when he simply had all the information available to him that he could've drawn a reasonable conclusion — and that conclusion [is] that this Ricardo Smith [is] not any of the three Ricardos that are registered to vote in the Elizabeth constituency."
Roberts said the process of identifying Bahamians who are rightfully registered to vote should be a simple matter for the government.
"Either you are a customer of BEC (Bahamas Electricity Corporation), you are a customer of the Water and Sewerage or BTC (Bahamas Telecommunications Company)," the PLP chairman said.
"The parliamentary commissioner has the ability to virtually check every single voter on the voters list throughout the commonwealth but we're dealing here today with Elizabeth."
He also said, "Mr. Tommy Turnquest decided for his own personal reasons to muddy the water by attributing blame to the PLP for having people deliberately register who are not residents of Elizabeth."
The Elizabeth seat became vacant when former Progressive Liberal Party MP Malcolm Adderley resigned from the House of Assembly on January 6. He also resigned from the PLP.
Tax attorney Ryan Pinder is running on the PLP's ticket, while Dr. Duane Sands is the FNM's candidate. Workers Party leader Rodney Moncur, Bahamas Democratic Movement (BDM) leader Cassius Stuart and National Development Party chairman Dr. Andre Rollins are also running.
Elections are expected to be held on February 16.
February 2, 2010
thenassauguardian
Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Bradley Roberts yesterday challenged National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest to prove his claims that PLP operatives who do not live in the Elizabeth constituency are among the 700-plus new people on the voters register for that area.
"In our law he who alleges, must prove," said Roberts at a news conference at PLP headquarters yesterday afternoon.
"A minister is to be responsible, a minister is not to be reckless. A minister is not supposed to cast blame unless he has the facts and can justify what he is accusing people of. It is wrong morally, legally and otherwise to do something like that."
Turnquest, who is also the minister responsible for the Parliamentary Registration Department, told The Nassau Guardian on Sunday that he identified several of the people on the voters list as "PLP operatives" whose names are not supposed to be there.
"And I can assure you that as an FNM campaign worker for this election, we will not allow them to vote," Turnquest said.
Yesterday, PLP supporter and South Beach branch Vice Chair Ricardo Smith claimed that Turnquest approached him at a funeral and accused him of illegally registering to vote in the Elizabeth constituency. He also claimed that Turnquest threatened to have him arrested.
When contacted yesterday, Turnquest declined to address the issue further.
However, at the FNM's rally on Thursday, Turnquest told supporters that he confronted a PLP operative who he recognized as being on the register illegally and warned him against voting in the coming election.
Smith, who brought his voters card yesterday to the PLP news conference, denied being registered in Elizabeth.
"I'm registered in the Englerston constituency," he said. "I voted in polling division 15 (during the general elections). I still reside in the same place. I have no intention of voting in Elizabeth. I am not registered in Elizabeth. And I'm not in any way afraid of the FNM, Mr. Turnquest and whatever they intend to do in the line of intimidation in this election."
Roberts said a simple scrutiny of the register in Elizabeth would show that there are three Ricardo Smiths on the list. He said there's a Ricardo Allen Smith, a Ricardo Rolland Smith and a Ricardo Stephen Smith.
"It is clear that neither of these three individuals are Ricardo Bruce Smith who is seated here on my left," said Roberts pointing to Smith.
"The minister of national security who also has responsibility for the parliamentary registry has created a serious breach of his sacred obligation to the Bahamian people," said Roberts. "To make a baseless, groundless accusation when he simply had all the information available to him that he could've drawn a reasonable conclusion — and that conclusion [is] that this Ricardo Smith [is] not any of the three Ricardos that are registered to vote in the Elizabeth constituency."
Roberts said the process of identifying Bahamians who are rightfully registered to vote should be a simple matter for the government.
"Either you are a customer of BEC (Bahamas Electricity Corporation), you are a customer of the Water and Sewerage or BTC (Bahamas Telecommunications Company)," the PLP chairman said.
"The parliamentary commissioner has the ability to virtually check every single voter on the voters list throughout the commonwealth but we're dealing here today with Elizabeth."
He also said, "Mr. Tommy Turnquest decided for his own personal reasons to muddy the water by attributing blame to the PLP for having people deliberately register who are not residents of Elizabeth."
The Elizabeth seat became vacant when former Progressive Liberal Party MP Malcolm Adderley resigned from the House of Assembly on January 6. He also resigned from the PLP.
Tax attorney Ryan Pinder is running on the PLP's ticket, while Dr. Duane Sands is the FNM's candidate. Workers Party leader Rodney Moncur, Bahamas Democratic Movement (BDM) leader Cassius Stuart and National Development Party chairman Dr. Andre Rollins are also running.
Elections are expected to be held on February 16.
February 2, 2010
thenassauguardian
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