The St. George’s mayoral election
The upcoming mayoral election in St. George’s looks like being a two-horse race between incumbent E. Michael Jones and bank manager Mariea Caisey. In what appears to be a concerted effort to get rid of Mr. Jones, the other likely contender, former UBP Senator Kenneth Bascome, has announced that he will not run and will instead support Ms. Caisey’s bid.
Mr. Jones may have his faults, but I was unimpressed with what Ms. Caisey had to say in Friday’s Mid Ocean News. She declined to give her opinion on the introduction of Panamax cruise ships, one of the most important issues currently facing the town, and implied that she would leave more decision-making to the Government. In fact, it wasn’t clear what she would do as mayor, other than a wishy-washy promise to involve the people of St. George’s more in the decision-making process. There’s also uncertainty about the extent to which her day job would impact her ability to carry out her mayoral duties.
In contrast, Mr. Bascome was clear about what he would like to see happen in the town (parking vouchers, a new sewage system, complete abolition of double taxation and the rejection of the mega-cruise ships) and Mr. Jones’ shortcomings (a failure to consult). However, he stressed that his views were not necessarily the same as Ms. Caisey’s.
Ms. Caisey needs to be much clearer about what she stands for if she wants the vote of this St. George’s household.
» In this morning's Royal Gazette, Ms. Caisey digs her heels in further:
"There are things that need to be addressed since my time on the Corporation. I don't want to list them yet but they are very important," she said.Asked why she wasn't prepared to reveal her list before the election, Ms. Caisey said: "I don't want to show my cards. If I'm successful then the first thing that I will address will be these things."
What kind of basis for a candidacy is that? Why should we vote for someone who won't tell us what she'll do if she's elected?
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Didn't the PLP win an election based on that same strategy? ;)
Posted by Somers on 09.01.06 at 09:18
Even sadder, they got relected 6 years later using the same strategy again!
Posted by Tiger Bay on 09.01.06 at 09:22
How in the hell are you supposed to get votes if the people don't know what you stand for. Except on this Island, as Somers pointed out, it worked before.
Honestly how do people like this make it as far as they do?
Posted by Full Fullish on 09.01.06 at 09:46
Tiger Bay,
If memory serves me correctly, the PLP had a very well put together platform in 1998 that was out well in advance of the election. I will concede that in 2003 the platform did come out the day before the election.
Posted by wklc on 09.01.06 at 09:47
“There are things that need to be addressed since my time on the Corporation. I don’t want to list them yet but they are very important”
Clearly this refers to a couple of letters she forgot to post when she was deputy mayor. Like everyone else she’s probably been blaming the post service for the past couple of years, now she finally has a chance to get back into the office and post her very belated mother’s day card.
Posted by Yet Another Limey on 09.01.06 at 11:43
Yet Another Limey - too funny. At least she's being honest! I sometimes wonder if the town of Simpleton is actually run by... you know.... simpletons.
Seriously though, I believe this "guarded" behaviour is rampant through-out Bermuda politics and also in business. Everyone holds back on their bright ideas and best suggestions because they are afraid someone's going to either steal them or use them them for their own good. In addition to the fact that they often want a piece of the action for themselves. But that's pretty much how Bermuda works these days anyways.
It's a terrible way to run a town and a piss poor way to run a country.
Posted by SmokingGun on 09.01.06 at 11:56
This lady SHOULD be a joke, but it's a sad, sad reality that she may give Mr. Jones a run for his money.
Posted by Uncle Elvis on 09.01.06 at 13:56
Hang on this time I think I’ve got it…
She’s clearly been misquoted here and was talking about her golf game, and just forgot the word ‘golf ball’ and used ‘things’. Her game can’t be that good at the moment if she doesn’t want to show anyone her card – or maybe she’s cheating on her handicap.
Posted by Yet Another Limey on 09.01.06 at 15:41
No, I definitely have it this time…
She’s an old fashioned robot that uses punch cards to perform memory addressing. She cannot talk about the mayoral contest at the moment as she has her bank manager program loaded at the moment.
… obvious really now I think about it.
Posted by Yet Another Limey on 09.01.06 at 15:45
But seriously, she’s really trying to replace the corporation with a Germanic Norse style assembly, or Thing.
Posted by Yet Another Limey on 09.01.06 at 16:04