Well, the Speaker did the only thing he could and today reversed what was clearly an completely unsupportable ruling on Parliamentary questions.
I'm not quite as willing to quickly pat him on the back as others; it took him 2 weeks to correct this and a bizarre "this is private" comment last week when he deferred the ruling.
When this all first went down with the bizarre press release sent out by Brown's taxpayer funded (and clearly clueless) Department of Communication spin doctors, someone in the UBP suggested to me that Brown rapid-fired out a press release in an attempt to to lock the Speaker into his incorrect position.
“Even more unfortunate was a most extraordinary press release from the Cabinet Office which left the mistaken impression that the Speaker had approved such a release and also unwittingly brought into question the independence and integrity of the Speaker’s Office.”
Unfortunately for Brown and his aspirations of unchecked and unlimited Presidential power, his action has actually shone a spotlight on the glaring inadequacies of our neglected Parliamentary system and could be one of those tipping points of Bermuda politics (one can hope).
The attempt to avoid Parliamentary Questions has only served to raise even more questions.
Bermuda's Parliament has fallen so far behind others, that something has to be done. Quickly.
Sadly I'm not optimistic. I don't know what it's going to take for Bermudians to wake up from their complacent slumber and stop falling so easily for political sleight of hand ("Look. Racists over there.)"
These events should have demonstrated to everyone that Brown knows his actions cannot stand up to scrutiny. We should all be asking what is he going to such lengths to hide? (Faith Based Tourism anyone?)
The issuing of what looked to be a joint press release authorised by the Speaker and the Premier was a new low. It is also proof positive that independence under this crowd would be anything but progress as they do not respect basic separations of powers and long established checks and balances.
Come to think of it, perhaps it's the cheques and balances that they don't want people to look at.
Posted by Christian S. Dunleavy