SHOOTING OURSELVES IN THE FOOT: A WARNING TO PLPS

All week long last week there was a back and forth in the press about the PLP which seemed self-inflicted.  This is really a time when the saying ‘silence is golden obtains’.  First there was the statement that yes indeed one of the reasons for travel during the period in October and November of last year was to convince people to vote for the PLP.  That was an inquiry made by The Nassau Guardian. What was the 100k line item of expenditure for, in the midyear budget report?  Compelled to answer (it seems), a statement was released from the OPM, saying that one of the uses of the expenditure was to cause the adoption by voters of a successor to the late Obie Wilchcombe.  PLPs were apoplectic.  Why would such a statement be issued? The next day there was a statement saying that what was said the day before was not in fact true.  Again self-inflicted injury.  This was compounded by TV appearances and social media commentary that seemed to suggest that we the PLP couldn’t get our story straight.  We say again: only the PLP can defeat itself.  Things are generally going well and the only thing that causes us upset is unforced errors.  Fortunately there is a social media team that sends out countervailing messages but the whole thing could have been avoided by us keeping one’s counsel.