November 4, 2012Dear Sir,With the general election pending before Christmas, I thought I would put pen to paper and grade the Bermuda Progressive Labour Party’s performance in governing Bermuda. Party politics is not something we have always had: the United Bermuda Party governed for 30 years prior to the PLPs victory 14 years ago. In my opinion, the things the PLP have gotten right are decisions they have made in the best interest of our Island such as free bus and ferry passes for our students, the $1,000 prescription allowance for seniors, the removal of the death duty on the primary homestead, the introduction of legislation requiring teens to complete Project Ride and making pillion passenger riding illegal for our teenagers first two years. Under a PLP government, in St David’s, the Ferguson Park property was developed for seniors. The PLP has provided home ownership opportunities to low income families by constructing three condominium developments. Under Premier Cox there has been a concentrated effort to forge relationships with the international business community stretching over to the Middle East. The PLP has done well in introducing legislation to extend tax exemption to 2035 and the Party continues to introduce compliant and regulatory laws that ensure we are a are reputable jurisdiction to do business in.The PLP has introduced more Immigration inspectors and the process and policies for hiring has become transparent thereby actioning the call by the majority of voters to Bermudianise the workforce wherever possible. Recently, PLP has tried to breathe life in Tourism; it has improved the TCD experience and moved the police out of decades of deplorable conditions to a new Hamilton Police Station. They have constructed a proper screening process at the Hamilton Docks to identify illegal drugs and weapons. The PLP introduced the Mirrors Programme that seems to have achieved some success for late teens and young adults at high risk. Under the former Premier Alex Scott, the private property at Southlands was saved from construction and swapped for Government land at Morgan’s Point. This was a huge feat for Bermuda’s natural heritage. Under the former Premier Ewart Brown the PGA Grand Slam was introduced to Bermuda which resulted in excellent publicity for our island.The actions that the PLP have taken that have had a negative impact on Bermudians in terms of quality of life; and the decisions not made in the best interest of Bermuda, but rather in self or Party faithful to the detriment of the majority, can also be counted. The first most negative actions were to repeat the negative actions the UBP did. To start, they built another mega-high school after they marched against the same concept under the former UBP Education Minister Gerald Simons. Like the UBP they awarded contracts to their cronies, often without tender, but unlike the UBP they sometimes awarded at above market rates. Copying the UBP who constructed the Airport millions over budget, the PLP too constructed projects such as Berkeley Institute and the Court/Police Station also alarmingly over budget (wouldn’t that extra $100 million be helpful now?)The UBP was negligent in submitting the government accounts on many occasions which caught the ire of the Auditor, much to the pleasure of the then PLP Opposition. Now the PLP submits the government accounts with huge overruns on almost every Government Department and called the same Auditor a racist when he took them to task over spending the People’s money without accountability. When in Opposition the PLP said it would ensure Government investigation reports would be made public, but like the UBP they made them secretive once they got in power. Under a PLP Government we have spent like drunken sailors such as the millions lost on the Beyonce concert, Faith Based Tourism, the First Class Airline tickets for Parliamentarians, their entourages as well as outside Consultants services. Now that we are in an economic calamity there is nothing to fall back on.As a result we have closed our only children’s home, we have closed the released inmates Transitional Living Centre, and we cannot lend sufficient support to sporting bodies nor charities such as the Salvation Army who care for the homeless. Lecturers and support staff at the College have had no contract for two years. Our roads, Government buildings, parks and railway trails are not the pristine Bermuda I grew up around. The graduation rate of our public high schools is one of the lowest in the world. St George’s is dead and the PLP’s lack of action killed it. We have gang warfare. We have an ultra conservative, self destructive attitude towards the legalisation of marijuana against a backdrop of insurmountable scientific proof that alcohol and cigarettes are far more harmful. We have laws that favour sex offenders and we smack violent offenders on the wrist with pathetically inadequate punishments that do not bring justice to the victims nor deter the criminal. We have a prison that is a time bomb. PLP cronyism has perpetuated an elite society and strengthened the grip of fear over Bermudians who fear reprisal for speaking out; it has replaced the white Oligarchy.As Bermudians go to the polls I hope we vote analytically and not emotionally. One of the greatest feats under a PLP government was the change in electoral boundaries to a more equitable representation of one-man one-vote with districts of equal voting proportions. My overall grade of the PLP would be a D with a comment on the report card saying “disappointed, I voted for change but got pretty much of the same”. I no longer support party politics. I will be voting based on the integrity, intelligence, foresight, energy and commitment of the person who is running in my constituency. I have just moved house so I will be finding out who the candidates are and I want to read their platforms. They can be assured that when I vote for them, I will be holding them accountable regardless if they are PLP or OBA.CHERYL POOLEYDevonshire