The late Dr. John Stubbs, a long-time United Bermuda Party Cabinet Minister and a passionate observer of politics, had a saying that seems especially relevant to the current Stonington scandal: ?When you?re in a hole, stop digging.?

That is just what Tourism Minister Renee Webb isn?t doing. Every time she opens her mouth the ?negotiation? of the lease for the Stonington Beach Hotel, it just gets worse.

Now it has been revealed that the Board of Governors of the Bermuda College has never approved the lease for the property, meaning that it may well be invalid and could be challenged in court.

Ms Webb maintained on Thursday that the tendering of the bid had been legitimate, as Auditor General Larry Dennis stated in his report.

But she also maintains, unlike Mr. Dennis, that there was nothing wrong with the negotiation of the lease itself. And she also holds that given that new owner John Jefferis was prepared to sink millions of dollars of his own money into the property, that there was nothing wrong with virtually all of the terms of the original tender being changed.

And that is where Ms Webb is wrong.

That?s because no one can now say whether other hoteliers would have been prepared to do the same as Mr. Jefferis if they were offered the same sweetheart terms that he was.

And no one can say whether another hotelier would have been prepared to spend more money on the property in return for less favourable terms if the original tender had said that was possible.

The problemis that the original tender said no such thing. It was Mr. Jefferis and the Government committee formed to award the tender that rewrote the terms, completely in private.

And in the end the taxpayer and the Bermuda College were the losers.

Then, to compound matters, the College?s Board of Governors, who are responsible for the financial stability of Bermuda?s only public institution of higher learning, were never given the chance to accept or reject the lease.

That decision was made solely by the chairman, Raymond Tannock, and the deputy chairman, Larry Mussenden, both of whom are now Government Senators.

It is entirely possible that the board of Governors would have approved the lease if it was given the opportunity. The only person to raise concerns publicly was the College president, Dr. Michael Orenduff, and he got his knuckles badly rapped for what were on the whole quite mild, albeit very legitimate, protests.

Whether this deal was rushed through because the Government was keen to get the deal signed and sealed before the July, 2003 General Election, or for some other reason is not clear.

But the deal was signed and now the whole question of whether the lease is a legal document is uncertain.

This has thrown the whole Government tendering process into question. And it means that all leases between Government and the private sector will now be tainted.

It could be argued that since Mr. Jefferis has already spent a considerable amount of money on the property ? and by all accounts, the renovations are of a high calibre ? that is too late to review this question.

That is not true. If the lease is not legally binding, and if the process by which the lease was negotiated was not done in good faith, then the management contract for Stonington has to be re-tendered and Mr. Jefferis could of course submit a new bid, along with any other bidders who might now be attracted by the vastly improved terms that he secured.

In the meantime, a public inquiry into this entire episode is essential to restore faith in the Government.