The Royal Gazette came under fire in the House of Assembly Friday night for allowing a letter to appear in the Letters to the Editor section that personally attacked outspoken political commentator Rolfe Commissiong.

Government backbencher Wayne Perinchief said the letter, which appeared in last Thursday's edition of the newspaper, had given him much displeasure as it went beyond professional criticism and referred to the previous convictions of Mr. Commissioning.

He said the convictions for bank robbery were many years previous, and should not have been allowed to appear in the press without just cause.

Referring to the letter submitted by D. Mark Selley, of Warwick, Mr. Perinchief said: "I disagree with the principle that a person can be attacked and his past convictions be aired in public.

"I think we should support a ban and denouncement of personal attacks. I disagree that a person who is simply making a political statement should be attacked.

"I wish that this House and other right-thinking persons would support the principle that the press not allow personal attacks."

During Mr. Perinchief's comments, members of the Opposition United Bermuda Party shouted that the claims about Mr. Commissiong's past convictions were true.

But the backbencher said that made no difference.

He said the laws of liable and slander were that even if people spoke the truth, it was still an offence if that truth was designed to hurt someone, either in a personal or professional capacity.

However, Shadow Education Minister Tim Smith criticised Mr. Perinchief for being quick to denouce personal attacks in the press, when he had voted against a motion to reprimand Tourism Minister David Allen for an attack he made two weeks ago on Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell.

Mr. Commissiong yesterday said he had been upset, "to a degree", to see the contents of the letter printed in The Royal Gazette. And he agreed that personal attacks should not be permitted.

He said: "As a commentator and a public figure, I welcome responses to what I write. But I only would have wished that Mr. Selley had had the ability to respond to what I actually wrote, which he did not.

"It was basically just to have a naked, personal attack. My life is an open book. I ran for the Progressive Labour Party and I had to deal with that issue (the convictions). That issue goes back 17 or 18 years.

"In any paper with the stature of The Royal Gazette in any other so called first-world jurisdiction, I don't see that (sort of thing) - naked personal attacks via the newspapers.

Editor of The Royal Gazette Bill Zuill, said Mr. Selley's letter was published after careful consideration.

He said: "We don't allow personal attacks if they are under a pen name and, in this case, Mark Selley did use his name.

"We did consider it very carefully, but given that it was in response to a column that had been fairly tough on Opposition leader Grant Gibbons and his personal background, within that context, it could be argued that it was fair comment to bring up his own (Mr. Commissiong's) background.

"Banning all personal attacks of private individuals and public officials would be extremely difficult because it's very difficult to know where to draw the line between someone's personal background and policies they may be setting or supporting.

"To the same extent, it does go to credibility."

Mr. Zuill said when Mr. Commissiong was running for Parliament for the PLP, the public had a right to know about his previous convictions, and they were rightly aired.

So, in printing the letter last week, the public learned nothing new, he said.

Mr. Zuill added: "My personal view is that (Mr. Commissiong) has rehabilitated himself and is a model to people who have made a very serious mistake and then turned their lives around."