The Opposition has renewed its call for a code of conduct to govern politicians? behaviour following the Premier?s use of the term ?racist dog? in a heated exchange in the House of Assembly with Grant Gibbons.

And the call has received the backing from liberal commentator and former newspaper editor Tom Vesey who said Premier Ewart Brown?s approach risked turning people off from the cause of racial healing he wished to promote. United Bermuda Party Race and Economic Empowerment spokesman Jamahl Simmons also agreed and said Dr. Brown was picking at the scab of the issue and making it worse.

Plugging the UBP?s code of conduct he said: ?It isn?t about clamping down on debate. It?s about setting standards.?

And he said it wasn?t just good for the election but should guide behaviour all year round.

?We want to set a standard, right now there?s no standards.?

Fearing another dirty election he recalled the bruising 2003 election campaign in which Dr. Brown said people risked voting themselves back to the plantation by voting UBP.

The PLP ran an election advert, later pulled, which a UBP campaigner was told by an unimpressed voter: ?The only thing new about you is your suntan... ...No shyster like you can manipulate me.?

Asked about the notorious 1998 election ad, sponsored by UBP supporters, which featured the PLP?s Delaey Robinson in the middle of a bullseye underneath the title: ?Jennifer?s choice for Finance Minister? and asked ?Do you want this man to broaden the tax base?? Mr. Simmons agreed it had been ?nasty and despicable?.

He added: ?My focus right now is what can we do to make sure the Delaey Robinson advert and the ?sunshine and shysters? advert don?t happen again.?

He said the UBP?s code of conduct was put to the PLP after the last election but instead of suggestions coming from the other side it was dismissed out of hand.

However PLP supporter Julian Hall said the UBP?s code was more about avoiding the painful discussion needed for community healing.

?There are those say we should ?get away? from the race issue; I say it is high time that we ?get to? it.

?The proposed code will have the effect of stifling honest debate.

He said there are already a number of rules governing parliamentary debate, including the rule against impugning improper motives without factual foundation and disrespecting individual parliamentarians on the floor of the house.

?The real question is whether, in the overall context of the race issue and, given its history, we really adhere to these rules.?

He said very often those accusing others of playing the race card are themselves guilty of just that.

?You cannot at one and the same time say, as does Opposition Leader Wayne Furbert that you appreciate the negative vestiges and legacy of racism/white supremacy and what it has done to psyche of blacks and whites and to our collective community psyche and at the same time advocate suppression of free dialogue on the subject.

?This code amounts to the making of a last-ditch effort to protect preserve and promote racism/white supremacy under the guise of ?good moral conduct.? Fundamentally, it calls upon us to be dishonest.

?We should avoid nit-picking and belittling comments of any sort. We should defend the honour of black leaders who are degraded as vociferously as we defend those who are from a legacy of power.

?All people of good will should engage passionately in the destruction of this crippling agency which has led to the greatest injury to the modern world racism/white supremacy.?

He said those who have benefited most should be the most ardent supporters of the destruction of this principle.

Liberal commentator and former newspaper editor Tom Vesey said he had been disappointed with the Premier?s outburst on Friday.

Asked about his initial reaction he said: ?My God, Dr. Brown is smart enough and articulate enough to be one of Bermuda?s best Premier?s ever but he?s turned completely in the wrong direction.

?I really hope there is enough reaction to the way he?s been talking recently that he and his colleagues will fear it will backfire and tone themselves down a bit.

?In that sense it?s up to public and particularly those who maybe perceived as swing voters as well as colleagues who sit around the Cabinet table, some of whom don?t want to appear to be Government with that sort of tone.

?It?s really up to them to assert themselves and not just think we can win the election.

?When Grant Gibbons and Wayne Furbert complain it comes across largely as partisan whining.?

But he said an across the board standard would let people judge if anyone had crossed the line.

Mr. Vesey said there needed to be ground rules so people could say what they needed to say without unnecessarily insulting and offending people and he said the UBP?s Code of Conduct was a good place to start.

?You don?t want to turn people away from a worthy cause by being offensive.

?It?s pretty clear from Bermuda?s experience in the last few centuries we go around offending people without actually trying.

?Ewart Brown says he wants to tackle racial inequalities but it is very difficult to tackle any issues of race if you are unnecessarily offending people.?

To hear Dr. Brown?s speech in the House last Friday in full visit s website and go Gazette videos.