The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

My self-serving, narcissistic, overbearing, thin-skinned, oligarchic newest best friend Tennyson Wells has elevated me to the level of superstar. He has gifted me my very own groupies.

For the record, Tennyson, I collude only with my conscience and I seek editorial opinion from no one. Just watching politics play out in this country is more than enough grist for the imaginative mill. And few characters provide more fodder than Tennyson Wells.

Tennyson cannot seek the limelight in one breath and then complain in a second breath when that same light shows up his faults, his obfuscation, his warts and his hidden agenda.

Allow me to proffer a bit of unsolicited advice. Leave the shameless boasting to others. There is no need to toot your own horn about all the charitable works you have done in the past. Even your use of the third person when referring to yourself doesn’t excuse the fact that it is still naked bragging.

Your attempt to “big-up” yourself by spilling the beans on the FNM’s financial difficulties in years gone by doesn’t cast you as a benefactor, it comes across as throwing lowness. How about waiting for the party to verify your payment claims and have them thank you for it. Remember also that a $100 donation from a poor man who believes in a political cause is just as significant as a $100,000 cheque from a super oligarch like Tennyson.

It is just plain old bad form for Tennyson to do good deeds and then “out” himself as a modern day Robin Hood. Hats off to you for your proclaimed generosity to those in need. Touché for your job-creation efforts over the years. I have no doubt that the toil of others for which I trust they were properly compensated did enrich you several times over. That is the beauty of capitalism that all love.

The realm of politics differs from business. We, the people, eschew back-room deals and profiteering and demand transparency in our politics. Those who enter the political arena do so with the understanding that they might have to account to voters for their actions.

Tennyson is rightly proud of the fact that he counts as friends both black and white people. I wonder if any of his friends bristle when he brazenly accuses of racism some white Bahamians who disagree with causes he supports. If Tennyson is as colour blind as he wants us to believe he is, then why play the race card at all?

Also, Tennyson still can’t claim credit for good deeds without planting his foot in his mouth. We are all happy that the Wells family is proud self-made men and women who have eaten by the sweat of their own brows. But isn’t the essence of government, nay, even Christianity, that we help those who cannot help themselves.

So don’t speak of your good fortune in such condescending terms, Tennyson. The public safety net exists for a very good reason, to be a lifeline for those who need it. We pay our taxes so that government can afford to offer a helping hand to those down on their luck or to create opportunities that will lift others out of poverty.

Don’t throw poor people under the very same bus that you and the Wells family are privileged enough to own.

My last bit of advice to Tennyson is to stop jumping to conclusions. As a lawyer he ought to know that circumstantial and hearsay evidence tends to get overruled in a court of law, no matter how salacious they may sound in the court of public opinion.

I expect from you, Mr. Former Attorney General, direct irrefutable evidence to prove your wild assumptions. Anything else is out of order.

Attempts by Tennyson to assassinate the character and reputations of others by insinuation, innuendo and conjecture smacks of desperation and of the need for vengeance. He is also wrong. I have never sought, held or aspired to any public position in my entire life though Tennyson seems pretty cocksure in his delusions that I did at one time or the other.

Tennyson chooses to juxtapose himself at the intersection of national and party politics. Service to party and country is honourable on the face of it, but when Tennyson attempts to whitewash his questionable public behaviour and erase the stain his actions have left on the body politic in this country then he will be called out for it.

If Tennyson can’t stand the heat then he must stop piling wood on the fire, as he is again trying to torch the FNM.

Tennyson should stop leaping to false conclusions over who is who among the writers who correspond with the editors of newspapers. Of course, this is not the first nor is it likely the last time he will be dead wrong.

THE GRADUATE

Nassau,

June16, 2016.

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