By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

SEEKING to avoid an “unnecessary situation,” State Minister for Legal Affairs Damian Gomez yesterday softened his self-imposed deadline for filing proposed Election Court petitions to declare the Long Island and Killarney seats vacant due to conflict of interest.

Despite his declaration last week that the petitions would be filed by today, Mr Gomez told The Tribune that he is still in discussions with an informal and bipartisan group to possibly circumvent the bid and its costly ramifications. However, he said, he was still prepared to file if there was no compliance from opposition MPs Dr Hubert Minnis and Loretta Butler-Turner.

“We’re trying to avoid a situation that’s unnecessary,” he said.

“I’m prepared to do it if it comes to that, but I’m hoping that it won’t. This isn’t me actually picking on anybody, it’s trying to get everyone to sign onto minimum standards of behaviour that improves the image of parliamentarians.”

Mr Gomez has claimed that Dr Minnis and Mrs Butler-Turner are in contravention of the Constitution’s conflict of interest rules because they allegedly did not formally declare in Parliament their ties to companies that held government contracts.

Yesterday, he said: “We need to go further than we have in making the system transparent and it’s that objective that is more important than the short-sighted political rhetoric of finger-pointing.”

“I’ve been in discussions with different persons in respect to the process going forward in terms of transparency. I’m trying to get bipartisan support for a universal principle that if you hold public office you ought to be transparent in your dealings.”

Dr Minnis has maintained that he disclosed the Public Hospitals Authority contract held by his company in Cabinet, when he was health minister. FNM Senator Carl Bethel has said Dr Minnis also disclosed the matter in the House of Assembly. Mrs Butler-Turner has denied that she has any shares in any company that has a contract with the government, and announced intentions to sue Mr Gomez over the claims.

Mr Gomez said he understood the opposition leader’s position but that did not mean that his efforts were sufficient under law, adding that he has not spoken to Mrs Butler-Turner since she threatened legal action.

He acknowledged that the country would be forced into two costly bye-elections less than two years from a general election, if his petitions were successful.

“That’s the misfortune of it,” he said, “I’d prefer them to just comply with the Article 49 of the Constitution. I don’t want it to seem that I’m trying to get them out, just for them to do what the law requires.”

As for the informal grouping, Mr Gomez said it was comprised of a “couple parliamentarians” seeking to take the discussion on transparency deeper than an isolated incidence.

“It’s about process,” he said, “it’s about defining what is misconduct. It’s with me and persons interested in transparency. There are a couple parliamentarians who are involved in it.

“People who have reputations that they value, who don’t want to be connected with dishonest behaviour and it’s in the interest of all honest people to have other people behave honestly. So the discussion is one of trying to persuade people that this is the way to go.”

He added: “What we’re discussing is important, but it’s important that discussion take place than it being seen to be fighting what should really be accepted by all.

“This notion that this is a political issue is really false,” he added.

Last Thursday, the Central and South Eleuthera MP told The Tribune that he was still gathering information on new allegations against the opposition MPs to be included with the mounting evidence he plans to present.

At the time, he underscored that this proposed legal battle, which was a personal decision and is being carried out by his attorneys, had nothing to do with the Christie administration or the Ministry of Legal Affairs.