By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

CAMPAIGN finance concerns are likely to be a mainstay for the 2017 election campaign cycle, with Cabinet minister and Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell warning Bahamians to “follow the money trail” in reference to opposition candidates.

Mr Mitchell underscored the critical impact campaign financing had on the political independence and integrity of a candidate during a mini-rally at Claridge Park on Saturday.

As he raised speculation over the campaign of a Freeport candidate, the Fox Hill MP identified five sources for political contributions, and warned supporters to be critical of candidates that accepted large sums of money from unknown sources.

“I want you all to follow the money trail,” Mr Mitchell said, “there is a candidate in Freeport who is spending money like it’s going out of style. When people spend money, there has got to be some visible means of support, where is the money coming from?

“In this country, there are only a couple of sources for political contributions - the white rich Bahamian, the people in Lyford Cay, the numbers boys, or your own money, or someone is contributing from outside the country, that’s the last thing. So the question is when you start spending large sums of money and it doesn’t come from one of those sources, you have to ask yourself where is it coming from?”

Mr Mitchell said: “And if it’s coming from someone we don’t know, the question is who will you be working for if you get elected to office? Next time I come on this stage, I’ll finish this story but I tell them, I tell you and I leave it to you to follow the money trail.

“When or if you happen to get into the office, who will you be working for? The Bahamian people or the people paying for the tune?”

Shortly after being elected to office in May 2012, Prime Minister Perry Christie committed his government to campaign finance legislation talks, going so far as to state that the practice of politicians using money to persuade voters had deteriorated to “repugnant” and sometimes “criminal” levels over the previous 15 years.

Four years later, however, Mr Christie acknowledged that passing a law to address the issue has not been one of his administration’s highest priorities.

Some have found the PLP’s concerns over campaign finance tone-deaf, given the claims surrounding its relationship with fashion mogul and Lyford Cay billionaire Peter Nygard.

Recordings of Mr Nygard were filed last year as part of the murder-for-hire lawsuit waged against him by Save the Bays, wherein he is purported to claim that he donated $5 million to the PLP in the run-up to the last general election. In the recordings, Mr Nygard further claims that Mr Christie made promises to him that he had not kept.

Turning his focus to the Free National Movement, Mr Mitchell insisted on Saturday that former Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette’s return to frontline politics as the party’s candidate for St Anne’s was a thinly veiled plot to usurp Dr Hubert Minnis’ leadership.

Mr Mitchell charged that it was Mr Symonette who “ manoeuvered” Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner to replace Dr Minnis as the leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament, and then subsequently abandoned her to face the consequence while he remained a party supporter.

“The question is why did that happen?” Mr Mitchell asked. “We believe it’s because he wants to succeed his father as premier and then prime minister of the Bahamas. So what he’s done is gotten rid of Loretta Butler-Turner out of the FNM, and set it up so that he can take over the FNM if the FNM comes into office, and worse, if they lose.”

He continued: “The question is whose interest is Brent Symonette going to be serving? The question is will he be serving the best interest of the Bahamian people? Now they tell us don’t worry about this because they say Brent Symonette has no interest in taking over the FNM. Well if you believe that you believe there’s a man in the moon.”

The Fox Hill MP questioned whether the party will represent the interests of Bahamians over the interests of former Baha Mar owner Sarkis Izmirlian. He also renewed his party’s claims against Lyford Cay billionaire Louis Bacon, whom he described as a disgruntled billionaire that hated the PLP and funnelled money into environmental action group Save The Bays to serve that end.

“The FNM has some people who are representing some rich billionaires overseas,” he said.

“This the party who has three people who used to work for Sarkis Izmirlian. This is the multimillionaire failed at Baha Mar. He’s bitter, he’s angry, but he’s got people who used to work for them who are now FNM candidates. The question is if they are elected to office, will they be represent the people of the Bahamas or will they be representing Sarkis Izmirlian.”

On STB, Mr Mitchell claimed: “We found out, your representative (Marathon MP Jerome Fitzgerald), told the House of Assembly that $8 million passed through their (STB) accounts to fight the PLP. When we found out, we found out that $15 million was coming so we blew the whistle.

“Today they are paying ads, they have got two people who are connected with them running for the House of Assembly, they are FNM candidates.

“The question is if the FNM is elected to office will they be running for and representing Louis Bacon and Save The Bays or will they be representing the Bahamian people? That is the question you have to ask the FNM.”