Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Bradley Roberts has labelled the concern over how Marathon MP and Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald got access to the private emails of members of the Save the Bays organization a "fake furor" and suggested those uncomfortable with the idea of leaked information entering the public domain "get over it".
Fitzgerald tabled an email thread among members of the environmental group in the House of Assembly last week in order to support his claim that it was operating under the guise of a non-profit organization while attempting to destabilize the Christie administration.
Fitzgerald's move came after the integrity of members of the PLP, specifically the prime minister and the deputy prime minister, was questioned in the House by Free National Movement (FNM) members. The entire saga stems from complex legal action as a result of a long-standing feud between wealthy Lyford Cay neighbors Peter Nygard and Louis Bacon. Several people have called for an investigation into how Fitzgerald got the emails.
Data Protection Commissioner Sharmie Farrington-Austin also recently cautioned that chaos could result from MPs exposing private citizens' emails in the House, a protected forum. The minister asserted he did nothing wrong. On Tuesday, he claimed he found the emails in his "political garbage can".
Roberts noted that leaked information becoming public is nothing new. He also alluded to Save the Bays' recent campaign for the government to pass the long-delayed revamped Freedom of Information Act.
"The usual suspects up to now have publicly and loudly lamented the absence of and the need for a Freedom of Information Act because of the public's right to know," Roberts said.
"These very same people who purport to be the jealous and zealous guardians of the public's right to know have now taken to weeping, wailing, teeth gnashing and complaining in the press, in social media and scampering off to the Bahamas Supreme Court and the Office of the Data Commissioner in a bid to prevent the public's right to know.
"I humbly submit that the public has a right to know the connection between the Save the Bays organization and the FNM, especially when members of the organization have mentioned members of the government at the highest level. The email revelation in Parliament exposed the intrinsic and incestuous link between Save the Bays, the FNM and their operatives in their various incarnations. The public has a right to know of these relationships and the truth."
Roberts called the "fake furor" over the email revelation "a demonstration of hypocrisy and duplicity in its worst form".
"The usual suspects cannot have it both ways and change the rules of the game in the middle of the game when the national narrative becomes an inconvenient truth to them," he said.
"As a member of Parliament, tons of information came into my political garbage bin with great regularity. If anyone needs a reminder of some damming information would be happy to remind all. This is also true for FNM parliamentarians and members of the media.
"As a matter of fact, the local media thrives on leaked information and exclusives just as politicians thrive on gaining political advantages on leaked information as both groups encourage their anonymous contacts to continuously break local confidentiality laws. My unsolicited advice to the usual suspects is to get over it because their fake righteous indignation is fooling absolutely nobody."
By Juan McCartney
Guardian Broadcast Editor
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