Free National Movement (FNM) Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest said yesterday while there would be nothing wrong with Save The Bays (STB) donating to his party, to the best of his knowledge, the environmental group has not done so, even indirectly.
Turnquest said the majority of the FNM's contributors have been "negligible, ordinary Bahamians". He was responding to a statement by STB, which expressed on Monday that the FNM has, in its view, failed to reject rumors that it is connected to and funded by the group. But Turnquest said the FNM has no interest in getting into a debate or fight with the group, which has been at the center of a bitter feud involving Peter Nygard and his billionaire Lyford Cay neighbor Louis Bacon.
"We are very mindful and very careful about the donations that we accept, not that there would have been anything wrong from accepting donations from that organization (STB)," Turnquest told The Nassau Guardian.
"I think it is unfortunate that the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) has been able to spin this story such that it appears as if there is something more to this than there is. The fact of the matter is that the issues that have been brought to light reflect much more critically on the processes - the awarding of contracts by the government and its supporters.
"And so, again, when it comes to funding of the FNM, we receive funding from many, many different sources; most of them are negligible, ordinary Bahamians, who follow and support the philosophy we have as a party."
Bacon previously indicated that he has backed STB and has donated millions of dollars to other charitable organizations in The Bahamas. He also said he has donated to both the FNM and PLP.
During the height of the Nygard/Bacon saga last month, several governing MPs asserted that STB is a political group that has used millions of dollars to destabilize the Christie administration, a plot which they claimed the FNM was a part of. The FNM has repeatedly denied this.
"I would be careless to say he (Bacon) has not made any contributions," Turnquest said. "I can only speak for me and what I have been made aware of and we have no evidence that we have gotten donations from him. Now, whether individuals have, I could not say. I really don't know."
On Monday, STB Chairman Joseph Darville said, "... I must say that we have been disappointed in the weak, half-hearted response of the FNM to the malicious rumors, which should have been condemned in the strongest terms from the outset."
Although Bacon has reportedly funded both the PLP and FNM, and his charitable organization has funded Save The Bays, Darville indicated that, that ought not lead to any conclusion that STB has funded the FNM.
The STB chairman said the group is funded by the Waterkeeper Alliance, of which Bacon was a founding contributor.
"As Mr. Darville rightly says, this is nothing more than an attempt by the Progressive Liberal Party to smear both the Free National Movement and those organizations who may from time to time take positions that are opposed to the desired policies of the current government," Turnquest said.
Turnquest said the FNM, if successful in becoming the next government, would introduce campaign finance reform.
The matter stems from court filings on March 9.
In those documents, Bacon and members of STB allege that Nygard and lawyer Keod Smith plotted to have them killed.
Nygard and Smith have denied the claims and sworn to clear their names.
Royston Jones Jr.
Guardian Staff Reporter
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