Dear Editor,

The 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, one-time leader of the Republican Party, used to live his political life according to a simple creed that he called the 11th commandment: Thou shall not speak evil against a fellow Republican. Pity, Lanisha Rolle didn't emulate the Gipper.

The erstwhile Senator Rolle learned the hard way that talking fool is a very serious thing. The cost of her gross and pathological indiscretions against fellow FNMs was her cherished seat in the upper chamber. Her demise could not have come sooner for those who saw her as way out of her depth and possessed with no other discerning quality save for an uncanny ability to plant her foot in her own mouth.

That she was able to secure a Senate appointment in the first place left many scratching their heads about the political judgment of Opposition Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis. Her good fortune seems to have been due to Minnis' daft policy to put the FNM Senate seats onto a carousel spinning to music that only he heard. He yanked the very able Heather Hunt off the merry-go-round. But, as everyone knows, when you get rid of a car you trade up to a faster, more efficient model that will enhance your street credibility. In dialect, "you don't go from better to worser".

Were he a man possessed with critical analytical and strategic thinking skills I am sure he would now be regretting his decision to appoint the rookie Rolle. He would be contrite with his party. Instead the FNM finds itself dead in the water and Minnis seems incapable of heeding the words of legendary master sailor Captain Rolly Gray who said that when his precious Tida Wave got stuck in the Exuma Regatta there was only one way to stay in the race: change tack.

Senator Lanisha Rolle is gone, long live Senator Dr. Duane Sands. The question remains: Was she pushed or did she jump? It seems clear that Rolle was pushed because there is nothing in her pronouncements that would cause us to think that she would jump. Jumping off the carousel takes class and judging by the way she gutted her fellow FNMs, Rolle was never ready for prime time.

It is no secret that rank-and-file FNMs, as well as those on the council, were fed-up with this brash new senator for whom the words "party loyalty" meant nothing. So some guess that there was no one architect of her demise. Many people are gleefully taking credit for her spectacular fall from grace and you'll be hard-pressed to find expressions of support for her on social media.

They are all wrong, of course. Lanisha was done in by Lanisha. He naivete was stunning. One will have to search the Hansard for weeks to find any meaningful contribution she ever made in Senate debate.

On the speaking stump she was a disaster. She thought President Barack Obama had been leader of the opposition in the United States (there is no such position). Even in their Congress the head of the party out of power is called the minority leader. In congressional committees the boss of the minority party is called the ranking member.

The nomenclature is something that Lanisha would have done well to understand. Political parties, like armies, follow a strict code of conduct where deference, respect and perks are acquired through rank. Having once run for the leadership of a party puts you way up the food chain in rank.

When Rolle joined Minnis' brigade she was low person on the FNM totem pole. There were many up the chain of command who outranked her and had earned the right to be treated with respect. She didn't have to like anyone, but she should have known her place.

Instead, she presumed to lecture her betters about how they should humble themselves before the leader. Growing up we learned the difference between children and "big people". Children were to be seen but not heard. Big people had earned the right to talk.

It used to be that people nominated to the Senate didn't need basic socialization lessons. But alas, Lanisha obviously didn't go to charm school. If she had she would have learned simple life lessons.

Not everyone is your friend. Sip-sip was never meant to be spoken into microphones and recording devices. Having a coffee with an ally in a popular cafe might give you indigestion and cause you to lose your job.

The cause of her political death must officially be recorded as a suicide brought on by choking on her own foot. The chief accomplice to her asphyxia is none other than Minnis. He enabled her chicanery. He showed no discipline when she strayed out of bounds in the past. He procrastinated when he should have been decisive with her. And to add insult to his injuries he allowed himself to be dictated to by an MP who has been an FNM for all of six months.

If Minnis did use Dr. Andre Rollins to channel Lanisha out of the Senate then it confirms that he is as weak as water. If he didn't and Rollins acted of his own volition, then the leader doesn't control his own party and enjoys no respect from even its most Johnny-come-lately member that he personally recruited.

The FNM circus might have a new ringmaster in Rollins. The driver of the clown car, Minnis, just got hoisted on his own petard by a loquacious former senator who is now outside the FNM tent looking in, but is still a loose cannon.

PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts just light another stogie!

- The Graduate

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