By Sylvan Richards

The Opposition’s finance critic, David Burt, is a quick study and fast on his feet. He is also a practitioner in the art of false argument, whose partisan mindset appears to have corrupted the understanding of his role as Opposition critic, causing him to mislead Bermuda on important public matters.

Let’s look at three “issues” he has pushed in recent months — the airport, the America’s Cup, and the powers of the Public Accounts Committee.

News watchers were treated last week to a “firestorm” in the Public Accounts Committee when Mr Burt, in his role as chairman, tried to investigate America’s Cup spending.

He was taking aim, in particular, at the ACBDA, the company Government registered in late December to manage its administrative responsibilities as host country.

Government pushed back, saying Mr Burt was acting outside his powers as PAC chairman. Mr Burt said he was fulfilling the committee’s responsibility, which is “to examine funds voted on and appropriated for expenditure by the legislature”. Sounds OK. But here’s the kicker: no America’s Cup money had yet been voted on or appropriated for spending by the legislature.

That is not scheduled to happen until after this week, when Government presents the 2015-16 Budget, followed by appropriations and votes on its spending plans.

Mr Burt nevertheless said Government was blocking the PAC from doing its duty. Howls about lack of Government transparency followed.

What Bermuda witnessed was a political charade and grandstanding based on a false presentation of a situation serving no purpose other than to undermine trust in the Government.

The second issue Mr Burt has falsely pushed is the amount of money the Government will spend on the America’s Cup. In December, Government estimated it would invest approximately $37 million on Dockyard infrastructure, site development and services over the next three years to support America’s Cup events, plus an additional $15 million in sponsorship support.

Government also extended a $25 million sponsorship guarantee — a total that would be reduced, if not eliminated, by America’s Cup admissions revenues through 2017, and by sponsorships Bermuda helps to bring about, with companies wanting to be associated with the event.

Despite the explanation, with clearly no definitive total to give, Mr Burt and his colleagues simply added the numbers and told Bermudians the America’s Cup would cost them $77 million. Public concerns about Government priorities followed.

The third issue Mr Burt has dissembled is the proposed building of a new airport, which he glibly calculated would amount to a $1 billion giveaway over 30 years — a naively constructed number based on airport revenue and inflation, with no regard for operating costs or the fact that a contract agreement for a new airport does not yet exist.

The billion-dollar number has remained in the public air, focusing attention on something that is factually wrong. It is an example of politics at its worst: using misinformation to sway people’s thinking towards party, not country.

Three issues, three misleads that call into question the priorities and loyalties of the Shadow Finance Minister.

• Sylvan Richards is the One Bermuda Alliance MP for Hamilton South and Junior Minister for Home Affairs