The Premier opened up about his hurt at what he feels is "character assassination" by media at a Rotary Club meeting last night.

Members of Sandy's Rotary Club had been told the Premier's time was "short" but a speech on international relations and the global economic downturn was then followed by a frank discussion on how he feels he is misrepresented in the press.

"You probably have a sizable proportion of people in Bermuda who think I'm a crook, and also that I have cedar beams in my house. Neither of which are true," said Dr. Brown.

The theme of the Premier's speech was that now is the time for Bermuda to make its voice heard, in both tourism and in international financial services.

"At this time, perhaps more than any other in Bermuda's 400-year history, we must be the opposite of insular, the antithesis of protectionist," said the Premier.

During the questions which followed, one Rotarian asked: "What can be done to bring the country together?"

Dr. Brown likened the racism of the past to a wound which cannot be stitched over. Referring to his training at medical school, he said: "My professors warned us in surgery 'don't sew over infection, if you stitch over infection you are guaranteed to have an abscess which will eventually rupture'."

He said: "I would love to see Bermuda reach its full potential by coming together, but coming together in a very honest and real way.

"My dream for Bermuda is a Bermuda which works together."

He said the only way forward after the racism of the past was through "engaging in an open, frank and honest way".

However, he said he felt he was often misunderstood by his comments being interpreted the wrong way, particularly by the media.

Dr. Brown said: "I don't like to be in the middle of the pack, so at times I say things which are edgy, which I want to think encourages people to think.

"But in our climate (in Bermuda) it hasn't resulted in that. It has essentially resulted in a conflict that goes on every day and it is not consistent with what I want to say."

He added: "I would prefer to be about the business of building Bermuda, but there are some things I won't tolerate and I will fight back."

He then spoke on the recent LLC cheque controversy over the court/police building in Hamilton.

Dr. Brown said he was on a cruise with his wife Wanda when a reporter e-mailed him a question asking him whether he was being paid as a consultant on the project.

"My first response to that is unprintable," he said. "It's a plantation question."

"I have to come back at something like that, I have to have some form of self-respect. There's not a journalist in Bermuda or anywhere on the planet to whom I'm afraid of answering a legitimate question.

"But I'm ready to explain as a political leader, not some punk off the street with money under the table, and have that image built up of 'Brown's a crook'.

"They (the media) do that over and over again."

He said he was concerned this was particularly prevalent among the white community, "many who may think 'Brown's a crook, Brown's a crook".

"But if you only know me through the daily newspaper or weekly newspaper, you won't know me," he said.

"It's when they start to manufacture and demonise people. But it's not personal. Dame Jennifer Smith had it and Alex Scott had it.

"I think if my true agenda was known and the demonisation was of a lesser degree, people would understand I am trying to bring people in Bermuda together. But what gets in the way is this whole process of character assassination.

"I would like to make a major contribution to the development of my country but I must do so on my feet."